In the movie "The Accountant", a Treasury agent groans, "Paul's laundromat? Are you kidding me?" Ben Affleck's CPA character is on the Treasury's radar for cleaning dirty mob and terrorist money through small businesses like laundromats. But a new law affecting millions of small businesses is no game.

Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Law

By January 1, businesses with fewer than 20 employees or less than million in revenue must file a beneficial ownership information report (BOIR) with the federal government. The do-it-yourself reporting at https://boiefiling.fincen.gov/ is not burdensome or time-consuming as the IRS is not involved and it's free. Filing requirements and instructions are provided.In Illinois, about 221,000 businesses have 1 to 19 employees, and about 180,000 are in the greater Chicago metropolitan area. The federal government considers small businesses to have fewer than 500 employees and revenues of less than .5 million.This law, which has been on the books for nearly a year, aims to prevent the kind of shenanigans shown in the movie. America's over 30 million small businesses (1.3 million in Illinois) can be used for money laundering, knowingly or unknowingly. Once the money is cleaned, it can fund various illicit activities, including terrorism, and it's difficult to track. The ownership information in the database should make tracking funds easier for law enforcement, and the program is administered by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)."We're doing our best to spread the word," said Brittany Wright, executive director of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is directing its members to the federal government website. About 200, or 65 percent, of the Chamber's 310 members employ 10 or fewer people.Some 23 categories of mainly larger businesses and organizations are exempt from filing a BOIR as they are monitored under other laws and regulations and have stronger internal financial controls and oversight. Experts recommend that small businesses train their employees to recognize money laundering schemes. Accountants, attorneys, and other financial professionals have been alerting clients to the issue and the potential consequences of not filing.Principals in businesses that willfully fail to file by the deadline or update information already on file "could face up to two years imprisonment and fines up to ,000," reports the US Chamber of Commerce website. "Civil penalties [can be] up to 1 a day."

Financial Professionals and Filing

Financial professionals can file the report for businesses, usually for a fee. This service may be valuable to some companies but not to others, especially since filing is straightforward and free.As for "The Accountant", the movie's popularity apparently led to a sequel to be released next year. Memo to small businesses: That's after the mandatory BOIR filing deadline.And, (spoiler alert), while Ben Affleck made a clean getaway almost ten years ago, ownership details of his money-laundering laundromats were definitely not in the BOIR database. He might not be so lucky this time.

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