FinCEN named homeowners associations, and said they need no exemption
FinCEN named homeowners associations, and said they need no exemption
2026-09-19 · South Dakota · Compliance
A South Dakota homeowners association has nothing to file with FinCEN, and as of August 2026 that is a final rule rather than an interim one.
The sequence ran in two steps. An interim final rule at 90 FR 13688, published and effective March 26, 2025, removed domestic entities from the definition of a reporting company under the Corporate Transparency Act. Then the final rule at 91 FR 52508, published and effective August 14, 2026, adopted it.1
“FinCEN is issuing this final rule to adopt as final and with certain limited changes the interim final rule issued on March 26, 2025, which narrowed beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements under FinCEN's regulations implementing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).”
And on what the interim rule did: “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.”
Associations are discussed by name
The preamble records that commenters asked for a targeted carve-out: “Some of these commenters also suggested that FinCEN exempt specific types of entities from the reporting requirements, such as homeowners' associations, regardless of their nationality.”
FinCEN's answer is the sentence worth keeping: “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.”
No filing, no updates, no corrections. A South Dakota nonprofit corporation formed to run a subdivision or a condominium is not a reporting company.
The deletion of what was already filed
Many associations did file in 2024, when the original rule was in force and the compliance industry was loud about it. Those filings are being purged, once:
“FinCEN anticipates working with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and implementing a process to delete information about any individuals—company applicants, beneficial owners, or recipients of a FinCEN ID—in the BO IT System who reported an identifying document that FinCEN reasonably believes was provided by a U.S. person (e.g., U.S. passport, U.S. driver's license).”
Three limits on that, all stated in the rule. There is a cutoff: “If BOI relating to a U.S. company or a U.S. person is included—inadvertently or intentionally—in a filing made after February 10, 2027, FinCEN does not anticipate deleting that information.” There is no receipt: “FinCEN does not intend to provide any acknowledgement or confirmation of the deletion of a U.S. company or U.S. person's BOI.” And it happens once: “FinCEN only intends to complete this process one time.”
Public notice of completion goes on FinCEN's website rather than to filers.
Why this is worth publishing rather than assuming
Because the 2024 guidance is still live on the open web. Association-management pages, law-firm client alerts and board-education material written in late 2023 and 2024 describe a filing obligation with penalties, and a great deal of it has never been updated. A South Dakota board that searches the question today can easily land on a page telling it to file something that no longer exists.
The directors and officers named in those 2024 filings are the volunteers on a subdivision board. Their driver's licence images sat in a federal database on the strength of a rule that has now been withdrawn as to them.
What has not changed
The Corporate Transparency Act itself remains on the books; what changed is the scope of the reporting regulation at 31 CFR 1010.380. The rule's reach is defined by domestic versus foreign status, not by entity type — which is precisely FinCEN's stated reason for declining an HOA-specific exemption.
South Dakota's own corporate filing obligations are untouched and are the ones that actually matter here: the annual report under SDCL chapter 47-24 and a registered agent in state. Those carry a real consequence for neglect, which our piece on administrative dissolution sets out, and they cost ten dollars a year. The federal filing that generated far more anxiety costs nothing because it is not required.
What to watch next
February 10, 2027 is the only date left on this. After it, information about a U.S. person in a BOI filing stays in the system. For an association that filed in 2024 and has done nothing since, no action is needed either way — the deletion is FinCEN's to run, and it will not report back.
Related South Dakota HOA Topics
Stay on top of South Dakota HOA law
Every week: new South Dakota legislation, court rulings, and regulatory developments affecting condos, planned communities, and property managers. Free.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.