Tag Archives: small-business

BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP INFORMATION REPORTING IS BACK (AGAIN)!

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Most Reporting Companies Must File by March 21, 2025

If you are having trouble keeping track of the developments in beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) reporting, you are not alone. Since early December, the reporting requirements have been in effect, have been stayed, have been in effect, again, and have been stayed, again. Now the requirements are back in effect, again, and this time it looks like the requirements may be here to stay, at least for awhile.

On January 7, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, in a case called Smith, et. al, v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, et. al., issued an order that prevented FinCEN (the agency handling BOI reporting) from enforcing the BOI reporting requirements. This order was appealed, and, yesterday, the court agreed to stay its January 7th order until that appeal is completed. This means that the order that prevented enforcement of the BOI reporting requirements is no longer in effect, and, yesterday, FinCEN issued a notice that it does, in fact, intend to enforce those requirements. (The full text of the FinCEN notice can be found here: FinCEN Notice.)

What does this mean for your company? According to FinCEN’s notice, most reporting companies will need to file their initial, updated and/or corrected BOI reports with FinCEN by March 21, 2025. Reports can be e-filed at https://boiefiling.fincen.gov. There is no charge for filing these reports. Note that there are many nongovernmental websites out there with good search engine optimization that appear to be the place to file your BOI report, or that may offer to help you file your report, for a fee. In order to protect your company’s confidential information (and to avoid paying any unnecessary fees), we recommend that you file your report directly with FinCEN.

This article was written by Janice L. Gauthier, Esq. Ms. Gauthier has an A.B., cum laude, from Harvard University and a J.D, cum laude,. from Harvard Law School.  She is a business and real estate lawyer and the owner of The Gauthier Law Group, LLC, a boutique business and real estate law firm that represents businesses in corporate and real estate transactions in the Greater Milwaukee, Chicago and Madison Areas, as well as in other parts of Wisconsin and Illinois.  You can contact Ms. Gauthier at 414-270-3855, ext. 101 or by email.

© 2025 The Gauthier Law Group, LLC.  All rights reserved.

BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP INFORMATION REPORTING NOT REQUIRED, FOR NOW

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FinCEN says BOI reporting requirements will not be enforced while injunction is in effect

Good news!  FinCEN (the agency that enforces the Beneficial Ownership reporting requirements) just announced that they are not going to enforce the BOI reporting requirements, in spite of the Supreme Court’s January 23rd ruling in the case of Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. McHenry (formerly known as Texas Top Cop Shop v. Garland), because there is another case pending (Smith v. U.S. Department of the Treasury) in which a nationwide injunction was issued, and that injunction is still in force.  According to an update posted on FinCEN’s website:

…reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN despite the Supreme Court’s action in Texas Top Cop Shop. Reporting companies also are not subject to liability if they fail to file this information while the Smith order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.

So you don’t need to file BOI reports, after all (or at least until this changes again…). You can, of course, still choose to file a BOI report voluntarily, but, if you do so, make sure to use the official, FinCEN website for BOI reporting:https://fincen.gov/boi. There are a number of websites out there that look official, and have good search engine optimization, but these websites are not the actual government reporting website.

This article was written by Janice L. Gauthier, Esq. Ms. Gauthier has an A.B., cum laude, from Harvard University and a J.D, cum laude,. from Harvard Law School.  She is a business and real estate lawyer and the owner of The Gauthier Law Group, LLC, a boutique business and real estate law firm that represents businesses in corporate and real estate transactions in the Greater Milwaukee, Chicago and Madison Areas, as well as in other parts of Wisconsin and Illinois.  You can contact Ms. Gauthier at 414-270-3855, ext. 101 or by email.

© 2025 The Gauthier Law Group, LLC.  All rights reserved.