Filing the FinCEN Real Estate Report: Form, Deadline, and Penalties

The FinCEN Real Estate Report is an electronic filing that identifies the beneficial owners behind residential property purchased by a legal entity or trust without a traditional mortgage. For any qualifying closing on or after March 1, 2026, the settlement professional handling the transaction submits the report through FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing System by the last day of the month after the month of closing. There is no filing fee and no dollar threshold.¹

Transactions That Trigger a Report

Three conditions have to line up. The property must be residential, the transfer must be non-financed, and the buyer must be a legal entity or trust rather than an individual.

Residential property covers single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, cooperative shares, and undeveloped land where the buyer intends to build a structure for one to four families.² Commercial buildings are outside the rule unless they contain a qualifying residential component.

A transfer counts as non-financed when no lender subject to federal anti-money laundering program requirements and suspicious activity report obligations extends credit secured by the property. A conventional bank mortgage takes the deal out of scope. Seller financing, or a loan from a private lender without those federal obligations, does not; FinCEN treats those as cash purchases and the report is required.³

There is no minimum price. A $50,000 condo transferred to an LLC is treated the same as a $5 million estate. Gift transfers to entities or trusts can also be reportable, which pulls in many estate-planning moves: transferring a family home into an LLC or funding a trust with residential property can trigger a filing unless an exemption applies.⁴

Transfers That Are Exempt

Several categories fall outside the rule:

Transfers at death, whether by will, trust terms, or operation of law.
Transfers incident to divorce or the dissolution of a marriage or civil union.
No-consideration transfers by an individual (alone or with a spouse) to a revocable trust where that individual or spouse is the settlor or grantor.⁵
Transfers to highly regulated buyers, including publicly traded companies, banks, credit unions, registered broker-dealers, insurance companies, registered investment companies, and entities wholly owned by any of them.
Transfers to business trusts created under state statute, such as Delaware statutory trusts, which are excluded from the definition of “transferee trust.”

The revocable-trust carve-out is narrower than it looks. It covers only no-consideration transfers where the property owner is also the trust’s creator. Moving property into someone else’s trust, or into an irrevocable trust where the grantor has given up control, does not qualify, even inside a family.

Who Has to File

FinCEN assigns the filing duty using a seven-tier cascade. Work down the list; the first professional involved in the transaction is the reporting person:

The person listed as the closing or settlement agent on the closing statement.
The person who prepares the closing or settlement statement.
The person who files the deed with the local recordation office.
The person who underwrites an owner’s title insurance policy for the buyer.
The person who disburses the greatest amount of funds in connection with the transfer.
The person who provides a title evaluation.
The person who prepares the deed or other instrument transferring ownership.⁵

In most residential closings the settlement agent sits at the top of the list, and the obligation lands there. In states where attorneys handle closings without a formal settlement statement, the duty slides to whoever files the deed or underwrites title insurance.

Shifting the Duty by Designation Agreement

Two or more professionals in the same closing can move the filing obligation by written designation agreement. The agreement must include the date, the names and addresses of the transferor and transferee, a description of the property, the designated reporting person’s name and address, and the names and addresses of all other parties. Both the person taking on the duty and the person who would otherwise have been responsible must sign.⁴

No specific format is required. A letter or a clause in the closing instructions works as long as it covers the required elements. The designation agreement is not filed with the report, but every party to it must keep a copy for five years.

Information to Gather Before Closing

The report has four parts. Collecting the data before closing day is the difference between a quick filing and weeks of follow-up with beneficial owners.

Part I: Reporting Person

Your own legal name (or entity name if filing on behalf of a company), street address, city, state, and ZIP code, plus a category identifying your role in the transaction: settlement agent, title company, attorney, and so on.⁶

Part II: Property

The closing date, the property’s full street address, and a legal description. You select the legal description type (metes and bounds, lot and block, or other) and enter the description exactly as it appears on the deed or title documents.

Part III: Transferee

This is the largest section. You need:

Legal name of the entity or trust, any alternate or trade names, address, and whether the transferee is an entity or trust. For trusts, record the date the trust instrument was executed and whether it is revocable.
Total consideration paid, in U.S. dollars. For gifts and other no-consideration transfers, enter zero.
An identification number for the entity itself: EIN, foreign tax ID, or other identifying number.
For each beneficial owner (anyone who directly or indirectly exercises substantial control over the entity or holds at least 25 percent of its equity): full legal name, date of birth, residential address, and a unique identifying number.⁵

The identifying number for a beneficial owner can be an SSN, ITIN, or EIN. If the person has no IRS-issued number, a foreign tax identification number with the issuing jurisdiction is acceptable. As a last resort, a non-expired foreign passport number can be used.⁷ Ask for copies of government-issued photo identification and entity formation documents in advance so the data can be verified before closing.

Part IV: Transferor

The seller’s legal name, address, date of birth (if an individual), and identifying number. If the seller is an entity or trust, the same level of detail applies, including the legal name, alternate names, and an identification number, along with the name of a person authorized to act on the seller’s behalf.

Filing Through the BSA E-Filing System

The Real Estate Report is filed only through FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing System at bsaefiling.fincen.gov.¹ Many title companies and law firms already have an account for Currency Transaction Reports or Suspicious Activity Reports. If yours does not, account registration is free and available from the E-Filing portal’s homepage.

Once you log in, select the Real Estate Report form, enter the data for each of the four parts, and step through the confirmation screens before final submission. After you transmit the report, the system generates a digital confirmation of receipt. Save it. That confirmation is your proof of compliance and the first thing FinCEN will ask about if a specific transaction ever comes up.

There is no filing fee.

Deadline and Recordkeeping

The report is due by the last day of the calendar month following the month in which the closing occurred. A closing on June 10 must be reported by July 31. A closing on January 28 gives you until the end of February. The obligation applies to any reportable transfer with a closing date on or after March 1, 2026.⁴

Federal law requires the reporting person to keep a copy of the filed report for five years from the date of filing. If a designation agreement is in place, every party to that agreement must also keep a copy for five years.⁴ A dedicated compliance folder or document management system will save you the trouble of reconstructing records years later.

Penalties for Missed or False Filings

FinCEN enforces the reporting obligation through civil and criminal penalties under the Bank Secrecy Act.

A negligent violation by a non-financial trade or business carries an inflation-adjusted civil penalty of up to $1,430 per violation. A pattern of negligent activity raises the ceiling to $111,308.⁸ These amounts are adjusted periodically for inflation.

Criminal penalties apply when someone willfully fails to file or files false information. A willful violation can result in a fine of up to $250,000, imprisonment for up to five years, or both. When the violation is part of a pattern of illegal activity involving more than $100,000 in a 12-month period, the maximum fine rises to $500,000 and the maximum prison sentence doubles to ten years.⁹ Courts can also order convicted individuals to forfeit any profit from the violation.

Criminal charges target deliberate evasion, not honest mistakes. The civil structure is the one most reporting persons need to watch, because a pattern of late or careless filings can compound quickly against a firm that shows up repeatedly in FinCEN’s database.

1
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Residential Real Estate Rule
2
eCFR. 31 CFR 1031.320 – Reports of Residential Real Property Transfers
3
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Quick Reference Guide Residential Real Estate Reporting
4
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Residential Real Estate Frequently Asked Questions
5
eCFR. 31 CFR 1031.320 – Reports of Residential Real Property Transfers
6
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Real Estate Report Form
7
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Real Estate Report Filing Instructions
8
eCFR. 31 CFR 1010.821 – Penalty Adjustment and Table
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 5322 – Criminal Penalties