US: Trump Treasury Pulls Back on Small Business Ownership Reporting

Farmers, ranchers, and other small businesses can breathe a sigh of relief: they no longer have to file ‘beneficial ownership information’ with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

The on-again, off-again Biden-era ownership filing requirement was set to take effect January 1st. However, a new Treasury Department interim final rule ends the mandate for farms, ranches, and other small businesses.

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Kent Bacus says it’s a big burden off producers.

“There was a lot of concern that many businesses who were unaware of this could get caught up in the compliance part of it, and that could have led to a lot of penalties. It could have led to prison time for some people.”

Bacus says the Trump administration headed off small business ownership reporting.

“The Treasury Department has released an interim rule that says that this will only apply to foreign reporting companies. So, this is a big win for us. It’s a big win for small businesses all over rural America.”

Bacus says it’s a win for certainty and common sense under the Corporate Transparency Act.

“These small businesses in rural America are not the money launderers that this law was designed to go after. So, we’re going to not enforce this for them. We’re going to go after the people we really suspect.”

Bacus says Congress must provide a permanent solution to the issue that’s still being litigated in the courts.