New FinCEN-SBA Coordination Act Mandates Town Halls and Multilingual Guides to Help Small Businesses Navigate Ownership Reporting

If you run a small business—whether it’s a local bakery, a construction crew, or a tech startup—you’ve probably heard about the new federal requirement to report who actually owns your company (Beneficial Ownership Information, or BOI) to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). This new FinCEN–SBA Coordination on Beneficial Ownership Registration Act isn't about changing those rules, but about making sure you actually understand them. The bill mandates that FinCEN and the Small Business Administration (SBA) formally team up to educate businesses, specifically within 90 days of the bill becoming law, by signing a detailed agreement (a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU) outlining their joint outreach strategy.

The Corporate Transparency Catch-Up

Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) a while back to fight serious crimes like money laundering and tax fraud by forcing most companies to disclose their true owners. The problem is, many small businesses—the ones who don't have corporate legal teams—are confused or haven't even heard of the requirement. This new bill is basically saying, “Okay, we need to stop relying on small business owners to figure this out on their own.” The core of this legislation is Section 4, which forces FinCEN and the SBA to use the SBA’s existing network of trusted partners—like Small Business Development Centers and Women’s Business Centers—to get the word out. Think of it as a government-mandated study group for the BOI rules.

Required Reading and Real-Life Support

The MOU is packed with practical requirements designed to cut through the confusion. First, all educational material must be available in English, Spanish, and any other languages the agencies agree on, recognizing that not everyone speaks the same language when running a business. Second, Section 4 requires them to host in-person town halls and online webinars featuring FinCEN staff to explain the compliance rules directly. This means you should start seeing local events advertised through your trade associations and SBA field offices, providing a direct line to the people who wrote the rules. They also have to create a plan to combat the scams that inevitably pop up whenever a new federal requirement hits the streets, teaching businesses how to spot and avoid fraud.

The Accountability Check-In

This bill doesn't just ask them to coordinate; it demands accountability. Under Section 5, FinCEN and the SBA must send a joint report to four key Congressional committees—Banking and Small Business in the Senate, and Financial Services and Small Business in the House—every 30 days after signing the MOU. These reports must detail their outreach efforts, estimate how many non-compliant companies they helped, and, most importantly, state the total count of companies that are actually following the beneficial ownership rules. This regular reporting mechanism ensures that Congress can track whether the coordination effort is actually moving the needle on compliance. For the average small business owner, this means the government is finally putting resources into making a complex federal rule understandable, which should ease the administrative headache of trying to comply with the CTA.