Every five years, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) does a survey of companies and individuals who hold investments outside of the United States. The BEA uses the financial and operating data gathered to produce statistics on US-owned business activities in other countries. These statistics are used by business leaders, policy makers, and researchers for a variety of purposes.
If you as an individual or as a part of nonprofit organization, trust, or estate own 10 percent or more of a foreign company, you must file Forms BE-10A and BE-10D by May 29, 2020 to report on fiscal year 2019. You’re required to do the same if you own any foreign real estate that gets rented out. This requirement applies to individuals and small companies; the information will be used to compile the BEA’s benchmark survey.
Additional forms may be required if your gross operating revenues, sales, or assets equal more than $25 million (positive or negative). If your company had $300 million or more (positive or negative) in total assets, sales or operating revenues (excluding sales taxes), or net income (after provision for U.S. sales taxes) in fiscal year 2019, you are required to file the complete Form BE-10.
Change in Rules
If your nonprofit was previously contacted by the BEA about completing these forms and you have not been contacted this year, this doesn’t mean you don’t have to comply. Prior to 2015, the BE-10 was only required by companies that the BEA notified. That’s no longer true.
What’s in It?
The BE-10 forms are not yet available online at this writing. When they are, you’ll be able to find them here. You’ll also be able to efile from this link.
To complete the BE-10A and BE-10D, you’ll answer some questions about the entity or entities you’re reporting. You’ll also, of course, have to provide some financial information, like your total assets and liabilities and the ownership percentage of the person reporting.
This last requirement is one of the areas where it can get tricky. Look at the BEA’s own description of who is required to file: …any U.S. person that had a foreign affiliate – that is, that had a direct or indirect ownership or control of at least 10 percent of the voting stock of an incorporated foreign business enterprise, or an equivalent interest in an unincorporated foreign business enterprise – at the end of the U.S. person’s 2019 fiscal year.
Further, some private funds may be exempt from filing.
So, can you tell if you even need to file a BE-10? Contact us, and we can help you determine this and walk you through the process. You’re not dealing with the IRS here, of course, but the BEA is very serious about this survey requirement.
