You know, maybe if your business is dependent on concealing its ownership, you should not have a business at all:

Small businesses are assessing the potential costs of complying with requirements under proposals in both chambers of Congress aimed at limiting the use of anonymous shell companies.

The House in October passed a bill requiring most limited-liability companies, among other firms, to tell the Treasury Department who their primary owners are. A companion measure has been introduced in the Senate. The legislation aims to crack down on entities that are used as vehicles for hiding or moving illicit funds.

The bills would require companies with 20 employees or fewer and no physical office to provide owners’ names and other personally identifiable information. The House measure calls for annual submissions; the Senate bill gives businesses 90 days to report ownership changes and a year to report changes to addresses or other personal information.

Limited-liability companies, often referred to as shell companies, provide owners with protections against lawsuits, among other financial benefits. They are frequently used by real-estate investors and sole proprietors, those who run one-person businesses. Some limited-liability companies are registered in the U.S. under the names of representatives who neither own nor operate them.

Passage of the House bill marked a victory for corporate-transparency advocates, following several failed attempts. Big banks, human-rights advocates, law-enforcement authorities and other groups have expressed their support for creating a registry of “beneficial,” or true, owners.

If you need to conceal the ownership of your business, your business is fundamentally corrupt, and and it needs to be ended.