Corporate Transparency Act–Court Football

What a load of garbage has been flung at small business owners! The Corporate Transparency Act requires you to file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOIR) on any business you own, even ones that don’t “do business.” But of course, that is unconstitutional, so it was challenged in the courts, and the plaintiffs won in at least one important case. So then you didn’t have to file it. But the government appealed, so then you do–then suddenly you don’t. Now maybe you do or maybe you don’t.

You don’t have the time it would take to read about all that has transpired in Congress and the courts. But I must report this: Yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of the federal government’s request to lift the stay on enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (aka the CTA) while the Fifth Circuit considers its constitutionality. Sorry, that is complicated legalese. It means simply that you are screwed.

Apparently the only dissenter in this “decision” was Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, with whom I agree in this situation. But the fact is that SCOTUS seems more concerned about the “propriety of so-called universal injunctions” than the damage the CTA does to businesses. THAT is truly a separate issue, but whatever.

Here’s what you should do: Monitor the wording of the message that appears at the top of this web page:

https://boiefiling.fincen.gov/

As of the moment of this blog post, it still says you don’t have to file a BOIR. If it changes, then there will be a new deadline. Wait until that deadline before you file.

Even when the government seems to be against you, it’s still better to be an entrepreneur than to be a dependent.

Entrepreneurs will save the world. Join the movement.