Engred Chai, Attorney at Armstrong Chai

12/10/2024

As you may have heard, under the new Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), most small business owners are required to file corporate transparency reports with beneficial ownership information (BOI). Corporations, LLCs, and other entities formed by filing with a secretary of state will be required to submit BOI reports (“Reporting Companies”).

For most businesses, the filing deadline is January 1, 2025. Those who fail to file by this deadline — or fail to update this information if needed — could face up to two years imprisonment and fines up to $10,000, in addition to civil penalties of up to $591 per day.

Reporting Companies have a limited time to file their initial BOI reports:
1. If the company was established before January 1, 2024, the filing deadline is January 1, 2025.
2. If the company created between January 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025, you have 90 days from either the actual notice of formation or public announcement, whichever comes first, to file.
3. Companies established on or after January 1, 2025, will have 30 days from formation or public announcement of their formation to submit their first report to FinCEN.
4. Companies must submit any corrections or updates to previously filed information within 30 days.

According to the CTA, an individual qualifies as a beneficial owner if they directly or indirectly have a significant ownership stake in a company. This person either has a major influence on the reporting company’s decisions or operations, owns at least 25% of the company's shares, or has a similar level of control over the company's equity.

All Reporting Companies must provide their legal name and trademarks, as well as their current address. They’ll also need to provide a taxpayer identification number and specify the jurisdiction where they were formed.

Companies formed post-January 1, 2024, must provide information regarding the business, its beneficial owners, and its company applicants — including owners’ and applicants’ names, addresses, birthdays, and identification numbers (such as a license or passport number), and the jurisdiction of the documents. Businesses established before that date can omit information regarding company applicants, and must only submit information on the business and beneficial owners.

While the CTA does not require businesses to submit annual reports, the initial filing period may not be the only time you’ll be required to submit information. In addition to the required initial filing, there are requirements to update the original filing when things change. Some of the things that require an updated filing are not things a business owner has ever thought were important to track, and the timeline to report these changes can be as short as 30 days. For instance, if a beneficial owner changes their address, legally changes their name due to marriage or divorce, or obtains a new driver's license, it may necessitate an update to a company’s BOI report. Operational changes or a new delegation of authority could also qualify.

Reach out if you have any questions. And don't fall for any solicitations you receive in the mail!

08/18/2022

If you or someone you know has been the victim of identity theft, the FTC is a great resource for the steps your should take to recover your identity or credit and how to prevent it from happening. You can check it out here:

Recovering from identity theft is a process. Here’s step-by-step advice that can help you limit the damage, report identity theft, and fix your credit.

04/30/2021

If you are a restaurant owner, the American Rescue Plan Act established the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) to help restaurants and other eligible businesses keep their doors open.
Registration for the SBA application portal will begin on Friday, April 30, 2021, at 9 am Eastern Time.
This program will provide facilities with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location. Recipients are not required to repay the funding as long as funds are used for eligible uses no later than March 11, 2023.
Applications will open on Monday, May 3, 2021, at noon Eastern Time. See How to apply for more detail.

08/20/2020

For individuals in communities and groups most impacted by COVID, the legislature has established an emergency check program that can help with $500 support to eligible individuals, payable on the same day as the application is made in most cases. Please see the information at the link below, and share with those who may wish to apply.
Interested individuals can find information on applications here: https://emergencychecks.oregon.gov/. Interested individuals may also call 2-1-1 for “emergency checks” and a live operator will refer them to the participating branch location(s) nearest to them by ZIP code.

Emergency Checks

06/10/2020

This is a good overview of some changes coming to the PPP program, but wait until the official guideleines care issued by teh SBA.

Paycheck Protection Program loan recipients can receive partial loan forgiveness even if they don’t spend at least 60% of their PPP funds on payroll, Treasury and the US Small Business Administration said.

05/19/2020

This a great resources for business owners thinking of reopening their business:

Keeping workers and workplaces safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

05/06/2020

The civil legal aid programs in OR operate a Public Benefits Hotline, where low-income Oregonians can talk to lawyers and paralegals for advice on public benefits including Unemployment Benefits. Here is the contact info:

OREGON PUBLIC BENEFITS HOTLINE: 1(800) 520-5292

Call the hotline number to hear the exact hours of operation for the hotline for the current week.

04/29/2020

You know what all this “spare time” in quarantine leaves time for? Estate Planning! All joking aside, I’ve had multiple friends and clients who have started to stress over their Estate Planning. If this is one of the (many) things keeping you up at night, I would be happy to schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss what goes into the process. As we’re learning in many different ways lately, talking about it can ease the anxiety. Clients often find the process isn’t as painful as they thought it would be!

04/29/2020

Oregon and many other states struggled to adapt aging computer systems to accept the expanded benefits claims. That left thousands of workers without benefits during the first weeks of the pandemic.