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Yearly update · 2025
What changed in 2025 for e-commerce companies
Retrospective edition, written in October 2026 from the public record. 2025 removed one federal filing for US companies and added friction almost everywhere else: at the border, at Companies House and inside payment platforms.
This page is general information and is not legal or tax advice. Rules and fees change; check the official source or a licensed professional before acting.
The federal ownership report was withdrawn for US companies
On 21 March 2025, FinCEN issued an interim final rule exempting entities formed in the United States from beneficial ownership (BOI) reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act. The exemption depends on where the entity is formed, not on who owns it, so a US LLC with a foreign owner is covered. Only entities formed under foreign law and registered to do business in a US state remained in scope.
The $800 duty-free threshold ended
The de minimis exemption, which let shipments worth $800 or less enter the United States without duties, ended for goods from China and Hong Kong on 2 May 2025 and for all countries on 29 August 2025. Every parcel now goes through customs processing with duties based on origin. Stores that ship individual orders from overseas to US customers were affected most; many moved to bulk imports and US fulfilment.
Stripe introduced its physical presence requirement
From 1 July 2025, Stripe began screening the business and representative addresses of US accounts using Issuing, Treasury or Opal, and stopped accepting registered agent, mailbox and virtual addresses as a physical presence for those products.
Visa launched VAMP
Visa's Acquirer Monitoring Program took effect on 1 June 2025, merging fraud and dispute monitoring into a single ratio.
UK identity verification became mandatory
From 18 November 2025, new directors and people with significant control of UK companies must verify their identity with Companies House, with existing companies brought in over a transition period.
Hong Kong opened a re-domiciliation route
Hong Kong's company re-domiciliation regime came into operation on 23 May 2025, allowing eligible companies formed elsewhere to move their domicile to Hong Kong while keeping their legal identity.
Other editions
What to remember
- US-formed companies no longer file the federal BOI report.
- Duty-free entry for low-value parcels into the United States is over.
- Identity verification is now part of running a UK company.
This page is general information, last reviewed in October 2026. It is not legal or tax advice and may not reflect the latest rules in every state. Atiko is not a law firm or an accounting firm. Please consult a licensed attorney or tax adviser about your own situation.
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