FEDERAL GOVERNMENT - Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOIR)
It's a new federal requirement under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) for certain U.S. and foreign entities to report information about their beneficial owners to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
What Companies need to file a BOI?
Corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), and other business entities.
What information is required for each person?
Beneficial Owners are persons who ultimately own or control the entity. Any person who exercises substantial control over the company
Identifying Information needed: Names (first, middle, and last name), addresses, dates of birth, and other details.
Copies of each person's driver's license.
All companies were required to be registered by December 31, 2024, but there is a court order to postpone the enforcement of the CTA and the BOI reporting requirements until a further court order.
If there is any change to the required information about your company or its beneficial owners in a BOI report that your company has on file, your company must file an updated BOI report no later than 30 days after the date on which the change occurred.
If you need assistance in the filing contact our office.
FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY ADMINISTRATION – FMCSA
DOT safety audits are being done without any warning that the auditor is coming to the trucking company’s office. The auditor just shows up or they may conduct an online audit of the safety documents. If your company has any alerts in the CSA safety ratings, make sure that your driver qualification files are up-to-date along with the drug and alcohol testing, hours-of-service requirements, and vehicle maintenance records. Please contact our office if you need assistance in any safety matter.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is making changes to its Safety Measurement System (SMS), which is used to identify high-risk motor carriers for inspections and enforcement actions. The new system will be implemented in the coming months.
Here are the key changes:
Renaming and Reorganizing the SMS Categories: The SMS categories, previously known as BASICs (Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories), will now be called "Compliance Categories." These categories will be reorganized to better reflect the root cause of safety issues.
Consolidating Violations into Groups: The FMCSA is consolidating the existing 959 roadside violations into 116 violation groups. This is designed to make the system easier for carriers and other stakeholders to understand and improve consistency in enforcement.
Simplifying Violation Severity Weights: Up until now, violations in the SMS have been assigned weights ranging from 1 to 10, based on severity. The FMCSA now plans to use a simplified scale of 1 or 2, with higher weights for out-of-service violations and severe infractions.
Segmenting Driver Fitness and HazMat By Carrier Type: The FMCSA plans to segment the Driver Fitness category based on whether motor carriers operate primarily straight trucks or combination vehicles. Similarly, the Hazardous Materials category will be segmented by whether carriers operate tankers or not.
Moving to Proportionate Percentiles: The "safety event groups" that have been used in the SMS to try to group similar carriers are being replaced with a calculation that determines "proportional percentiles." This is intended to prevent carriers from being unfairly penalized by past mistakes, especially smaller fleets.
Greater Focus on Recent Violations: The FMCSA will calculate percentiles only for carriers with cited violations in the past 12 months, allowing enforcement efforts to focus on carriers with more recent safety issues.
These changes are intended to improve the accuracy and fairness of the SMS. The FMCSA is encouraging motor carriers to familiarize themselves with the new methodology and evaluate their safety practices in light of the planned changes.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is proposing new regulations to increase transparency in brokered freight transactions. This proposal comes after petitions from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) and the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC) requesting stricter regulations on broker transparency.
The proposed regulations would:
Require brokers to keep records in electronic format.
Revise the required contents of brokers' records to better align with transparency goals.
Require brokers to provide records upon request within 48 hours.
The FMCSA believes these changes will make it easier for motor carriers to access information about their transactions with brokers and improve overall transparency in the industry.
U.S. CUSTOMS
It is time to renew your U.S. Customs Transponders. Carriers with vehicles that travel regularly in and out of Canada must obtain new transponders or renew them from the U.S. Customs Service for the 2024 calendar year. Those who purchased transponders in past years should have received renewal notices.
The transponder fee again this year will include a U.S. Department of Agriculture annual entry fee. The cost for the transponders will be $752.85 each and will fulfill the user fee required for all crossings during the calendar year for the vehicle to which they are assigned. Individual trip fees can be purchased at the border crossings for vehicles without transponders—the per-trip fee for the US. Customs and the U.S. Department of Agriculture fee is $19.60 per crossing into the U.S. This entry fee will be used to find illegal products entering the U.S.
CONNECTICUT
The state's mileage tax started on January 1, 2023. Carriers must register for the tax and obtain a Highway Use Fee Permit. Copies of this permit must be carried in the vehicles that go to the state.
Monthly tax filings will range from 6.54 cents per mile for 26,000 GVW vehicles to 17.5 cents per mile for vehicles over 80,000 GVW. An 80,000 GVW vehicle will pay 10 cents per mile.
If you have not contacted us on establishing an account in Connecticut and obtaining a Highway Use Fee Permit do so as soon as possible.
OREGON
Oregon no longer requires the weight receipt in the truck and did away with the $8.50 per unit fee. All vehicles that operate in Oregon must be on file with the state before entering the state. The vehicle list must be updated annually by the end of the year with the state. Motor carriers will not receive a renewal application; all changes must be done online.
December 31, 2024 Permit Extensions
UCR - 2024 Unified Carrier Registration will be enforced on January 1, 2025.
IFTA Fuel Tax Decals & Licenses are extended until February 28, 2025.
New Mexico has not granted an extension at this time.
New York Highway Use tax decals 25th Series will be enforced on January 1, 2025.
We want to take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas
and a prosperous New Year!
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