Question:  What is a FinCEN Identifier?

Answer: A “FinCEN identifier” is a unique identifying number that FinCEN will issue to an individual or reporting company upon request after the individual or reporting company provides certain information to FinCEN.

  • An individual or reporting company is not required to obtain a FinCEN identifier.
  • An individual or reporting company may only receive one FinCEN identifier.
  • Your company may include FinCEN identifiers in its BOI report instead of certain required information about beneficial owners or company applicants.

FinCEN Identifiers for Individuals

Individuals may electronically apply for FinCEN identifiers by going to https://fincenid.fincen.gov/landing. In the application, an individual must provide their name, date of birth, address, unique identifying number and issuing jurisdiction from an acceptable identification document, and an image of the identification document – the same four pieces of personal information and image reporting companies submit about beneficial owners and company applicants in BOI reports. After an individual submits an application, the individual will immediately receive a FinCEN identifier unique to that individual.

After an identifier is issued to a person that person cannot obtain a FinCEN identifier for another person.  Each person who wants an identifier must create an account with the federal government at local.gov before getting the FinCEN identifier.

Once a beneficial owner or company applicant has obtained a FinCEN identifier, reporting companies may report it in place of the otherwise required four pieces of personal information about the individual in BOI reports.

FinCEN Identifiers for Reporting Companies

A reporting company may request a FinCEN identifier when it submits a BOI report by checking a box on the reporting form.

Updates or Corrections

When the information an individual or reporting company reported to FinCEN to obtain a FinCEN identifier changes, or when the individual or reporting company discovers that reported information is inaccurate, the individual or reporting company must update or correct the reported information, as applicable.