A decision from U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Court) on February 18, 2025, has reinstated the filing requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act. Generally, most businesses subject to the filing requirement will have to file their Beneficial Ownership Information with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) by March 21, 2025. This is the second time the rule was issued, halted by court order, reinstated, halted by court order, and reinstated again.

The Montana Farm Bureau continues to urge anyone with questions about the BOI to visit the FinCEN website and consult with their accountant or tax attorney. If you file your business with the Montana Secretary of State, there is a good chance you will need to file a BOI. The state’s largest agricultural organization originally expressed concerns about this rule causing undue burden on small farms, ranches and business who may be unaware of the need to file the BOI with FinCEN—the penalties for not filing are stiff.

ISSUE:

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) was included in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act as part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. A bipartisan amendment with support from both chambers of Congress, the CTA requires companies to report information to the federal government’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) about the individuals who own or control them. The final rule implementing the legislation was issued in September 2022, and its original effective date was January 1, 2024, prior to legislation getting caught up in litigation.

FinCEN also intends to initiate a process this year to revise the BOI reporting rule to reduce burden for lower-risk entities, including many U.S. small businesses.

Check out the FinCEN Notice.