Corporate Transparency Act Rules Rollback Shakes Suits (Podcast)

Millions of US companies are off the hook when it comes to disclosing their beneficial owners’ identities to the federal government, after the Trump administration announced it wouldn’t enforce penalties for domestic entities under the Corporate Transparency Act.

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The Treasury Department’s previous regulations had required about 30 million businesses operating in the US to disclose who directly or indirectly controlled them in reports to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. But in a pivot from the previous administration, the Treasury now says all US entities are exempt from reporting requirements.

The move was the latest twist in a wave of litigation against the law, which some companies argue oversteps Congress’s authority to regulate interstate commerce. Following a nationwide injunction blocking the CTA’s enforcement in December 2024, businesses across the country faced whiplash as the law and the previous version of its implementing regulations were successively enjoined past the original January 2025 compliance deadline. But now, facing a narrower scope of which companies are obliged to comply under new rules, appeals courts must now grapple with whether newly exempt domestic companies retain their standing to sue.

On this episode of Talking Tax, Bloomberg Tax audio producer David Schultz talks with Bloomberg Law reporter John Woolley about the year-long legal drama around the Corporate Transparency Act, how the Trump administration disrupted that litigation, and how the Treasury’s policy changes could impact the fight against international financial crime.

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