Ohio is among the 47 states that have not weighed in on the unauthorized practice of law (UPL) issue concerning the upcoming beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirement.   

An advisory opinion on UPL can only come from the Ohio Supreme Court, and only certain entities can request it.  They are very rare to obtain, as evidenced by 47 states still not issuing anything. 

The three states that have issued opinions are Maryland, New Jersey, and Iowa.  This previous OSCPA article has links to the Maryland and New Jersey advisory opinions.  Here’s the BOI information for Iowa: https://www.iacpa.org/boi.  Also, see the AICPA town hall slides 14 – 15.  Slide 15 summarizes the Maryland, NJ, and Iowa opinions. 

Most OSCPA members that want to offer this service first have confirmed whether their commercial liability insurance provider will cover it.  

Finally, the AICPA on Nov. 11 sent this letter to the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee expressing concerns with the upcoming Jan. 1, 2025 deadline for reporting BOI to FinCEN. The letter asks for the rule to be suspended for at least a year so the small business community can become better informed of their filing requirement. 

Resources 

The IRS is sponsoring a free one-hour webinar designed to help the many businesses that must report their BOI to the Treasury Department’s FinCEN by Jan. 1, 2025.  The webinar will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, beginning at 2:00pm – click here to register. 

Phil Lam, FinCEN’s Beneficial Ownership and Innovation Chief, joined the AICPA town hall on Nov. 7 to discuss who needs to comply with BOI, recent updates on deadlines and how CPAs can support clients in meeting the reporting requirements ahead of Jan. 1, 2025 – watch the segment. 

The OSCPA also hosted a sponsored webinar by FincenFetch on Oct. 28 and they have provided a follow-up 30-minute webinar on different ways to incorporate BOI reporting and what to expect in 2025 – click here to watch.