N.Y. Ownership-Disclosure Bill Sparks Concern on Business Effect

Businesses soon will have to tell the US government more about who owns them. New York state wants to take it a step further—and some tax practitioners are concerned about that.

The New York legislature passed a bill this week that not only would force limited liability companies to disclose the identities of their “beneficial owners”—as they must under new federal rules that take effect in January—but also would make that information publicly available.

The idea, advocates say, is to expose and prevent crime and corruption by making it harder to ...