2026-09-27 · Federal · Regulation

What happened. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network published a final rule on August 14, 2026 that makes permanent the exemption it first granted by interim rule in March 2025: domestic entities are not “reporting companies” under the Corporate Transparency Act, and U.S. persons no longer report or update beneficial ownership information. The rule took effect on publication.¹

What the final rule says

The rule adopts the 2025 interim final rule “with certain limited changes.” It “continues to exempt reporting companies from having to report the BOI of U.S. person beneficial owners,” extends the exemption to U.S. person company applicants, and “exempts all U.S. persons from the requirement to update information already provided to FinCEN in connection with obtaining a FinCEN identifier.”¹ FinCEN's announcement, issued August 11, summarised the result as permanently removing “the requirement for U.S. companies and U.S. persons to report beneficial ownership information.”²

Foreign entities registered to do business in a state remain reporting companies and still report their foreign beneficial owners.²

Homeowners' associations are named in the preamble

Some commenters asked FinCEN for narrower carve-outs, including one for homeowners' associations. FinCEN declined to write one, explaining that the blanket domestic exemption “obviates any need to create additional exemptions applicable to subcategories of U.S. entities, such as homeowners' associations.”¹ The exemption reaches associations because it reaches every domestic entity, not because of anything specific to community associations. The practical effect for an incorporated HOA or condominium association formed in a U.S. state is the same: no federal beneficial-ownership filing, and no update duty when the board turns over.

Deletion of data already filed

Many associations filed reports during 2024 and early 2025, while the requirement was live or its status was being litigated. The rule states that FinCEN anticipates working with the National Archives and Records Administration to delete information about individuals who reported with a U.S. identity document. FinCEN “does not intend to provide any acknowledgement or confirmation of the deletion” to individual filers; it will post a notice on its website when the process is complete.¹ The preamble describes the deletion as a one-time sweep and indicates that information filed after February 10, 2027 is not expected to be covered.

The statute is still on the books

The exemption is regulatory. The Corporate Transparency Act itself, 31 U.S.C. 5336, is unchanged, and a future rulemaking could narrow the exemption again. A bill to write the domestic exemption into the statute is pending: H.R. 425, which despite its title (“Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act”) would, as reported by the House Financial Services Committee, insert “foreign” before “beneficial owner” throughout section 5336, limit reporting companies to entities formed abroad, and require FinCEN to delete non-foreign data within 90 days of enactment. The committee report was filed June 18, 2026, and the bill sits on the House Union Calendar.³ A Senate bill with the same foreign-only approach, S. 4419, remains in the Senate Banking Committee.⁴

What to watch next

• FinCEN's website notice that the deletion is complete.
• Whether H.R. 425 reaches the House floor before the 119th Congress ends on January 3, 2027; unpassed bills die at the end of a Congress.
• Any rulemaking or litigation seeking to restore domestic reporting.

Background on how the Act was drafted and why associations were caught by it sits on the Corporate Transparency Act topic page.

1. FinCEN, Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirement Revision, final rule, 91 FR 52508 (Aug. 14, 2026), FR Doc. 2026-16576 ↩
2. FinCEN news release, Aug. 11, 2026 ↩
3. H.R. 425 (119th Cong.), reported in the House (H. Rept. 119-701) ↩
4. S. 4419 (119th Cong.), bill status, GovInfo ↩