Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Filing Requirement Suspended
On Dec. 27, the Merits Panel hearing the emergency appeal of the U.S. District Court's nationwide stay of enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) has decided to vacate a portion of the previously issued ruling of the Stays Panel that granted the stay on the District Court's injunction. Later that day, FinCEN posted the following:
In light of a recent federal court order, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so while the order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.
On Dec. 30, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a request with the Supreme Court to lift the stay imposed by the Merits panel of the Fifth Circuit that overturned the stay imposed by the Motion panel of the Fifth Circuit which reversed the stay imposed by the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas on enforcement of the CTA's BOI reporting requirements. The document can be downloaded here. The plaintiffs in the case have asked the Supreme Court to reject DOJ's request, stating that the staying the injunction would harm reporting companies more than it would help the government.
- You can learn more about the BOI filing requirement and e-file BOI reports here.
- FincenFetch, a BOI filing solution, has provided a free email template for client communications
Deadline Extension Requested
- On Nov. 12, the AICPA sent a letter to the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee expressing concerns with the upcoming Jan. 1, 2025, deadline for reporting BOI to FinCEN. The letter asks for the rule to be suspended for at least a year so the small business community can become better informed of the filing requirement.
- On Dec. 4, the AICPA, NJCPA and other state CPA societies sent a letter to the Department of Treasury and FinCEN asking that they, within their power, delay the BOI reporting deadline by one year (to January 1, 2026).
- On Dec. 17, a continuing resolution was proposed in the House of Representatives that would extend the BOI reporting deadline by one year.
- The spending bill passed by Congress on Dec. 20 did not include a one-year extension to the BOI filing deadline.