New York LLC Transparency Act

Legislators in New York are considering the New York LLC Transparency Act, a law that would require limited liability companies (LLCs) to file beneficial ownership reports with New York state regulators.

The FACT Coalition held a legislative briefing last week to discuss the bill.

If enacted, New York Senate Bill S8439 would require LLCs in New York to file a beneficial ownership report with the NY Department of State or Department of Taxation and Finance that is nearly identical to the report that would be required to be filed with FinCEN under the CTA.

Since FinCEN's efforts to implement the CTA have taken longer than expected, a state version of a similar law could conceivable take effect before the CTA. If so, affected companies might need to re-focus their compliance efforts in response.

A key aspect of the New York bill is that the database of beneficial ownership information would be partially made public, in contrast to the CTA database which would be confidential and searchable only by designated law enforcement authorities.

Ryan Gurule, speaking for the FACT Coalition

, said "The "LLC Transparency Act" would leverage and, in many ways improve upon reforms occurring at the federal level, to require disclosure of beneficial owners of limited liability companies formed, operating or transacting in New York."

It remains unclear whether these efforts in New York are an outlier or a sign of things to come.