Last week, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas granted the U.S. government's request to stay the nationwide injunction issued on January 7, 2025, in Smith v. U.S. Department of Treasury, Case No. 6:24-cv-336. This decision removes the last (current) hurdle to enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).
Judge Jeremy Kernodle granted the stay, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in favor of the government and staying a separately issued nationwide injunction preventing enforcement of the CTA in Texas Top Cop Shop, Incorporated et al. v. McHenry (formerly Garland), Case No. 4:24-cv-00478.
Following this decision, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released a statement on February 19, 2025, providing the following updates:
- Beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements under the CTA are once again back in effect.
- FinCEN is extending the BOI reporting deadline to March 21, 2025 for the vast majority of Reporting Companies.
- FinCEN will issue a further update prior to the March 21st reporting deadline of any additional modification of this deadline for some Reporting Companies that may need more time to comply with their BOI reporting obligations.
- Reporting Companies that have been given a later deadline than the March 21st deadline (i.e., Reporting Companies that have qualified for certain disaster relief extensions), may file by the later deadline.
- FinCEN intends to initiate a process this year to revise the BOI reporting rule to reduce the burden for lower-risk entities, including many U.S. small businesses, though no specific details regarding proposed changes have been released.
Given this most recent decision, we recommend Reporting Companies begin filing their BOI reports to ensure completion by the March 21, 2025 deadline.
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