U.S. Lawmakers Want To Formally Exempt Domestic Firms From Corporate Transparency Act Responsibilities

As Connecting the Dots reported earlier this year, the U.S. Department of the Treasury opted to limit Corporate Transparency Act’s (CTA) requirements to foreign entities only instead of applying it to almost every U.S.-owned business. That move saved more than 32 million U.S. businesses from having to file intrusive beneficial ownership reports or face felony charges if they did not. After months of advocacy calling on Congress to amend the CTA to reduce burden on businesses, the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) supported the Treasury Department’s decision.

Now U.S. lawmakers are asking the Treasury Department to go two steps further by promulgating a federal regulation that formally exempts U.S. businesses from the CTA and by purging the Treasury Department’s CTA database of information from businesses that already had complied with the law.

Approximately 90 members of Congress sent a letter, available at this link, to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arguing, “Small businesses are the foundation of our communities. The CTA threatens their existence and treats small businesses as criminals.” That is the argument MSCI and allies have made: requiring U.S. firms to adhere the CTA would impose significant, costly new requirements on small businesses without meeting the CTA’s stated goal to reduce money laundering and corporate corruption.