With the new year came a new reporting requirement for many companies in the United States. The new requirement, which came about as part of the federal Corporate Transparency Act of 2021, means that many companies will have to report information about their beneficial owners — the individuals who ultimately control the company.

To help companies comply with the new law, the legal technology company SixFifty today released a free tool that helps them determine whether they are required to file. While many millions of companies will likely need to report, there are 23 exemptions that excuse certain organizations from filing.

Using SixFifty’s tool, companies answer a few questions about their business and the tool creates a worksheet that analyzes how each of the 23 exemptions apply to their organization. SixFifty says companies should keep the worksheet on hand in case of an audit or investigation by the federal government.

For companies required to file, SixFifty’s tool also provides instructions on how to do that.

“In order to avoid criminal and civil penalties, companies need to show that they took the Corporate Transparency Act seriously,” said Kimball Dean Parker, CEO of SixFifty. “Our goal is to help as many companies as possible to determine whether they need to comply–and to create a document that shows a good faith analysis.”

For free access to SixFifty’s Corporate Transparency Act Worksheet, visit https://www.sixfifty.com/free-corporate-transparency-act-worksheet/.

 

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.