WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department has permanently eliminated beneficial ownership reporting requirements for U.S. companies and individuals, cementing a major rollback of the Corporate Transparency Act that the Trump administration says will reduce regulatory costs for millions of businesses.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, issued a final rule Friday removing U.S. companies and U.S. persons from requirements to report beneficial ownership information to the federal government. The rule took effect Aug. 14.
FinCEN also said it will delete previously submitted beneficial ownership information for U.S. persons who are now exempt from the reporting requirements.
“Today’s action is a victory for common sense and American small businesses,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “President Trump promised to cut red tape, and this final rule delivers.”
The Corporate Transparency Act was enacted in 2021 as part of a broader effort to combat money laundering, shell companies and other illicit financial activity. It generally required covered businesses to disclose information about the people who ultimately own or control them to FinCEN.
The reporting mandate had drawn opposition from small-business groups and some lawmakers, who argued that it imposed substantial compliance requirements on millions of legitimate companies while exposing business owners to potential penalties for reporting mistakes.
The Trump administration moved to sharply narrow the program in March 2025, when FinCEN issued an interim rule exempting U.S. companies and U.S. citizens from the reporting regime. Friday’s final rule makes those exemptions permanent.
The change means domestic corporations, limited-liability companies and other U.S.-created entities will no longer be required to submit beneficial ownership reports to FinCEN.
The rule also removes the obligation for U.S. individuals who obtained FinCEN identification numbers to update or correct information they previously supplied to the agency.
FinCEN is going a step further with information already in government hands. The agency said it will delete records concerning beneficial owners, company applicants and FinCEN ID holders when it reasonably believes the individual is a U.S. person, including records linked to U.S. passports or driver’s licenses.
The administration isn’t eliminating the reporting system entirely.
Foreign entities that qualify as reporting companies will continue to be required to disclose beneficial ownership information involving foreign individuals. The final rule also eliminates requirements for foreign companies to report U.S. individuals who helped register those businesses in the United States and exempts certain foreign pooled investment vehicles from reporting information about U.S. persons who control them.
Treasury said the changes preserve reporting requirements where they are most useful for national-security and law-enforcement purposes while removing compliance obligations from American businesses.
The result is a substantially narrower Corporate Transparency Act regime than Congress initially established, with its reporting requirements now focused largely on foreign entities rather than millions of domestic businesses.