BOI Enforcement Suspended; Requirements Remain
December 09, 2024
By Mike Nelson
BREAKING NEWS | December 18
BOI reporting deadline extension proposed in House budget bill (Journal of Accountancy) - A vote could come as early as December 18 on the continuing resolution, which would extend the reporting deadline by one year to Jan. 1, 2026.
On December 5, 2024, a federal court in the Fifth Circuit placed a national injunction on enforcement by FinCEN around Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) filings. The injunction does not remove the requirement for entities to file BOI reports by the January 1, 2025, deadline if they are covered by the requirements.
The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal on December 7, to remove the injunction and resume enforcement in 2025. If that appeal is granted and the injunction is lifted, the enforcement of BOI filings could begin immediately and entities that have not made their filings as required under the law could be subject to penalties and other enforcement actions under the law.
In a statement shared with industry organizations, FinCEN issued the following guidance:
In light of a recent federal court order, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so while the order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports through FinCEN’s BOI E-Filing System at https://boiefiling.fincen.gov.
On December 6, we informed companies with system-to-system Application Programming Interface (API) access to transmit beneficial ownership information reports (BOIRs) to FinCEN that all API access to submit such reports was being suspended. We will be back in touch with these API providers with further guidance.
Additional information is available at Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting | FinCEN.gov.
While the uncertainty around the unauthorized practice of law designation for a CPA to provide BOI reporting services to clients is still unclear in Washington, and most states nationally, many CPAs and CPA firms have begun providing these services. If you are currently providing these services, the uncertainties around the injunction and the potential that it could be lifted with no notice means you should speak with your clients and prepare for how you would like to proceed with the legal requirements remaining but currently being unenforceable.
Mike Nelson is WSCPA Manager of Government Affairs. You can contact him via email.