GOP reintroduces bill to repeal Corporate Transparency Act

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, and Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, reintroduced legislation to repeal the Corporate Transparency Act and its requirement for beneficial ownership information reporting.

The requirement is currently on hold after a flurry of court activity in recent weeks, including an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court. The CTA requires businesses to report on their true owners to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as a way to deter shell companies from engaging in money laundering, drug and human trafficking, terrorist financing and tax evasion. The CTA was signed into law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 and requires individuals with an ownership interest in a limited liability company to disclose personal data to FinCEN. Failure to comply could result in up to two years of jail time and a $10,000 fine per violation. 

The American Institute of CPAs has been asking for a delay in the requirements, which were supposed to take effect for older companies on Jan. 1 of this year, and Jan. 1, 2024 for new companies. 

Tuberville and Davidson teamed up to reintroduce the Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act in the Senate and the House on Wednesday after originally introducing it during the previous congressional term last May. 

“The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network infringes American small business owners’ privacy rights by forcing them to disclose sensitive information to the government,” Davidson said in a statement. “The CTA is a disaster for small businesses and must be repealed immediately. That is why I am re-introducing this legislation in the 119th Congress, and I urge my colleagues to join me in passing it.” 

“I’m thankful that the Supreme Court is now deciding the legality of the CTA requirements, but we need to ensure that our business owners never have to worry about this again,” Tuberville said in a statement. 

The bill has attracted the support of the National Federation of Independent Business and 60 trade associations, including the National Grocers Association, the American Supply Association, and Associated Builders and Contractors.

“Small businesses fear all the Corporate Transparency Act has done is impose tens of billions of dollars in compliance costs on Main Street while failing to stop the criminal activity it was intended to target,” said NFIB director of government relations Josh McLeod in a statement Thursday. “The Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act would eliminate this unconstitutional power grab by repealing the Corporate Transparency Act. NFIB strongly supports this legislation introduced by Sen. Tuberville and Rep. Davidson and urges Congress to enact it swiftly to provide relief and certainty to over 32 million small businesses.”