More than 230,000 farms face a Jan. 1 deadline to file reports with the federal government disclosing their ownership.
The Corporate Transparency Act requires small businesses to file reports on their ownership with the Financial Crimes Reporting Network, a Treasury Department agency known as FinCEN.
Farms operated as LLCs, including those with a single member, have to file the reports, as well as limited partnerships and S or C corporations. The American Farm Bureau Federation says the reporting requirement applies to more than 230,000 farms.
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“Despite facing steep fines and possible jail time for failing to file, less than 11% of eligible businesses nationwide have filed” the required report, AFBF said in a recent report on the FinCEN filing requirement. “Efforts to protect small businesses from these invasive requirements and the harsh punishment for noncompliance have stalled in Congress.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters Tuesday that filling out the reports should not be time-consuming. “I've been told it takes about 15 minutes to fill out the form and [is] fairly easy to do,” Grassley said.
