FURTHER UPDATE: US Corporate Transparency Act on hold once again. Beware of whiplash!!

Just a few days after a US federal appeals court lifted an order blocking nationwide enforcement of the US Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) (see our previous blog here), on 26 December 2024 the same court vacated its previous order reinstating enforcement of the CTA. As a result, enforcement of the CTA is once again temporarily paused while the original case challenging the constitutionality of the CTA proceeds, and reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information reports with the US Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

FinCEN has updated its website to confirm that reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information reports and are not subject to liability if they fail to do so while the latest order blocking enforcement of the CTA remains in effect. As before, FinCEN has indicated that reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports while enforcement of the CTA is on hold.

On 27 December 2024, the US federal appeals court set an expedited schedule for proceedings on the case, and oral arguments have been scheduled for 25 March 2025.

Consistent with our advice in this blog post published shortly after enforcement of the CTA was originally paused in early December 2024, given the uncertainty as to further short-term court actions or the ultimate outcome of the case, reporting companies should either continue to make voluntary filings of their beneficial ownership information reports or, at a minimum, continue to gather all necessary information and be prepared to file such reports on short notice.

We will continue to monitor events and provide updates.