On February 27, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it will not issue fines or penalties or take any other enforcement actions against any companies based on their failure to file or update their beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) by the deadlines currently in effect.
FinCEN intends to issue an interim final rule no later than March 21, 2025 that extends BOI reporting deadlines, and intends to solicit public comment on potential revisions to existing BOI reporting requirements.
No fines or penalties will be issued, and no enforcement actions will be taken, until such interim final rule becomes effective and the new due dates in the interim final rule have passed.
You can read FinCEN's statement in its entirety HERE.
What does this mean for business owners?
Despite FinCEN's February 19, 2025 announcement of a March 21, 2025 BOI report filing deadline (you can read more about this in our previous alert from February 21, 2025, "Corporate Transparency Act: Reporting Requirements Reinstated"), this latest statement from FinCEN makes compliance with the CTA voluntary until the interim final rule to be issued by FinCEN goes into effect.
Given this latest release from FinCEN, companies are advised to delay filing at least until the publication of the interim final rule, which should include further information regarding new filing deadlines and any further proposed modifications to the reporting and filing requirements.
As always, do not hesitate to contact your WHP counsel with any questions or concerns you may have.
This article provides an overview and summary of the matters described therein. It is not intended to be and should not be construed as legal advice on the particular subject.