As you can imagine, there have been many views expressed on the Treasury Department’s announcement Sunday evening that it will no longer enforce the Corporate Transparency Act or the associated beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements.
In a statement on March 2, the Treasury Department said, “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.”
Shortly after the announcement was made, President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account to comment on the decision, saying:
The Treasury Department added that it will be issuing proposed rulemaking that will narrow the scope of the BOI rule to foreign reporting companies only.
The Corporate Transparency Act, which was signed into law in January 2021, is an anti-money laundering law that directed 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.
The following is a recap of some of the reactions—both for and against Treasury’s decision—that have been made by small business groups, corporate transparency advocates, lawmakers, and others since March 2:
U.S. Treasury Department
“This is a victory for common sense,” said Treasury Secretary 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.”
American Institute of CPAs
“We appreciate FinCEN’s recognition of the challenges faced by businesses and their decision to forego fines or take enforcement actions against domestic entities and U.S. citizens. We applaud Secretary Bessent’s leadership and Treasury’s commitment to reducing regulatory burden on businesses by suspending enforcement indefinitely. As Treasury moves forward with updating the BOI rule, we urge Treasury to, at a minimum, extend the filing deadline through Jan. 1, 2026, for all businesses,” said Mark Koziel, president and CEO of the AICPA. “While today we are closer to a more scaled rule for the small business community, the AICPA remains committed to appropriate anti-money laundering policies and we look forward to working with Treasury to fine tune this rule. The AICPA has maintained a close partnership with FinCEN throughout the last 12 months and we look forward to continued and open communication.”
National Federation of Independent Business
“NFIB greatly appreciates President Trump’s strong support in this important effort to protect America’s small business owners from what he correctly labeled an ‘outrageous and invasive’ beneficial ownership information reporting requirement,” said Adam Temple, NFIB senior vice president for advocacy. “NFIB will continue to work with Congress to fight for congressional repeal of the underlying statute and regulations that intrude into the privacy of small businesses and create a vast new government database on Americans. We thank President Trump and his administration for their willingness to stand up for small businesses and address the beneficial ownership information reporting rule.”
National Small Business Association
“Today is a good day for small business,” said Todd McCracken, president and CEO of the National Small Business Association. “I applaud the administration for seeing this law for what it is: a massive burden on America’s job creators which will do next to nothing to actually stop money laundering. We have been beating the drum on this flawed concept for three administrations now, and I’m glad our message has finally gotten through.”
Sen. James Lankfort (R-OK)
“The Biden administration’s BOI rule is an un-American overreach that would punish small business owners with fines and jail time. I’ve been working for years to repeal the rule and I’m grateful for President Trump’s support.”
House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR)
“Small businesses should have never been subject to Biden-Harris’ FinCEN burdensome reporting requirement in the first place. The Treasury Department’s decision to not enforce penalties against U.S. citizens or domestic reporting companies is a massive step forward for small businesses across the nation. I thank President Trump for his leadership on this important issue, along with Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) and all committee Republicans who have fought against this approach with me since the CTA’s inception. We look forward to reviewing next steps.”
S-Corporation Association of America
“This is good news all around. Not only is Treasury taking aggressive action to limit the damage the CTA poses to the small business community, but it’s evident our concerns about the law are shared by some pretty important people. There are, however, some open questions as to how things play out from here. The administration clearly has the ability to amend regulations issued by their predecessor, but what about the underlying statute? And what about the many court cases pending that challenge the CTA based on fundamental constitutional issues? Our plan is to press forward in supporting the court challenges while working with Congress on repeal language. Yesterday’s announcement provides the business community with immediate relief from this onerous and unconstitutional data grab. Now it’s our job to make that relief permanent.”
FACT (Financial Accountability & Corporate Transparency) Coalition
“With one tweet, the administration has contradicted 15 years of bipartisan work by Congress to end the scourge of anonymous shell companies—which are a favorite tool of our nation’s global adversaries and criminals, including fentanyl traffickers, money launderers, and tax cheats,” said Ian Gary, executive director of the FACT Coalition. “Hollowing out the Corporate Transparency Act is an unconstitutional subversion of Congress’ intent that will not survive judicial scrutiny.”
Main Street Alliance
”Small businesses suffer when they are forced to compete with fraudulent and criminal enterprises that exploit anonymous shell corporations to evade accountability,” said Richard Trent, executive director of the MSA. “The Trump administration’s reckless efforts to undermine the Corporate Transparency Act’s beneficial ownership reporting requirements threaten to roll back critical protections. Weakening these rules would allow bad actors to continue exploiting loopholes, harming honest small business owners and distorting the marketplace in favor of corruption. That’s why MSA stands firmly in defense of transparency and fairness—because Main Street businesses deserve better.”
Transparency International U.S.
“This decision threatens to make the United States a magnet for foreign criminals, from drug cartels to fraudsters to terrorist organizations,” said Scott Greytak, director of advocacy for Transparency International U.S. “Inexplicably, it tells foreign criminals–fentanyl traffickers, illegal arms dealers, corrupt foreign officials—that they can evade the most powerful anti-money laundering law passed since the PATRIOT Act by choosing to set up their criminal operations inside the United States.”
Hudson Institute Kleptocracy Initiative
“It is a basic principle that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies should be able to check who is using U.S. shell companies to move money within and across our own borders,” said Nate Sibley, fellow and director of Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative. “This action weakens the Trump administration’s ability to investigate cartel finances and target the profit incentives driving the deadly fentanyl and human trafficking trade across the southern border. Terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as major U.S. adversaries like Communist China, also rely on shell companies to conceal activities that threaten American security and prosperity. America’s retreat from leading efforts to uncover these shadowy financial networks is an unforced error that enriches and empowers our worst enemies.”
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR)
“The takeaway here is that Trump is a rich financial criminal, and he’s running his administration for the benefit of other rich financial criminals. In particular, this is another gift to shadowy Russian oligarchs and money launderers, who have a lot of reasons to celebrate these days thanks to Donald Trump.”
Moody’s
“This law was created to help deter illicit finance through shell companies or other opaque ownership structures. It was also designed to align the U.S. globally with financial transparency, especially around beneficial ownership of entities to help prevent terrorist organizations, organized criminals, and other bad actors from exploiting the U.S. financial system and hide their illicitly obtained financial gains,” said Jill DeWitt, senior director of compliance and third-party risk management solutions at Moody’s. “While arguments against burdening small businesses with the requirements of beneficial ownership compliance and of financial reporting are understandable, greater transparency could help raise financial institutions’ awareness of bad actors in their customer base and support them in avoiding onboarding bad actors who might have otherwise been hidden or overlooked.”
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