A bill approved by the House Financial Services Committee last month aims to bring the United States into compliance with global anti-money-laundering norms. The legislation would require the beneficial owners of shell companies to be reported to the federal government. A beneficial owner is defined as any person who “exercises substantial control” over the entity, who owns more than 25 percent of it, or who “receives substantial economic benefits from” the L.L.C. or corporation.

The legislation, called the Corporate Transparency Act of 2019 and offered by Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York, would require that each applicant for an L.L.C. or shell corporation must report to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, the name, date of birth and current residence of any beneficial owner. The legislation would also require annual updating of the names of the owners of the entity.

The legislation would apply initially only to newly formed organizations, but two years after adopting the rules, the Treasury Department could require existing L.L.C.s and shell corporations to disclose similar identifying information. This would allow the government to determine the true owners of companies already in existence. The law would also prohibit companies from issuing shares in “bearer” form, which means that the true owner would not be revealed because there is no ownership information disclosed on a stock certificate.

The information about the true owners would not be publicly available, however. FinCEN could release information only after receiving a proper request from a local, state, tribal or federal law enforcement agency, or a request by a foreign country. That means ownership information would not be publicly available to identify who is actually behind an investment.

Providing “false or fraudulent beneficial ownership information” or failing to update information would be subject to a civil penalty of $10,000, or a fine and imprisonment for up to three years for a criminal violation.