A beneficial owner is any individual who, directly or indirectly:

Exercises substantial control over a reporting company; OR Owns or controls at least 25 percent of the ownership interests of a reporting company.

A reporting company is a Limited Liability Company (LLC) formed or authorized to do business in New York State with 20 or fewer full-time U.S.-based employees. Exempt entities include securities reporting issuers, governmental authorities, banks, credit unions, depository institution holding companies, money services businesses, brokers or dealers in securities, securities exchanges or clearing agencies, other Exchange Act registered entities, investment companies or investment advisers, venture capital fund advisers, insurance companies, state-licenses insurance producers, Commodity Exchange Act registered entities, accounting firms, public utilities, financial market utilities, pooled investment vehicles, tax-exempt entities, entities assisting tax-exempt entities, large operating companies, subsidiaries of certain exempt entities, and inactive entities.

Every year, regardless of whether there have been any changes to beneficial owners.

Reporting companies that fail to submit their paperwork on time can be fined up to $500 per day and face a business suspension for noncompliance.

YES! Even though the federal Corporate Transparency Act/beneficial ownership reporting requirement now only requires foreign LLCs to file with FinCEN, this is a massive new and unique mandate imposed by New York State.