The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a 60-day notice in the Federal Register giving the public the opportunity to comment on the form that will be used by real estate professionals to report information as required by the anti-money laundering regulations for the residential real estate final rule published Aug. 29.
The residential real estate rule (RRE), effective Dec. 1, 2025, will require certain industry professionals to report information to FinCEN about non-financed transfers of residential real estate to a legal entity or trust, which present a high illicit finance risk. The information will be used to help the Treasury, law enforcement and national security agencies address illicit finance vulnerabilities in the residential real estate sector and curtail bad actors’ ability to use residential real estate to launder and store illicit funds.
The proposed real estate report (RER) would be submitted electronically through FinCEN’s BSA (Bank Secrecy Act) eFiling system. The system will offer three filing options for RERs: an online form, a PDF form or a user-developed automated interface to file multiple reports.
“The proposed RER contains 111 distinct fields, of which, FinCEN expects approximately 60 percent must be completed to report a given transfer per the requirements specified in the RRE rule,” FinCEN’s Federal Register notice stated. “The form may require as few as approximately 40 fields to be completed, and FinCEN anticipates that significantly more fields may be required for certain highly complex reportable transfers, such as those with multiple beneficial owners or multiple sources of funds that would require the same fields to be populated for each owner or source of funds.”
The RER form contains information about reporting person, transferee entity or transferee trust, the beneficial owners of the transferee entity or transferee trust, certain individuals signing documents on behalf of the transferee entity or transferee trust, the seller, the property being transferred and any payments made. The information will be maintained by FinCEN and made accessible to authorized users.
FinCEN estimated the reporting person would need an average of two hours per reportable transfer to collect and review reportable information and related documents, and an average of 30 minutes to complete and submit an RER.
Comments must be received no later than Jan. 13, 2025, and can be emailed through the federal eRulemaking portal. Follow the instructions for submitting comments and refer to docket number FINCEN-2024-0019 and the specific Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number 1506-0080.
Comments can also be mailed to the Policy Division, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, VA 22183. Refer to docket number FINCEN-2024-0019 and OMB control number 1506-0080.