If during an annual review we detect that a Phase II eligible customer that is CTR exempt has changed their address some time in the past year (it is a corporate office, it is movable), then should we file an amended CTR exemption?

Let me rephrase: I don't mean "should" we, but, does the regulation require us to do so?

So let me get this straight.

Your currently filed Form 110 is no longer correct based on an annual review.

Why would you ever believe that would not have to be corrected?

OP here. I hesitate to respond to someone who is openly hostile in his initial reply, but here goes: Why would anyone believe that an amendment would need to be filed, given that the customer's physical location (in the US) is not a factor in determining eligibility and is not listed in the requirements of things that need an annual review? I'm aware that some banks would file an amendment for this or any other minor insignificant issue, and I'm aware that FinCEN would likely advise we "should" do so. The question is: is it a requirement? My conclusion is that it is not.

Annual reviews require confirming that the customer remains eligible for exemption. Nothing in the regulation or guidance suggests that an address change on the customer's part would trigger an amended DOEP. Source of the below is: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/31/1020.315

"(d) Annual review. At least once each year, a bank must review the eligibility of an exempt person described in paragraphs (b)(4) to (7) of this section to determine whether such person remains eligible for an exemption. As part of its annual review, a bank must review the application of the monitoring system required to be maintained by paragraph (h)(2) of this section to each existing account of an exempt person described in paragraphs (b)(6) or (b)(7) of this section."


The referenced (b) (4) to (7) is:
"(4) Any entity, other than a bank, whose common stock....;
(5) Any subsidiary, other than a bank, of any entity described in paragraph (b)(4)....
(6) To the extent of its domestic operations and only with respect to transactions conducted through its exemptible accounts, any other commercial enterprise (for purposes of this section, a “non-listed business”), other than an enterprise specified in paragraph (e)(8) of this section, that:
(i) Maintains a transaction account, as defined in paragraph (e)(9) of this section, at the bank for at least two months, except as provided in paragraph (c)(2)(ii) of this section;
(ii) Frequently engages in transactions in currency with the bank in excess of $10,000; and
(iii) Is incorporated or organized under the laws of the United States or a State, or is registered as and eligible to do business within the United States or a State; or
(7) With respect solely to withdrawals for payroll purposes from existing exemptible accounts, any other person (for purposes of this section, a “payroll customer”) that:
(i) Maintains a transaction account, as defined in paragraph (e)(9) of this section, at the bank for at least two months, except as provided in paragraph (c)(2)(ii) of this section;
(ii) Operates a firm that frequently withdraws more than $10,000 in order to pay its United States employees in currency; and
(iii) Is incorporated or organized under the laws of the United States or a State, or is registered as and eligible to do business within the United States or a State."

So, here is my checklist:
(6) It continues to be a "non-listed business;"
(i) it maintains a transaction account and has done so for at least two months;
(ii) it frequently engages in transactions in currency in excess of $10,000; and
(iii) it is incorporated under the laws of a US state.

A review of the address on the account is not even a requirement, let alone a trigger for a BSA form filing.

I find nothing in the regulation or guidance that suggests that once a Phase II DOEP is filed, that banks must perpetually monitor (at least annually) for minor, insignificant changes (such as an address change) that in no way impacts the eligibility of the customer for exemption.

If you filed 150 CTRs and determined you used the wrong customer address on them, what would to do? You would either amend them all or call FinCEN for a ruling. Why don't you give them a call and see what they say? Why would you believe that Form 110 is any different than any other form that has to be filed with FinCEN if you determine that the information on the form is no longer correct?

OP here. Based on the law that led the form's creation, the guidance applicable to the forms, the instructions on the forms, etc. CTRs and CTR Exemptions are two different sections of law, guidance, instructions, etc. But I appreciate your opinion and welcome anyone else's who wants to chime in too.

You will not find any such requirement in the regulation. This is the most current guidance on CTR Exemptions from FinCEN.

https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/guidance/FIN-2012-G003.pdf

You will note that once upon a time, bank were required to file an updated DOEP every two years. This would have been the time and place to update an address. Even the filing of a DOEP to advise FinCEN of a revoked exemption is voluntary.

Since the record retention period for a DOEP is five years, you could have a customer who has been exempted for six years move and then you wouldn't even have a BSA ID to tie a DOEP amendment back to since the original DOEP has likely been purged from your records. To Randy's point the only way to be 100% certain is to email the helpdesk, but I do not see anything in the regulation requiring an amended DOEP if it was accurate at the time is was filed. Similarly, if we had a business for whom we filed several CTRs suddenly move, we are not going to go back to all those previously filed CTRs to file amendments because the information changed years later. As long as the information was accurate at the time the report was filed, you should be fine.