The S Corporation Association joined with dozens of associations today to oppose the ENABLERS Act, legislation that would adversely affect millions of businesses, charities, and foundations, as well as their employees and investors. More than 75 organizations signed onto the effort, including NFIB, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Real Estate Roundtable.
The ENABLERS Act seeks to dramatically expand the reporting requirements put in place by the Corporate Transparency Act, despite the fact that final regulations under the CTA were just released today with a delayed effective date of 2024.
S-Corp initiated this effort after the ENABLERS Act was snuck onto the National Defense Authorization Act in the House. If that process sounds familiar, it’s how the initial Corporate Transparency Act was adopted two years ago. They hid it on the NDAA and the business community was unable get the security-minded staff and members of the defense committees to pay attention.
Today’s letter is an effort to make certain the same process gambit doesn’t result in yet another assault on the privacy of Main Street businesses. As with the CTA before it, today’s letter points out that the ENABLERS Act would do little to combat illicit activity and instead targets a broad swath of law-abiding business owners, charity executives, and foundation trustees with new and intrusive reporting requirements. How broad a swath?
While the bill’s stated goal is to increase reporting by “professional service providers who serve as key gatekeepers to the U.S. financial system,” its broad language would cover the owners, board members, and senior executives of most businesses and charities. Anyone engaged in an entity’s formation, acquisition, or disposal would be covered, as would owners and employees engaged in nearly every financial activity of the business, including money management, payment processing, wire transfers, or buying and selling currencies.
The ENABLERS Act appears to lack the energy and bipartisan support of its predecessor, but it’s still just one conference and two votes away from enactment, so the business community needs to remain vigilant all the way through the end of the year. We’ll be taking today’s letter up to key Senate offices to educate them on the history of this issue and how these bills are being used to target private businesses and their owners.
A full copy of the letter can be accessed by clicking here.
For additional background on the ENABLERS Act, please click here.