Corporate Transparency Act’s Reporting Obligations Revived

February 19, 2025

Once again, Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting obligations under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) have been revived. On February 17, a federal judge lifted the stay he had ordered on January 7 in Smith v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, 6:24-cv-00336 (E.D. Tex.), which had prevented the Government from enforcing the BOI Rule on a nationwide basis.

On February 18, the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released a notice that announced the following key updates:

1. Unless subject to a later deadline, the new deadline to file an initial, updated and/or corrected BOI report with FinCEN is now March 21, 2025.
   
2. Before March 21, 2025, FinCEN may “further modify deadlines” for entities that do not pose significant national security risks. If FinCEN does so, it will provide yet another update “recognizing that reporting companies may need additional time to comply[.]”
   
3. Importantly, “FinCEN also intends to initiate a process this year to revise the BOI reporting rule to reduce burden for lower-risk entities, including many U.S. small businesses.” This is the strongest signal yet that the current Administration will seek formal amendments to the BOI Rule, although no details regarding proposed changes have been publicly released.

Businesses and others impacted by the CTA should prepare now to meet the March 21 deadline.

In the meantime, numerous cases challenging the CTA, including Smith, will continue to work their way through the legal process and Congress might take preemptive action. On February 10, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed H.R.736, which would give FinCEN authority to extend the compliance deadline for pre-2024 reporting companies to January 1, 2026. A companion bill in the U.S. Senate. Bills to repeal the CTA remain pending as well.

Noticias de la División de Impuestos del Departamento de Justicia, iRS. ESTO ES UN TIPICO EJEMPLO DE QUE TODO LO QUE BRILLA NO ES ORO.

 Un gran jurado federal en Maine presentó una acusación formal contra Thierry Musese , un preparador de declaraciones de impuestos pagado. Musese supuestamente dirigía un negocio de preparación de impuestos desde una barbería de su propiedad y operaba. Durante los años fiscales 2021 a 2022, Musese preparó declaraciones para clientes que contenían información falsa, lo que provocó que los clientes reclamaran reembolsos a los que no tenían derecho. En el año fiscal 2023, Musese supuestamente continuó preparando declaraciones de impuestos falsas para clientes incluso después de que el IRS revocara su número de identificación de presentación electrónica. Según la acusación, Musese también falsificó sus propias declaraciones de impuestos para 2021 y 2022. Musese enfrenta tres años de prisión por cada cargo y una pena máxima de hasta 20 años de prisión por cada cargo de fraude electrónico. Un juez de un tribunal de distrito federal determinará cualquier sentencia después de considerar las Pautas de Sentencia de EE. UU. y otros factores legales. La Investigación Criminal del IRS está investigando el caso.

A grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging a Maine man with preparing false tax returns for clients and scheming to defraud clients, among other crimes.

According to the indictment, Thierry Musese, a paid return preparer, ran a tax preparation business out of a barbershop he owned and operated in Auburn, Maine. During the 2021 and 2022 tax years, Musese allegedly prepared and filed with the IRS false tax returns on behalf of 17 taxpayers. These tax returns allegedly included false business losses, fuel tax credits and residential energy credits, resulting in tax refunds these clients were not entitled to receive. For the 2023 tax year, Musese allegedly continued to prepare false tax returns for clients even after his electronic filing identification number was revoked by the IRS. According to the indictment, Musese also falsified his own tax returns for 2021 and 2022.

Musese also allegedly defrauded some of his clients by diverting to himself a portion of their tax refunds without their permission. According to the indictment, he provided these clients with copies of their tax returns that differed from the versions he filed with the IRS.

Musese will make his initial court appearance before a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Maine at a later date. If convicted, Musese faces up to three years in prison for each count of filing a false tax return and a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee for the District of Maine made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Likhitha Butchireddygari of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Perry for the District of Maine are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Updated February 6, 2025