By: Miri Hunter, CPA, CVA, CGMA
As you may have heard, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) was enacted by FinCEN and establishes reporting requirements for certain businesses registered to do business in or formed in the US. The CTA required business entities to report information regarding beneficial owner information (BOI), including name, date of birth, address, unique identifying number, and an image of an identification document. For businesses in existence prior to January 1, 2024, this information is to be submitted through FinCEN’s website by January 1, 2025. For businesses established between January 1, 2024 and January 1, 2025, there was a 90-day deadline for filing the initial report.
However, on December 3, 2024, a US District Court in Texas ordered an injunction keeping FinCEN from enforcing the BOI reporting rule. This was a temporary injunction, meaning that businesses were not required to comply with deadline, pending an appeal. Then on December 23, 2024, a panel from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals voted to lift the injunction – and on December 26, 2024, a different panel from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the injunction.
So the question is – What does this mean to you? As of the time of this article, you are not required to comply with the requirement to report beneficial ownership information; however, according to the FinCEN website, reporting companies can voluntarily provide this information. We recommend that you continue to gather the necessary information from beneficial owners in the event the injunction is again lifted.
We will continue to provide updates as they become available.