Recent months have seen major shifts in how businesses follow the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). This law requires companies to report who really owns and controls them. Let's break down the latest changes and what they mean for you.

So many legal challenges! Read more here.

February 2025: New Administration, New Approach

• A new president took office, leading to changes for the CTA.
• There were legal challenges about the law.
• The new administration began looking at how it was enforced and suggested maybe changing the rules to make things easier for companies.
• There was confusion as FinCEN (the government agency in charge) didn't set any new deadlines due to court issues.

February 19, 2025: Temporary Deadline Proposed

• FinCEN said there might be a new deadline of March 21, 2025, for most companies to report, but only if court issues were resolved.
• This was meant to give businesses more time.
• However, this plan didn’t last long.

March 2, 2025: Major Policy Shift

• The Treasury Department said they would stop enforcing the CTA for all U.S. companies and citizens.
• No one would be punished for not following the old rules.
• They planned to make the law only apply to foreign companies doing business in the U.S., not American companies.
• This was to help small businesses by getting rid of rules that were too complicated.

March 21, 2025: Official Rule Change

• FinCEN officially changed the rules:
  
  • Only foreign companies that register to do business in the U.S. have to report their owners.
  • All American companies no longer need to report.
  • Foreign companies still report, but they don't list American owners.

Impact of the Changes

FinCEN stopped using their system for U.S. companies to file information. The system now only applies to foreign companies. This was a big relief for many American companies who were confused about reporting requirements.

Key Takeaways:

Laws can change quickly, and it's important for businesses to stay up to date. The Corporate Transparency Act has seen many changes lately due to changes in government policy and court cases.

Most importantly, as of March 21, 2025, American companies no longer need to report.