MD Attorney General Issues Opinion Re: Beneficial Ownership Reporting & CPA Unauthorized Practice of Law
In 29 pages, he concludes:
"In our opinion, the Maryland courts would most likely hold that a CPA may, without violating the prohibition on unauthorized practice of law, provide clients general information about the Transparency Act and the BOIR requirement without tailoring the information to any client’s individual situation, or fill out and file a BOIR form using a list of beneficial owners submitted by the client. Though the question is closer, a CPA likely also may help a client to determine whether it is a “reporting company,” or to identify its “beneficial owners” within the meaning of the Transparency Act, by walking the client through FinCEN’s instructions, by defining terms that are familiar to nonlawyers and/or CPAs, or by answering questions for the client where the question and answer do not call for legal knowledge or skills. However, a CPA generally should not answer a BOIR-related question for a client where there is uncertainty as to the answer and resolving that uncertainty would require legal knowledge, skill, and judgment."
You can read the entire opinion https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/Opinions%20Documents/2024/109OAG32.pdf
