FinCEN's final rule names homeowners associations — yours files nothing
FinCEN's final rule names homeowners associations — yours files nothing
2026-09-15 · New Mexico · Compliance
Two years of Corporate Transparency Act compliance memos for New Mexico associations now resolve to one answer: your association files nothing, has no deadline, and owes no update when the board changes. FinCEN's final rule, effective August 14, 2026, says so — and it addresses homeowners associations by name.1
What the rule did
The rule, “Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirement Revision,” was published at 91 FR 52508 on August 14, 2026 and finalises an interim final rule of March 26, 2025 (90 FR 13688). It keeps the interim rule's redefinition of “reporting company” so that the term covers only foreign-formed entities registered to do business in a U.S. state or tribal jurisdiction.
FinCEN's own description of the mechanics: “The IFR eliminated domestic entities from the definition of a reporting company. It also added language under which any entity that fit the old definition of a domestic reporting company would now be exempted from the new definition. This exemption implemented Treasury's conclusion that the reporting of BOI by domestic entities 'would not serve the public interest'…”
Associations were argued about, by name
Commenters asked FinCEN for a narrower approach. The agency's response is the quotable part:
“Other commenters suggested other narrower exemptions, such as for one- or two-person businesses or for homeowners' associations.”
“Under the evaluation framework imposed by the CTA, Treasury is not persuaded that any of the targeted approaches that commenters have proposed are as effective… The final rule therefore adopts the blanket exemption approach of the IFR. This approach obviates any need to create additional exemptions applicable to subcategories of U.S. entities, such as homeowners' associations.”
The text that was actually added
The amendment inserted a new 31 CFR 1010.380(b)(5):
“(5) Special exemptions. (i) Reporting companies are exempt from any requirement under 31 U.S.C. 5336 and this section to report the beneficial ownership information of any United States persons who are beneficial owners or company applicants. (ii) United States persons are exempt from any requirement… to provide beneficial ownership information with respect to any reporting company for which they are beneficial owners or company applicants.”
The same amendment removed 31 CFR 1010.380(d)(4) and revised (b)(4)(iii)(A), so that only non-U.S. persons must update a FinCEN identifier.
What this means for a New Mexico board, precisely
A New Mexico nonprofit corporation HOA or COA is not a reporting company. It files no beneficial ownership information report. It has no deadline. It owes no update when directors change, when a management company changes, or when a bank signatory changes.
An association that filed in 2024 has no continuing duty. The update obligation attached to reporting companies, and the association is no longer one. There is nothing to correct and nothing to withdraw.
Do not file voluntarily. There is no compliance posture that a voluntary filing improves, and the information filed is beneficial-ownership data about individual directors.
The one residual case is an association whose governing entity was formed under foreign law and registered to do business in New Mexico. That is essentially unheard of for a New Mexico association, but it is where the rule draws its line, so it is the only fact worth checking.
What has not changed
The statute has not been repealed. The Corporate Transparency Act itself, 31 U.S.C. 5336, is untouched; what changed is the regulation defining who reports under it. A future administration could re-expand the definition by rulemaking without any act of Congress. That is a watch item, not a compliance item — but it is the reason to file the question away rather than close it.
New Mexico's own corporate filing duties are also unaffected and are the ones that actually bite. An incorporated New Mexico nonprofit association must file its annual corporate report with the Secretary of State by the fifteenth day of the fifth month after the close of its fiscal year — May 15 for a calendar-year association — with a $10 fee and a $10 late-filing penalty. Persistent failure exposes the corporation to revocation of its certificate of incorporation under Section 53-8-53 NMSA 1978, with reinstatement available under Section 53-8-54.2
That is the filing that remains on a New Mexico board's calendar. The federal one is gone.
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