In a surprise hearing this week, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the lower court’s injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act. Once again, businesses are required to file their beneficial ownership report.
The agency responsible for accepting beneficial ownership reports, the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), released guidance following the 5th Circuit Court’s decision. In their guidance document, the agency extended the reporting deadline to January 13th for nearly all reporting businesses. The entirety of the new guidance document can be found here.
From here, there are several additional challenges to the law underway. Plaintiffs in the 5th Circuit filed an emergency petition for an en banc hearing by January 6th, and another appeal is scheduled for a hearing in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. It is highly improbable that Congress will act prior to the new deadline as well.
Despite all the legal wranglings and last-minute surprises, it appears that dealers will be required to file a beneficial ownership report before the January 13th deadline to be in compliance with the law. We will keep you updated on any additional changes in this back and forth regulatory battle.
