Joe and Jane Customer have an account that is titled "J&J Construction." We have no documentation on file of how we identified this business (we never do). The checks that we order for J&J Construction have "Customer Construction Co-Joe or Jane Customer" on them. All checks coming into the account are to "Customer Construction Co." I went to our secretary of state's website and there is no documentation there for the business. The customer has been contacted to try and get some papers that say this is an actual business and their response was they have none. This account was opened in 1986 and I am not sure what regulations were around back then as I was not born yet, but I do know that we should be trying to update information like this to avoid these problems. Here is the rest of the equation:

Joe comes in and takes out $20,000 in cash. Who/what on earth do I fill the CTR out for?

Do I just put Joe Customer as the conductor of a transaction on his own behalf since we don't actually have a business here?
Or do I put Joe Customer as 2b conducting a transaction for another and fill in 2c for what is on the signature card? (or what the business goes by?)

Any help (besides run) would be very appreciated.

Okay, if you're not going to run, I'll offer an opinion with which a guru might disagree so wait for some other feedback.

No matter how old the business, it would seem that they should be registered with the secretary of state if it is a 'legal entity'. Even absent a registration, they should have some documentation such as articles of incorporation, certificate, business license from the locality, etc. In the absence of such documentation, I'd presume it is a sole proprietorship and would file as Joe Customer conduction on his own behalf.

bcompliance: When you say that you "never" have documentation on file on how you identified the business, are you saying that you don't do CIP? I understand that the J&J business that you are asking about predated the CIP requirement, but if you are meeting the CIP verification and record retention requirements you should at least have information for all of your more recent customers.

More recent == opened in the last 12 years (CIP was effective 10/1/2003).

I'm sorry to confuse... "never" meant when I need something from an account that was opened years ago. I didn't mean that we don't CIP for our accounts.

Absent a state law that says there is a H & W sole proprietorship, two people in business together = a partnership. Do a Google search [name of your state] and Uniform Partnership Act. If your state passed that law, they are a partnership regardless of whether they have a written partnership agreement.

The account needs (has always needed) an EIN.

The fact that the IRS allows the business to be taxed as if it belongs to both H & W is irrelevant; we've dealt with that issue befor

Thanks for that guidance Ken. I am waiting on a call back from FinCEN on how to proceed with the filing of the CTR.

I received a call back from FinCEN yesterday. They told me to file the CTR and complete two Part I's, one using 2c to identify the business as it is listed on the signature card, and one using 2b for the individual conducting the transaction.

This is in a state where the Uniform Partnership Act has been passed and the account cannot be a sole proprietorship since the wife is on the account (thanks Ken). I was also told that I need to file an amendment as soon as the customer brings in their paperwork establishing the business as a legal entity.