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On Friday, Meredith blogged about the SCOTUS’s decision to lift the 5th Circuit’s nationwide injunction against enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act. However, she also noted that a separate injunction issued by a Texas federal district court remained in place. That left potential filers asking a familiar question: “What the heck are we supposed to do?” Fortunately, FinCEN weighed in later in the day and said filers can sit tight for now. Here’s what FinCEN posted on its website:

On January 23, 2025, the Supreme Court granted the government’s motion to stay a nationwide injunction issued by a federal judge in Texas (Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. McHenry—formerly, Texas Top Cop Shop v. Garland). As a separate nationwide order issued by a different federal judge in Texas (Smith v. U.S. Department of the Treasury) still remains in place, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN despite the Supreme Court’s action in Texas Top Cop Shop. Reporting companies also are not subject to liability if they fail to file this information while the Smith order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.

It’s possible that the injunction in Smith v. Treasury could soon meet the same fate as the one in Texas Top Cop Shop. As Gibson Dunn observed in their recent update on the status of the CTA, “given the Supreme Court’s recent order staying the Top Cop Shop order, the government could obtain a similar stay of the district court’s order in Smith if the government requests that relief (or if the district court stays its order unilaterally) in light of the Supreme Court’s decision.” Stay tuned.

– John Jenkins