October 16, 2024 In Financial Planning, Tax Planning

URGENT for anyone that has an LLC, S-Corp, Partnership, or other Entity

I wanted to share something very important and urgent with all of you. It applies to a lot of you (but not everyone). If you have any ownership over 25% or have any control over an entity (LLC, S-Corp, etc) this will most likely apply to you. This includes entities used as holding companies for real estate and some entities no longer in use.

There is less than 3 months (1/1/2025) before many of us need to file a BOI (Beneficial Ownership Information) Filing before penalties start.

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) was enacted on January 1, 2021 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. It represents one of the most significant changes in U.S. corporate law in decades. Here’s a breakdown of the key points regarding the CTA:

  1. Purpose

The Corporate Transparency Act aims to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illicit financial activities by increasing transparency in corporate structures. It mandates that certain companies report their beneficial owners (those who actually control or benefit from the company) to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

  1. Reporting Requirements

Under the CTA, companies are required to disclose detailed information about their beneficial owners. This includes: Full legal name, Date of birth, Residential or business address (not PO Boxes), Unique identifying numbers, such as a driver’s license or passport number

The report must be filed with FinCEN within certain time frames:

  • For new companies (1/1/2024 and newer): 90 days upon formation or registration.
  • For existing companies: Companies formed before the effective date of the regulations (January 1, 2024) have one yearto report. The deadline is coming up on 1/1/2025!
  • For changes: Any changes to the reported information must be updated within 30 days.
  1. Who Needs to Report?

The reporting obligations apply to many U.S. businesses and foreign companies doing business in the U.S. Generally, any corporation, limited liability company (LLC), or similar entity formed in the U.S. or registered to do business in the U.S. must report. However, there are certain exemptions, such for nonprofits and larger companies.

  1. Penalties for Non-Compliance

Failure to comply with the CTA can result in significant penalties, including:

  • Civil penaltiesof up to $500 per day for each day the violation continues.
  • Criminal penalties, including fines of up to $10,000and/or imprisonment for up to 2 years for willful violations or unauthorized disclosures of beneficial ownership information.

If this applies to you (or may apply), then I urgently suggest you reach out to your attorney or CPA to help file this report or discuss it. You can also file it yourself. It takes approximately 10-15 minutes per entity for simple filings but could take longer for more complex ones. Here is the website to file: https://www.fincen.gov/boi

Our firm cannot file these beneficial owner filings for clients (guidance is only for attorneys and CPA’s) but we are here to give general information regarding these filings. There is also something called a FinCEN ID that is recommended to get and use for the BOI filing for the company (or give to the person filing it). A FinCEN ID will save a lot of time if you have multiple entities that need to be filed for.

October 1, 2018 In Financial Planning, Investments

Fee-Only vs. Fee-Based Financial Advice

Fee-Only

Financial Advisors that are Fee-Only are paid directly for their services by their clients. They can be paid either as a percentage of assets they manage, a fixed planning fee, or hourly fees. Fee-Only planners are only paid from their clients. They can charge a one-time fee or an ongoing fee for their services.

Fee-Only advisors have fewer conflicts of interest because they are only paid by the client and their interests are aligned with the client. They only worry about the client’s needs as a result. Fee-Only advisors cannot accept any compensation because of product sales and therefore makes working with them more transparent for clients.

 

Fee-Based

Fee-Based financial planning may sound like Fee-Only but is significantly different. The main difference is that Fee-Based advisors can accept commissions from financial products, annuities, and insurance products that they sell their clients. There tend to be a lot of conflicts of interest for the financial advisor. Fee-Based advisors may do some fixed fee planning but also sell commission-based products alongside the planning fee. There tends to be less transparency with Fee-Based advice.

 

*Davis Private Wealth is a Fee Only Financial Planning firm in Wellington, Florida. As a Registered Investment Advisory firm, we have a fiduciary duty to all of our clients.

September 1, 2018 In Budgeting, Miscellaneous

New Amazon Prime Credit Card!

As I have been meeting with clients lately, I have continuously brought up the Amazon Prime Credit Card that I recently signed up for. I feel that the benefits of this card are fantastic and worth sharing. If you shop at Amazon and/or Wholefoods a significant amount, then you would benefit the most from this card.

Here are some of the benefits of using this card:

5% back on purchases at Whole Foods and Amazon (3% if you don’t have Amazon Prime)

2% back on purchases at restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores

1% on all other purchases

No foreign transaction fees

Here is a link to all the card benefits on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/b/?ie=UTF8&node=16070413011

I’m anticipating that our family will spend around $12,000 this year at Whole Foods (since this is Melissa’s favorite grocery store😊). So, with 5% cash back we will get back $600 each year versus the 1% we were getting on our previous card. Of course, I advise that you pay off any credit card balances each month.

 

*Financial Planning, Wealth Management, & Investment Management firm in Wellington, FL.