#CTA needs a delay - today.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) unveiled their Small Entity Compliance Guide relative to the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).
Also referred to as “Beneficial Ownership Reporting,” the CTA is set to go into effect in a matter of months and will require ONLY businesses with fewer than 20 employees to disclose owners’ information to FinCEN.
The compliance guide from FinCEN is intended to help businesses determine if they are required to report their beneficial ownership information to FinCEN, however the base regulations are so painfully vague, compliance will be a nightmare for most small businesses.
While the intent of the law was to stem money laundering, the CTA is not only bad policy, it is unconstitutional. Failure of a small business to comply—intentional or not—could result in up to $10,000 in fines and up to two years in prison.
NSBA has filed a lawsuit against Treasury over the implementing regulations of the CTA, however an act of Congress to repeal the law is the best way to ensure this bad policy doesn’t see the light of day.
Please click here to view the compliance guide.