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Treasury Department Suspends Enforcement of BOI and Corporate Transparency Act

Small Business | March 2, 2025

Treasury Department Suspends Enforcement of BOI and Corporate Transparency Act

The Treasury Department announced March 2 that it will no longer enforce the Corporate Transparency Act or the associated beneficial ownership information reporting requirements.

Isaac M. O'Bannon

The Treasury Department announced March 2 that it will no longer enforce the Corporate Transparency Act or the associated beneficial ownership information reporting requirements.

Furthermore, the agency announced that, “Not only will it not enforce any penalties or fines associated with the beneficial ownership information reporting rule under the existing regulatory deadlines, but it will further not enforce any penalties or fines against U.S. citizens or domestic reporting companies or their beneficial owners after the forthcoming rule changes take effect either.”

The Treasury Department said it will further be issuing a proposed rule that will narrow the scope of the rule to foreign reporting companies only.

“This is a victory for common sense,” said U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.  “Today’s action is part of President Trump’s bold agenda to unleash American prosperity by reining in burdensome regulations, in particular for small businesses that are the backbone of the American economy.”

The Corporate Transparency Act, which was signed into law in January 2021, is an anti-money laundering law that directs businesses to report their ownership structures to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which is overseen by the Treasury Department. The thinking is that clear ownership structures make it more difficult for bad actors to use shell companies for illicit activities like money laundering or drug trafficking.

A Jan. 1, 2025, deadline had originally been set for reporting companies to file their BOI reports with FinCEN, but that deadline has been delayed and suspended numerous times by federal courts.

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Tags: beneficial ownership information, beneficial ownership information reporting, boi, boi reporting, Income Taxes, IRS, Taxes, Treasury

Comments: 45

Wade Williams March 3 2025 at 7:49 am

This is an assault for common sense rather than a victory.

Sandra March 3 2025 at 7:57 am

Because all of the companies doing business here are so honest, above board and never launder even their shorts. That's why this stinks. If they had been, we wouldn't have needed this act. It is because we NEED this protection for oligarchs and oligarch wanna be's. Smh

Jesse Ferguson Jr March 3 2025 at 8:07 am

As usual Trump and cronies won't to stop drugs crossing the border but don't want to stop some of "white" collar crime that is helping to finance it

Al Videtto March 3 2025 at 8:28 am

Another win for the corporate criminals! We get it! Cops bad! Vets bad! Billionaire who dont pay taxes and hide money good! We Combat vets are watching you! In the end, oligarchs tend to get told to hang around awhile by the real Americans! Biding time, cross the line, then youll find. Nazis are equally as unpopular as communists!

Ronald Ducharme March 3 2025 at 8:35 am

Finely some common sense hopefully this is not a joke

Rory Heath March 3 2025 at 8:45 am

Going back to the industrial era where the rich get richer on the backs of the poor. No regulations against the rich and the poor be dammed

Donald Dorris March 3 2025 at 8:52 am

To those opposed, your answer is more bureaucracy, blame Trump, rail about something else. Less bureaucracy = smaller government. The federal government must be limited which means the current out of control, bloated mess must be dismantled. Is it going to hurt? YES. Deal with it

Janine March 3 2025 at 8:53 am

Really? It says it’s going to narrow the scope. Which is what it needs to do. Us small companies keep getting pulled into rules and regulations they want to put on the big companies and foreign investors. This was just another demand we were to follow when we don’t have the big corporate structure and departments to keep track of it all and verify compliance with everything. Leave us little mom and pop businesses alone.

Roland March 3 2025 at 8:53 am

American Mafia at work

Tom March 3 2025 at 8:56 am

Yea... because it's such a HUGE burden to have to show who's behind a company. If business owners behaved in the absence of regulation and transparent reporting requirements, we wouldn't have needed these on the books to begin with. Common sense? This is backwards idiocy. Akin to saying if we removed laws restricting certain actions by civilians, they'd still behave without them. The only businesses that will truly benefit in any major way, are the businesses engaged in or who want to engage in the activities this was meant to restrict.

