In a letter addressed to members of the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee, the AICPA and all 54 state CPA societies, including the WICPA, asked that H.R. 4035 and S. 2623, the Protecting Small Business Information Act of 2023, or similar legislation to delay, be included in any year-end legislative package.
The bills would delay the beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirement until all three rules under the Corporate Transparency Act have been finalized to specify that all such rules would take effect on the same date.
Currently, BOI reporting requirements will go into effect Jan. 1, 2024. The letter cited unclear and vague definitions in the rule and the need for additional input, including access to the filing form or platform for the requirements, which has not yet been released by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
The letter, sent on Dec. 11, follows a similar letter sent in October that specifically recommended that FinCEN extend the deadline from the proposed 90 days to one year and expand the applicability of the deadline to include not only new entities created in 2024 but all entities created thereafter, as well as entities making updates or corrections to their original filings.
On Tuesday, Dec. 12, the House passed H.R. 5119, the Protect Small Business and Prevent Illicit Financial Activity Act. While H.R. 5119 isn’t the specific bill mentioned in the coalition's letter, this bill also delays the implementation of the BOI reporting requirements.
The AICPA team is watching Senate deliberations closely to see if it takes up H.R. 5119, or whether it might adjourn for the year, or just recess into next week. Depending on the Senate outlook and schedule, the AICPA may send a “call to action” to all AICPA members to reach out to their U.S. senators to encourage them to pass H.R. 5119 in the Senate by the end of the year.