Georgia HOAs are permanently out of the beneficial ownership registry
Georgia HOAs are permanently out of the beneficial ownership registry
2026-09-10 · Georgia · Regulation
What happened. The question that filled Georgia board packets through 2024 — whether an association must report its directors to the federal government — now has a settled answer. It is no, permanently, and the data already filed is being deleted.
FinCEN's final rule, “Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirement Revision,” RIN 1506-AB67, amending 31 C.F.R. part 1010, was announced 11 August 2026 and published and effective 14 August 2026.1
Why this needs saying twice
Because the answer changed twice, and Georgia associations acted on all three versions.
- 2024 — the Corporate Transparency Act took effect. Community associations, as domestically formed nonprofit corporations, were widely advised that they were reporting companies and had to file beneficial ownership information identifying their board members. Many Georgia associations filed.
- 26 March 2025 — FinCEN issued an interim final rule narrowing “reporting company” to entities formed under foreign law and registered to do business in a US state or tribal jurisdiction, exempting all domestically formed entities.2
- 14 August 2026 — the final rule made that permanent, and went further.
What the rule now says
FinCEN's own guidance states the position flatly: “U.S. companies are exempt from the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirements and therefore, are no longer required to file BOI reports,” and “U.S. persons do not need to provide BOI to reporting companies.”3
Per Treasury's announcement, the final rule also:
- exempts US persons holding FinCEN identifiers from updating previously reported information;
- removes the requirement that foreign companies report US-person company applicants;
- exempts foreign pooled investment vehicles from reporting US-person beneficial owners; and
- directs FinCEN to delete previously submitted information about US persons from its database.
That last item is the one aimed at Georgia boards. An association that filed in the brief 2024-25 compliance window is not merely being ignored — the data is being purged.
The bottom line for a Georgia association
A homeowners, condominium or property owners' association incorporated in Georgia has no Corporate Transparency Act filing obligation of any kind. No initial report, no updates, no corrections, no annual confirmation.
What remains is narrow: only foreign entities registered to do business in the United States, and not otherwise exempt, must file — and they report beneficial ownership only for foreign individuals.
What a board can do about a report it already filed
Nothing, and that is the point of confirming it rather than assuming it.
- Do not file updates. Associations that reported in 2024 and have since changed officers do not need to report the change. There is no reporting obligation to update.
- Do not file a correction. If the 2024 filing was wrong, it does not matter.
- Do not pay for CTA compliance services. A management agreement, legal services plan or corporate-filing vendor may still carry a line item for beneficial-ownership reporting. That service has no subject matter.
- Do not treat FinCEN identifiers as live. A director who obtained one in 2024 has no updating duty.
The one thing worth doing is a records note: a short board minute recording that the association's CTA obligation ended under the 14 August 2026 final rule, so a future board does not rediscover the 2024 advice and act on it.
The filing that has replaced it, and it is not federal
Here is the part that matters to Georgia associations. The federal registry has gone away, and a state one is arriving in its place — asking for more, more often.
From 1 January 2027, new O.C.G.A. § 43-17A-2 requires a Georgia owners' association to file with the Secretary of State a registration statement including the name, address and officers of the association, a copy of its governing documents, and a financial statement dated no more than one year prior to filing. The fee is $100 initially and on each annual renewal; registrations expire 31 December each year; and a change in name, address or officers, “or other change which materially affects the business and control” of the association, requires an amended filing within 30 days.4
Compare the two obligations directly:
| Compared on | The federal rule that ended, and the state rule that begins |
|---|---|
| Status | CTA beneficial ownership: ended 14 August 2026. Georgia Chapter 43-17A: begins 1 January 2027. |
| Who is named | CTA: beneficial owners and directors. Georgia: the officers of the association. |
| Documents required | CTA: identifying information only. Georgia: the governing documents, including board-adopted rules, plus a financial statement under a year old. |
| Fee | CTA: none. Georgia: $100 initially and $100 on each annual renewal. |
| Renewal | CTA: none; update on change. Georgia: annually, expiring every 31 December. |
| Reporting a change | CTA: 30 days, while it applied. Georgia: 30 days for any change materially affecting business and control. |
The Georgia filing is in several respects the more demanding of the two. It requires the association's financial statement and governing documents — including, under the definition at § 43-17A-1(3), board-adopted rules and regulations — and it recurs every year.
And there is a third filing that never went away
Worth stating in the same breath, because it is the one Georgia associations most often miss. A Georgia nonprofit corporation must file its annual registration with the Corporations Division between 1 January and 1 April. The Secretary of State may administratively dissolve an entity that fails to deliver it, with all required fees and penalties, within 60 days of the due date — or that has been without a registered agent or registered office for 60 days or more. Reinstatement under O.C.G.A. § 14-2-1422 is available only within five years.5
So from January a Georgia association carries two annual state filings on two different calendars — the corporate registration due 1 April, and the Chapter 17A registration expiring 31 December — with different consequences for missing each. Miss the first and the corporation dies. Miss the second and the association cannot collect fines or fees, record liens or start foreclosures.
The federal obligation is the one that disappeared. The state obligations doubled.
What to watch next
Whether the Secretary of State's Chapter 43-17A rulemaking aligns the two calendars. Two annual filings to the same office with different deadlines and different consequences is exactly the sort of thing that produces mass inadvertent non-compliance among volunteer-run organisations, and it would be straightforward to fix in rules.
Related Georgia HOA Topics
- Treasury announces final beneficial ownership rule, 11 August 2026 ↩
- Treasury announces interim final rule narrowing BOI reporting, March 2025 ↩
- Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting — FinCEN (current status) ↩
- Senate Bill 406, as passed (26 LC 49 2879S) — signed copy, Office of the Governor ↩
- How to File Annual Registration — Georgia Secretary of State ↩
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