More Changes to the New York LLC Transparency Act
The saga of the New York LLC Transparency Act keeps changing. As the Governor recently signed a new law changing several key provisions of the Act, this article will serve to supplement our article from April 11, 2024, notating relevant changes. For those of you following, this is my fifth article reviewing the LLC laws enacted by the federal government and New York state.
There are several major updates:
- The initial bill signed last December required LLCs to make the required filing by December 21, 2024. The updated law extends this deadline such that the new filing date is now January 1, 2026, which is a little more than a year later.
- The initial bill provided that all filings would be publicly available. The updated law now states that the information will be kept in a confidential database, accessible (1) by the owner of the LLC, (2) by Court order, (3) by federal, state, and local government agencies, and (4) for law enforcement purposes.
- The initial bill contained minor penalties for failure to comply with the law. The updated law imposes harsher penalties, including larger monetary penalties, and possible suspension, dissolution or cancellation of the LLC. However, while the federal law contains criminal penalties, the New York law still does not contain any.
- Under the federal law, an update to a filing must be made within 30 days of a change in information that was previously reported. Under the New York law, changes are reported with the annual statement required to be filed.
We will continue monitoring and reporting on any further changes to the law.
This article is intended as a general discussion of these issues only and is not to be considered legal advice or relied upon. For more information, please contact Jeffrey Blankstein who counsels clients on estate and retirement planning, individual taxation, real estate and litigation. Mr. Blankstein is admitted to practice law in New York.