TheCorporateCounsel.net

FinCEN has posted its response to the latest decision from the 5th Circuit vacating its earlier stay of the district court’s preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act.  Here’s the gist of it:

On December 23, 2024, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a stay of the district court’s preliminary injunction entered in the case of Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. Garland, pending the outcome of the Department of the Treasury’s ongoing appeal of the district court’s order. FinCEN immediately issued an alert notifying the public of this ruling, and recognizing that reporting companies may have needed additional time to comply with beneficial ownership reporting requirements, FinCEN extended reporting deadlines.

On December 26, 2024, however, a different panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an order vacating the Court’s December 23, 2024 order granting a stay of the preliminary injunction. Accordingly, as of December 26, 2024, the injunction issued by the district court in Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. Garland is in effect and reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN.

FinCEN notes that reporting companies are not subject to liability if they fail to make a beneficial ownership filing while the order remains in force, but they may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.

– John Jenkins