On Monday, December 23, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a federal district court’s earlier order, which had previously halted the January 1, 2025 deadline for small businesses to file their Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) with the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) per the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) passed by Congress and signed by President Biden in 2021.
This means the January 1, 2025 deadline and enforcement have been reinstated.
The CTA requires that the owners and part-owners of an estimated 32.6 million small businesses — including an estimated 230,000 farms — must register personal information with FinCEN, such as a photo ID and home address. With the court ruling that enforcement can proceed, many small business owners may scramble to register ahead of the Jan. 1, 2025 deadline.
American Farm Bureau Federation says that this appeals court ruling now “puts tens of thousands of farms back on the legal deadline to register their businesses with the federal government. Farmers who operate corporations and limited liability companies are once again required to file Beneficial Ownership Information or face stiff fines or jail time.”
Analysis from AFBF economists shows that of the more than 230,000 farms likely required to file, less than 11% had done so as of October 2024. Read more from AFBF here
Farmers are encouraged to contact an accountant or attorney if they are unsure whether they are required to file their business’s BOI with FinCEN.
The Continuing Resolution passed by Congress and signed into law last week, which continues funding the government and extends the 2018 farm bill, did not include amendments to provide any exception to the FinCEN requirement for farmers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has a good summary of where we are and where we’ve been with these requirements here.