The Supreme Court today declined to hear two challenges to the Corporate Transparency Act, including NSBA v. Bessent, leaving in place an Eleventh Circuit ruling that upheld the law last year. The Court also denied review in Texas Top Cop Shop v. Blanche. S-Corp had backed both challenges, and earlier this year helped lead a broad Main Street coalition urging SCOTUS to take them up.
Today’s news is unfortunate, but the fight over the CTA is far from finished. Numerous legal challenges to the law remain pending, meaning the constitutional questions surrounding the CTA are likely to make their way back to the Supreme Court. We will just have to wait until other circuits weigh in on the substance.
Fortunately, the announcement leaves unchanged the current filing obligations of Main Street businesses. Treasury’s recent final rule exempting domestic entities and owners from the CTA remains in effect and FinCEN has committed to purge the database of the personal information it collected under the previous rules.
This relief is welcome, but it’s also regulatory in nature and is only as durable as the administration providing it. A future Treasury Department could reverse course and once again subject tens of millions of small and family-owned businesses to the CTA’s reporting regime.
That’s why Congress needs to finish the job. Legislation like Representative Warren Davidson’s H.R. 425 would codify the domestic exemption and ensure Main Street businesses never again face the CTA’s costly and unnecessary reporting requirements.