Rod S Herbert March 3 2025 at 8:57 am

The oligarchs scored another "W" and the US is up for sale to the highest bidder. Once again, the working class will be at risk again.

Rachel Braaten March 3 2025 at 9:00 am

I'd like to find out what other small business owners think of this. I'm not a fan of Trump, but I am starting a small business and this reporting requirement was probably the most stressful thing about getting it going.

chris March 3 2025 at 9:09 am

So I have a small business and have been trying to figure out what to do about this. It is a real pain in the ass to have to fill out all this unnecessary paperwork when I've already registered my business with the government. They already know who I am and I have an EIN and pay taxes, payroll taxes, unemployment taxes and have to file weekly reports to the IRS. Not sure really what this accomplishes besides making more headaches and leads to more fines for not complying on time.

Jeff March 3 2025 at 9:14 am

People who say this regulation should have stuck need to understand this regulation never made sense across the board for every business owner, and was more or a hurdle and clamp-down on innocent small business owners making less than $500K per year who choose to be taxed under corporate status for tax savings… the mom and pops, the self-employed contractors, etc. It would have been more sensible for if regulation specifically zoned in on large businesses that make over X million dollars per year, and perhaps smaller companies which raise enough suspicious red flags, such as a cluster of small companies that all have the same owners and associates (who might be deliberately laundering through small companies to avoid attention and evade detection). It seems we have a lot of members of Congress and other government officials who somehow managed to earn millions on their government salary and stuffed it in offshore bank accounts. Maybe we should start there? Maybe we should start with the legalized forms of crime that shouldn’t be legal, such as lobbies, superpacs, kickbacks and big pharma selling drugs and advertising them like candy on TV? Maybe we should make our tax system less complicated so that it’s not so easy for white-collar criminals to hide money, because let’s face it, our tax code has been made complicated as a tax shelter for the corrupt and as a barrier for the average person.

Kevin Square March 3 2025 at 9:17 am

They say it's a burden on small business. That's the cover story for the masses. Who really uses shell companies to launder money and evade taxes and wants ownership to stay in the shadows and dark corners? Just look up.

MacG March 3 2025 at 9:19 am

This was bad law. Had they not included Homeowner's Associations it never would have gone to court and the Corporations which can be what they were after would still have to file. Imagine every HOA directir facing $10k fines and jail time for not complying for nrever even hearing of this.. i did not hear of it just 10 hays before the original deadline. Many HOAs thought they were exempt because they are non profit but most are not 501.c.3 and were therefore obligated to comply. It was another over reach by the Biden Admin just like them wanting to know about every cash transaction over $600 was.

CG March 3 2025 at 9:20 am

I have nothing to hide, so I really don't care. It's like tapping my phone, whatya going to get? Calls about work and me and my buddies texting about work out the occasional sports? The complainers on here are worried they'll get found out for scamming their customers - usually government contractors who use some flimsy "disadvantaged business" moniker, like veterans.

R March 3 2025 at 9:22 am

This will help legitimate business' to flourish.

Elon March 3 2025 at 9:27 am

His bold and new agenda. Tackling the real problems... Of billionaires and criminals. Trump is a crook!!

Jason Welnel March 3 2025 at 9:29 am

Finally an administration with a shred of credibility. Don’t need more government in our lives. Can’t believe people think this is good for their businesses.

Godshock March 3 2025 at 9:31 am

A win for freedom and common sense. Libs will hate it cause Trump did it and of course all business to a lib is evil, unless it's theirs...

Scott March 3 2025 at 9:32 am

This law never made sense for U.S. companies because it is redundant since much of the information is collected by the states and banks already. The only purpose for this law was to avoid having to get a warrant to search, which is unconstitutional. Also, it only applied to small businesses and micro businesses. Basically your small mom & pops. Medium to large businesses, where most of the big money fraud is, were exempt.

Jimbo March 3 2025 at 9:32 am

I work in the condo/hoa industry. Every single volunteer director has been subject to this. Someone just wants to help in their neighborhood now has to give up all this information. When they change, which they do often, their corporation has to go through the onerous process of keeping track and ensuring all updates are done according to law. Volunteers were dropping out, costs increasing, all to this poorly executed bureaucracy. This is a win for common sense. Perhaps it can return when better executed to avoid catching millions of unintentional targets.

