TheCorporateCounsel.net

There have been several CTA updates recently, but I’ve been waiting for a big one to blog about because, among all of us editors, no fewer than two CTA blogs have had to be completely rewritten because of real-time updates that changed the headline. Our last update was when SCOTUS granted a stay of the preliminary injunction the Eastern District of Texas issued in December that prohibited the government from enforcing the CTA while litigation is pending in the 5th Circuit. Weirdly, that didn’t immediately impact BOI filing requirements because a second nationwide injunction remained in place.

Well, now the injunction in Smith v. Treasury has met the same fate. The DOJ under the new Trump Administration filed a motion in February to lift the Smith injunction, which the District Court granted earlier this week.

FinCEN announced that BOI reporting requirements under the CTA are back in effect, with a new deadline of March 21, 2025 for most companies. Consistent with a previous announcement, FinCEN noted that it will consider further modifying deadlines, while prioritizing reporting for entities posing national security risks and initiate a process this year to revise the reporting requirements to reduce hardship on lower-risk entities (including many U.S. small businesses).

In the meantime, Congress started weighing in — with bipartisan support in the House to delay the filing deadline for certain entities by one year. Here’s reporting from Reuters:

On February 10, the House passed the Protect Small Businesses from Excessive Paperwork Act (H.R. 736) unanimously, with a 408-0 vote. Under the bill, existing entities that are “a small business concern” as defined under 15 U.S.C. 632 would have until January 1, 2026, to submit reports about their beneficial owners to Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

– Meredith Ervine