BEA offers extension to survey reporting deadline

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is offering an extension to the reporting deadline for its BE-10 Benchmark Survey of US Direct Investment Abroad, a mandatory survey on US overseas investment.

All GPs who own foreign entities are required to file, but filers submitting more than 100 forms may submit a request by June 30 in order to extend the deadline to August 31.

Unlike the last BE-10 survey conducted in 2009, all US private funds that owned, directly or indirectly, 10 percent or more of the “voting stock” of a non-US entity (including real estate investments) during the 2014 fiscal year must participate in the 2014 Benchmark regardless of whether or not they were notified by the BEA.

For private funds with extensive international investments, the survey creates a time-consuming reporting burden. Each GP is required to file a Form BE-10A for its own data, as well as a BE-10B, BE-10C or BE-10D, as applicable, for each of its foreign affiliates. The forms request both financial and operational information.

If a fund only indirectly owned 10 percent or more of the voting stock of a non-US company (for instance, a US portfolio company with foreign subsidiaries), a GP may be able to avoid the reporting requirement if the BEA authorizes the portfolio company to file rather than the fund itself, according to a memo from Kirkland & Ellis.

While the BEA has stated informally that it does not intend to penalize an entity that fails to file, persistent failure to file may ultimately result in civil and criminal penalties. The BEA may pursue civil penalties up to $25,000 and seek injunctive relief, and willful violations may result in criminal penalties of up to $10,000 and imprisonment for up to one year.