Articles Tagged with Beneficial Ownership Information Reports

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) requires most small business corporations and limited liability companies to file Beneficial Ownership Information Reports (BOI reports or BOIRs) with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a part of the United States Department of Treasury.  The purpose of the reports is to give law enforcement information regarding the people who own or control companies that may not otherwise be available to them, primarily for the purpose of investigating money laundering and other financial crimes.  For companies that were formed before January 1, 2024, BOIRs are due by January 1, 2025.

 At least they were before this week. On December 3, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. Garland (civil action number 4:24-CV-478) ruled that the CTA is likely unconstitutional and issued a nationwide preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of the BOIR requirement. In doing so, the court wrote, “[R]eporting companies need not comply with the CTA’s January 1, 2025, BOI reporting deadline pending further order of the Court.”

For several reasons, this is not the last word on the CTA.  First, the Government has already appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which could set aside the preliminary injunction.