The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will hold oral arguments on whether to lift the District Court’s injunction against enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act on March 25, 2025. But Supreme Court of the United States may act on the matter on or after January 10, 2025 – or even sooner.
On January 3, 2025 Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito responded to the DOJ New Year’s Eve motion for a stay of the District Court’s injunction by requiring a response from the plaintiffs in the Texas Top Cop Shop case by 4 p.m. on January 10, 2025. At this point, SCOTUS is driving an expedited timeline.
Justice Alito, a constitutional scholar and former government prosecutor, may deliver a decision on the stay at any time after the response is filed (which may occur prior to the January 10 deadline).
It’s also possible that the injunction issued by the Texas federal district court could be lifted or affected by the Eleventh Circuit, which has a similar matter under appeal.
Justice Alito could deny the motion for a stay (in which event the injunction would remain in effect), grant the motion as to all covered entities (resulting in nationwide compliance obligations) or limit the injunction to apply only to the parties to the case (in which event, covered entities who are not part of the litigation would be required to file).
When the injunction was previously lifted, FinCEN provided brief “grace periods” for filings. It would be reasonable to expect FinCEN to do the same in the event SCOTUS lifts the injunction, but there is no assurance that FinCEN will do so. Reporting companies that have not filed their BOIRs should be prepared to do so.
For questions about reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act, please contact Russ Hansen, or any member of Prince Lobel’s Business Transactions Group.