Most articles about the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Report were written for US-based founders. If you're a non-resident with a US LLC, the rules are slightly different — and the penalty for missing the deadline got steeper in 2026.
This post is the version we send our customers every January. Bookmark it.
What is the BOI Report and who has to file?
The BOI Report is a one-page filing with FinCEN (the US Treasury's financial crimes unit) disclosing every natural person who owns or controls 25%+ of a US LLC or Corp.
You have to file if your LLC is:
- A single-member LLC (regardless of who owns it)
- A multi-member LLC with any individual at 25%+
- Newly formed in 2026 (BOI due within 30 days of formation)
- Existing before 2024 (BOI was due January 1, 2025; if you missed it, file now)
Almost every LLC we form for non-residents falls into one of these categories.
What information do you submit?
For each beneficial owner (you and any partner who owns 25%+):
- Full legal name
- Date of birth
- Residential address (not the LLC's registered office — your actual home address)
- Photo or scan of a government-issued ID (passport works for non-residents)
- The ID number from that document
- Legal name + any trade names (DBA)
- Address of the LLC's principal place of business (your Registered Agent address works)
- State of formation
- EIN (or "applied for" if you're filing within 30 days of forming and EIN hasn't arrived)
For the LLC itself:
Where do you file?
Online at boiefiling.fincen.gov. Filing is free. The site is in English only. It typically takes 10-15 minutes for a single-member LLC.
Stop reading. Start filing.
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What are the 2026 deadlines?
- LLC formed January 1, 2026 or later: 30 calendar days from the date your state stamps your Articles of Organization
- LLC formed before January 1, 2024: should have been filed by January 1, 2025 — file now if you missed it
- Updates: any change to address, name, or ownership requires a refiling within 30 days
What's the penalty for missing it?
As of 2026, $591 per day, capped at $10,000 plus up to 2 years in prison for willful non-filing.
In practice, the criminal penalties are reserved for clear bad-faith cases (money laundering, deliberate cover-ups). The civil $591/day is what almost every late filer pays.
How LLCora handles BOI for you
For every customer we form an LLC for in 2026, we:
- Email you a pre-filled BOI checklist 7 days after the state approves your formation
- Walk you through the FinCEN portal in our Premium plan ($499) on a video call
- Send you a January-1 reminder every year going forward in case ownership changes
- Using the LLC's mailing address instead of your home address. BOI explicitly asks for the residential address of the beneficial owner, not the business address.
- Forgetting to refile after moving. Address changes require a new BOI within 30 days.
- Thinking BOI is the same as Form 5472. They're different. You need BOTH every year.
- Filing through unverified third parties. Some "BOI filing services" charge $200 for a free 15-minute form. File directly at boiefiling.fincen.gov.
- Form 5472 Penalty Guide
- LLC Glossary: BOI Report explained
- Full FAQ for non-resident LLCs
- Wyoming vs Delaware LLC (Wyoming wins on BOI privacy too)
We do NOT file BOI on your behalf — FinCEN requires the actual owner to certify under penalty of perjury, so a third party cannot file for you. But we make it impossible to miss.
Common BOI mistakes by non-residents
Related
If you want to skip the research and have a guide who's helped 1,247+ non-resident LLCs file BOI on time, start with LLCora.