FinCEN Compliance for Your Transactions
FinCEN's Residential Real Estate Reporting Rule took effect March 1, 2026. As a real estate professional, understanding when a transaction triggers a filing helps you prepare your clients and keep closings on track. Driggs Title handles the rest.
What Is the Reporting Rule?
Under 31 CFR 1031.320, FinCEN requires certain professionals involved in real estate closings to file a Real Estate Report for non-financed transfers of residential real property to legal entities and trusts. The rule targets money laundering through all-cash purchases where entities or trusts are used to obscure beneficial ownership.
Reporting responsibility follows a seven-tier cascade based on the functions performed in the transaction, starting with the settlement agent and working down through statement preparers, closing conductors, fund disbursers, deed preparers, title insurance underwriters, and deed recorders. In practice, this obligation typically falls on settlement agents, title companies, and escrow agents.
As a title company, Driggs Title Agency takes on this reporting obligation so that agents, buyers, and sellers can focus on the transaction itself. We handle the determination, information collection, compliance review, and filing.
When Does a Transaction Trigger a Filing?
A filing is required when all of the following conditions are met and no exemption applies:
Residential Real Property
The transaction involves residential real property in the United States: single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, condominiums, cooperative shares, or vacant land where the buyer intends to build a 1–4 family structure.
Transferee Is a Legal Entity or Trust
The buyer (transferee) is a legal entity (LLC, corporation, partnership, or estate) or any type of trust (revocable or irrevocable). Transfers directly to individuals purchasing in their own name are not reportable.
Non-Financed Transfer
The purchase is not financed by a loan from a financial institution with AML and SAR obligations (banks, credit unions, licensed mortgage lenders). Seller financing, private loans, family loans, and cryptocurrency are all treated as non-financed under the rule.
No Dollar Threshold
Unlike prior Geographic Targeting Orders, this rule has no minimum purchase price. A qualifying transfer at any dollar amount, including transfers for no consideration, is reportable if the other conditions are met.
When a Filing Is Not Required
Even when the basic criteria are met, certain transfers are exempt from reporting:
Our 8-step determination questionnaire evaluates all of these factors automatically, so you don't need to memorize them.
Your Role as an Agent
The reporting obligation falls on the title company, not the agent. But your awareness and early communication can make the process seamless:
Set Expectations Early
If your buyer is purchasing through an LLC, corporation, trust, or other entity, especially without traditional bank financing, let them know that FinCEN reporting may be required. Early awareness avoids surprises and gives everyone time to prepare.
Facilitate Information Collection
When a filing is required, your clients will receive secure, personalized links to provide their information digitally. You can help by encouraging them to complete the forms promptly. No paperwork changes hands. Everything is handled online.
Keep Closings on Track
Our determination process takes minutes, and our guided forms are designed to be completed quickly. We recommend initiating the determination early in the closing process so information collection can run in parallel with your normal timeline.
How Driggs Title Handles the Process
Our compliance platform automates the entire FinCEN reporting workflow from start to finish:
- 8-step determination questionnaire evaluates reportability against every criterion in the rule
- Secure, time-limited magic links sent to buyers and sellers for information collection
- Guided multi-step forms with real-time validation across all 111 report data fields
- Beneficial ownership identification for entities (25%+ ownership or substantial control) and trusts
- Electronic signature capture for certification, with no printing or scanning
- Professional compliance review before every submission
- Automated XML generation and direct submission to FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing system
- Real-time batch tracking with acknowledgement processing and BSA ID assignment
Filing deadline: the later of 30 calendar days after closing or the last day of the following month. Our workflow is designed to meet this deadline comfortably.
Common Questions from Agents
Does every transaction require a FinCEN filing?
No. The rule only applies to non-financed transfers of residential property to legal entities and trusts. If your buyer is an individual purchasing with a traditional bank mortgage, no filing is required. Our determination questionnaire identifies reportability in minutes.
When did this requirement take effect?
The rule was published August 29, 2024, became effective December 1, 2025, and reporting is required for all qualifying transactions closing on or after March 1, 2026.
Will this delay my closing?
It should not. Our digital workflow runs in parallel with your normal closing process. The determination takes minutes, and buyers and sellers typically complete their forms within a few days of receiving their secure link.
What if a buyer's entity won't cooperate?
The title company is still required to file the report. FinCEN does not accept incomplete submissions as a reason not to file. This is why we recommend initiating the process early. It builds information collection into the closing timeline.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
Violations of BSA reporting requirements can result in civil monetary penalties per violation. Willful violations can carry criminal penalties of up to $250,000 in fines and up to 5 years imprisonment. FinCEN has indicated that enforcement will be a priority.
Is client information secure?
Yes. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Buyers and sellers access forms through secure, time-limited links with no accounts or passwords required. Access is strictly controlled and every action is audited.
Driggs Title Has You Covered
Focus on your clients while we handle FinCEN compliance end to end. When a transaction requires a filing, your escrow officer manages the entire workflow from determination through submission to FinCEN.