On Thursday, January 23, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the nationwide injunction against enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) that was issued by the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas in Texas Top Cop Shop v. McHenry.
After the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, FinCEN responded Friday morning, January 24, by issuing guidance on its website.
“As a separate nationwide order issued by a different federal judge in Texas (Smith v. U.S. Department of the Treasury) still remains in place, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN despite the Supreme Court’s action in Texas Top Cop Shop. Reporting companies also are not subject to liability if they fail to file this information while the Smith order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.”
Under that Friday guidance, Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting to FinCEN under the CTA remains voluntary, as separate cases pending in the federal courts challenge the merits of the CTA.
None of these legal maneuvers challenging the CTA have any impact on a bank’s requirement to collect and retain BOI information under the Customer Due Diligence (CDD) rule that became effective in May of 2018.