Terry March 3 2025 at 9:34 am

Whatever. About 95% of all businesses already filed this report

EK March 3 2025 at 9:36 am

Started a business last year and it took about 15 minutes to figure this out. And you only had to do it once (unless I grossly misunderstood the process). It wasn’t a big deal but glad I don’t have to worry about if I did it right anymore.

Ronald March 3 2025 at 9:39 am

No checks & balance. That's who the real criminals ar in the White House. Watcgh Roland Martin, Black Star network. Trump & his crew is making this Country weak ,the President & Vice President looked weak man I wish that Leader would have got up slapped both of them. Because what they did that was out of Putin talking point. That's a shame. If Putin comes to the White House, Trump & his whole cabinet should get arrested for treason. Bullies

Anthony Stosny March 3 2025 at 9:41 am

This is just another way for DJT and his corrupt friends and family to steal as much as they want. DJT and this regime are a "Clear and present danger to the United States of America" and must be treated as such.

Deborah March 3 2025 at 9:43 am

As an extremely small business, I only heard of this because of 2 facebook posts. It never made sense to me because I already have to file with the Secretary of State every year with the exact same information. My tax software never had any information, and the Secretary of State never sent an email or other information. When I told other friends with businesses, they didn't know about it either. Can you imagine getting a huge fine that far exceeds any profits you make for something you never heard of? I'm very grateful someone thought to post it on Facebook. I filled mine out at the very end of December. I guess since I've had a small business for several years, my deadline would have been March.

Arun March 3 2025 at 9:49 am

Removing this requirement makes so much sense. There are so many fine ways to capture this data and go after the criminals. Why setup another department to do what Treasury department does all the time.

Gary Brooks March 3 2025 at 10:13 am

Another win for the ultra rich sleazy business owners of the world. Filing this paperwork may have been a minor pain, but businesses and consumers were protected. Not any more. The Donald and Musk are not concerned about the moms and pops, nor are they concerned about unleashing THAT monetary power. It's very clear who they want to help. It isn't you and me.

Rachel March 3 2025 at 10:28 am

Small business owners already release this information when a business is registered with the state. This isn't about the current administration - it's about throwing out a federally overreaching law with high fines for noncompliance.

Paul March 3 2025 at 10:31 am

All you people who want to give the government more control and regulation over all aspects of your life please go live in a communist country or a dictatorship and let me know how that goes. Your fine with regulation and control by the government until and unless it starts affecting an area of your life that you don't want them to control or regulate but continuously giving the government more power over your life is exactly qhere that road eventually leads but by the time you wake up and see that it will be too late.

Lauren Billings March 3 2025 at 10:32 am

This was ended at the request of a small business owner who messaged Elon Musk for help getting the request to President Trump. It was an extreme, targeted threat to the millions of small business owners in this country (most of whom don't even know about it). This rule had 23 Exemptions, including large corporations, 501(c) entities and any company with more than 20 full time employees and greater than $5M in annual sales. Created under the previous corrupt administration, the rule would have imposed a civil penalty of up to $500 per day for late filimg ir failure to file and criminal penalties of up to 2 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. It was a one-time filing ultimately required within 30 days of establishing a corporation and required updates of identifying information and address changes within 30 days to avoid penalties. This burdensome regulation caused undue burden to small businesses with penalties that were particularly burdensome to the same. Foreign corporations still fall under these requirements. This was just another way to try to raise government revenue for ridiculous expenditures, fraud and corruption.

Hooli Gan March 3 2025 at 10:38 am

Thise who oppose this are the type of people who would submit to invasions of privacy and surrendering of freedoms in the name of safety. Well, you deserve neither privacy, freedom nor safety.

