On February 17, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a Department of Justice request for a stay of the court’s nationwide injunction which had temporarily blocked the enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) and its reporting rule (“Reporting Rule”). This ruling effectively revives, again, the requirement for reporting companies to disclose beneficial ownership information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
FinCEN’s Response
In response to the court’s ruling, the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) posted an alert on its website on February 18, 2025. The alert states that “reporting companies may need additional time to comply with the BOI reporting obligations, FinCEN is generally extending the deadline 30 calendar days from February 19, 2025 (to March 21, 2025), for most companies.” The statement also advised that “FinCEN will assess its options to further modify deadlines, while prioritizing reporting for those entities that pose the most significant national security risks.” FinCEN signaled it also intends to initiate a process to revise the reporting rule to reduce the burden for lower-risk entities, which would include many U.S. small businesses.
What’s Next?
At this time, the beneficial ownership interest report (“BOI Report”) filings for both existing entities and newly formed/registered entities are required to be filed on or before March 21, 2025.
For more information, please see https://www.fincen.gov/boi or contact our office to schedule a time to discuss or meet with you regarding CTA compliance.