Corporate Transparency Act Timeline
January 1, 2024
The Corporate Transparency Act becomes law.
March 1, 2024
On March 1, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the
Corporate Transparency Act is unconstitutional. Specifically, the court found that enactment of the CTA could not be justified as an exercise of Congress’ enumerated powers set forth in Article I of the Constitution. As a result, the court held that Congress lacked authority to enact the CTA and that the CTA cannot be enforced against the plaintiffs in that litigation.
March 4, 2024
FinCEN issued a statement confirming that it will not enforce the CTA against Winkles, the NSBA or any individual or entity that was a dues-paying member of the NSBA as of March 1, 2024. While this ruling is significant, it does not provide a justification for any other individuals or companies to stop complying with the CTA.
March 26, 2024
The Small Business Association of Michigan
filed a lawsuit against the Corporate Transparency Act in the Michigan 4th District Court of Appeals on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. Due to the nature of the ruling in Alabama, we are hopeful that an injunction will be ordered.
April 26, 2024
In a court hearing on Friday, April 26th, a judge stated he did not believe that there would be irreparable damage done by not issuing a preliminary injunction. The case will continue to play out in court. Watch the Monday, April 29th
Small Business Briefing for an update from Brian Calley.
May 20, 2024
The Small Business Association of Michigan is party to an amicus brief filed in the 11th Court of Appeals, in support of the plaintiff, the National Small Business Association, in its case vs. the U.S. Department of Treasury. Learn more on SBAM’s
Small Business Briefing.
December 3, 2024
A Federal District Court in Texas has
issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act, finding that the plaintiffs have met the burden of showing the law is a beyond the scope of the authority of Congress. In other words, the passage of the law relied on an excessively broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause in the Constitution. This action comes just weeks ahead of a looming deadline of 12/31/2024 when millions of small businesses would have had to make their first filing.
December 16, 2024
Judge Jonker
heard oral arguments regarding SBAM’s lawsuit. Judge Jonker noted that the CTA is an “incredibly burdensome law” that imposes “massive costs on small businesses.” He also seemed to imply that the CTA is designed to get around traditional Fourth Amendment protections, such as having to get a subpoena.
December 23, 2024
The Federal government appealed their case to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and were successful in getting a stay on the injunction against enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act.
Translation: The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is back on and small businesses are once again required to report beneficial owners to the FinCEN (a part of the IRS) by January 13, 2025.
December 27, 2024
A new panel of judges (the “merits panel”)
reviewed the situation and decided to vacate (cancel) the earlier decision that allowed the law to be enforced. This restores the district court’s injunction, meaning the government is once again blocked from enforcing the CTA and Reporting Rule for now.
January 23, 2025
On January 23, 2025 there was an injunction on that law based on a case out of Texas. The injunction (which prevented enforcement of the new law) was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States and the injunction was lifted.
January 24, 2025
On January 24, 2025 FinCEN’s website states that they will respect a separate injunction on a different case and businesses are not currently required to file.
February 19, 2025
With 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, beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) are once again back in effect. For the vast majority of reporting companies, the new deadline to file an initial, updated, and/or corrected BOI report is now March 21, 2025. However, FinCEN offered the following in an alert: “Notably, in keeping with Treasury’s commitment to reducing regulatory burden on businesses, during this 30-day period FinCEN will assess its options to further modify deadlines, while prioritizing reporting for those entities that pose the most significant national security risks. FinCEN also 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.”