AA March 3 2025 at 10:40 am

For those of you who commented "great win for sleazy owners..." and anything of that nature, you clearly did not know anything about the requirements. Biden's administration put this into place for businesses grossing $5M OR LESS, with LESS than 200 employees. This was clearly targeting small businesses, who since the Obama era have been hit with filing requirement after filing requirement, most of which requires a hired professional to do. All this legislation, along with other filing requirements costs small business owners, many of whom barely earn $100K/year, thousands in professional fees. This is indeed, a win for common sense. It is far more likely, the very businesses that were EXCLUDED from this filing requirement, were in fact, the ones for whom this should have targeted! In addition, as someone else already stated, most states already require ownership reports that need to be updated on an annual basis.

Greg robinson March 3 2025 at 10:41 am

A provision that rids the reins of small business can only be good. This garbage about small business money laundering is of the smallest percentage, if not nonexistent. How can this or any of the restrictions taken away by this president be anything but good? And how and why should common sense be political or personal.

Janet Maye March 3 2025 at 12:19 pm

For those who oppose this suspension of enforcement, you are OBVIOUSLY not a honest, trustworthy American small business owner. We pay our taxes. How many CPAs out there gouge their small businesses? Perhaps it's the tax preparers that need to be investigated!

Bryan March 3 2025 at 12:22 pm

To those people saying they want their fee back. There was no fee to file BOI. What you did was pay someone else to file it for you. It sucks but the govt doesnt owe you anything.

Wray Rives March 3 2025 at 1:43 pm

If you paid a fee, you didn't use the legitimate government website. Google is not your friend, they gave you a list of sites for people who paid to get listed ahead of the actual Dept of Treasury site. If you think the BOI report was a huge burden, you never actually filled out the online form. It should take you all of 10 minutes to answer the questions and upload a copy of your driver's license. If that's a huge burden, I have no idea how you are going to manage an actual business.

Roger Bastian March 4 2025 at 11:49 am

Anyone with common sense and knowledge of taxes, knows that the ownership information is on every corporate, partnership and sole proprietor tax return already. Why make extra work for business owners at additional expense. I do agree that foreign companies should report.

B Louveau March 5 2025 at 10:00 pm

As a small business owner for over 20 years, I had not even heard that this was a requirement until I read an article today stating that it was being blocked. It was supposedly something that was supposed to originally be filed January 1 2025, but I received no notice of this. This could have resulted in $10,000 fines, $600/day penalties, and 2 years in prison. Really? We can't be expected to keep up with all of these rules if they are not clearly communicated. This could put a lot of small businesses out of business, which is the exact reason this was being put in place. This government want big corporations to control our economy and government. This doesn't target the big corporations who also have entire compliance teams to help them keep up. Remember that while this was squashed, this was originally put in place by DJT. Donald Trump is despicable, but small businesses are the backbone of this country and those commenting need to realize that there are other ways to combat crime than punishing legitimate small businesses and burying them in paperwork and fines. Go after Elon and Trump and leave those of us working hard to make American one of the greatest countries for small businesses and opportunities ALONE.

Beth March 6 2025 at 1:51 pm

Everyone commenting that this was from the Biden administration, please do some research. The Corporate Transparency Act passed in the House in 2019/2020 and was signed into law January 1, 2021 under the first Trump administration. Yes, Trump attempted to veto it but was overruled by Congress. This is how checks and balances work. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on the constitution, but laws enacted by Congress are still laws. Trump is not above the law, even though he appears to think so this term. Personally, I'd still file the necessary paperwork.

Robert Fott March 6 2025 at 8:28 pm

WILL THE PEOPLE WHO DID FILE THE RETURN GET THEIR PAYMENT BACK?

Erik colgrove March 9 2025 at 8:06 am

Im always amazed at the amount of people who think regulations help the poor. The more money a business can make the more trickles down into the poor and raise them to middle class. Thats economics 101. A business is always going to make its money so regulations and taxes on it crushes the people who make it, labor force with lower wages or smaller workforce. It also increases the price making it out of reach for those at the bottom. The rich will always be rich, no amount of regulation or taxes will change that; even in a socialist system there is still a rich class and everyone else is poor.

John Marra March 20 2025 at 5:27 pm

I'm so happy to hear this. We have too many government regulations. Small business owners should not be burdened with this. Finally, America First!

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