As 2025 Approaches, Uncertainty Lingers Over Enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act

The drama surrounding the beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) has not taken a pause for the holidays and seems to be building for an eventful start to 2025. After granting the government’s request to lift the nationwide injunction barring the enforcement of the BOI filing requirements on December 23, 2024, the Fifth Circuit reversed course on December 26, 2024 and vacated the stay on the injunction.

What exactly does this mean? It means that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has been delayed once again from enforcing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and so, BOI reporting is not required (at least as of now) for companies to whom the Act applies. Since the December 26 ruling, FinCEN has added a message to their website that states “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.”

We understand that this has been a distracting and unsettling experience for many of our clients, especially as we are near the end of the calendar year and business planning for 2025 is underway.

We continue to encourage you to consult with your legal counsel as soon as possible to discuss your company’s potential reporting requirements. Currently, BMSS is not providing BOI consulting or filing services.

You can find more information on the paused BOI filing requirement, as well as the link to file your entity’s report, if you choose to do so while the injunction is in place, on the FinCEN website at www.fincen.gov/boi.