Wyszynski Law PC

02/19/2025

THE REQUIREMENT FOR FILING BENEFICIAL OWNER INFORMATION REPORT IS BACK IN FORCE AGAIN. PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOING:

Following the February 18, 2025, decision by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Smith, et al. v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, et al., 6:24-cv-00336, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has announced that beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act are back in effect, with a new deadline of March 21, 2025 for most companies.

FinCEN has also announced that it will assess its options to further modify deadlines, while prioritizing reporting for those entities that pose the most significant national security risks. FinCEN intends to initiate a process this year to revise the BOI reporting rule to reduce burden for lower-risk entities, including many U.S. small businesses.

02/17/2025

01/08/2025

The teeter totter of our federal government and the lawsuit resulting from the reporting requirement of beneficial ownership information with the FinCEN Dept. of US Treasury continues.

THE LATEST AS OF DECEMBER 26, 2024:
On December 26, 2024, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed an earlier decision by a separate panel of the Fifth Circuit and vacated the stay of the preliminary injunction issued by the Eastern District of Texas preventing enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) and its beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) reporting rules. The order reinstates the preliminary injunction issued by the Eastern District of Texas on December 3rd in Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. Garland.

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.

12/26/2024

NEW UPDATE:
In light of a December 23, 2024, federal Court of Appeals decision, all entities are once again required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN. However, because the Department of the Treasury recognizes that reporting companies may need additional time to comply given the period when the preliminary injunction had been in effect, they have extended the reporting deadline until January 13, 2025 to file their initial beneficial ownership information reports with FinCEN. (These companies would otherwise have been required to report by January 1, 2025.)

12/13/2024

CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT---Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting

On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, in the case of Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc., et al. v. Garland, et al., No. 4:24-cv-00478 (E.D. Tex.), a federal district court in the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, issued an order granting a nationwide preliminary injunction that: (1) enjoins the Corporate Transparency Act (ACT), including enforcement of that statute and regulations implementing its beneficial ownership information reporting requirements, and, specifically, (2) stays all deadlines to comply with the CTA’s reporting requirements. The Department of Justice, on behalf of the Department of the Treasury, filed a Notice of Appeal on December 5, 2024.
While this litigation is ongoing, FinCEN is complying with the order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for as long as it remains in effect. Therefore, reporting companies are not currently required to file their beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and will not be subject to liability if they fail to do so while the preliminary injunction remains in effect. Nevertheless, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.

Stay tuned for more to come in the future.