Small Businesses Ask Court to Reject Corporate Transparency Act in Amicus Brief
Small Businesses Ask Court to Reject Corporate Transparency Act in Amicus Brief
January 30, 2025
The case challenges the beneficial ownership reporting requirements for small businesses
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 30, 2025) – NFIB filed an amicus brief in the case Community Associations Institute, et al. v. U.S. Department of Treasury at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The case concerns the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and beneficial ownership information reporting requirements for small businesses. NFIB’s brief questions Congress’s authority to regulate inactivity or noneconomic activity under the Commerce Clause.
“The Corporate Transparency Act does not regulate activity, let alone economic activity, while also imposing burdensome reporting requirements on small businesses and raising numerous privacy concerns,” said Beth Milito, Vice President and Executive Director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center. “NFIB will continue to advocate for the small business community by contesting this harmful law.”
NFIB’s brief argues three main points: 1) the CTA does not regulate activity and cannot pass muster under the Commerce Clause, 2) to pass the substantial effects test under the Commerce Clause, Congress must be regulating economic activity, which is the introduction, production, or exchange of goods or services, and 3) because the Act regulates noneconomic activity, it fails the Commerce Clause’s substantial effects test.
NFIB’s own lawsuit challenging the CTA is still ongoing. In the meantime, Congress can pass the Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act, legislation that would repeal the CTA and permanently relieve small businesses of the beneficial ownership information reporting requirements.
The NFIB Small Business Legal Center protects the rights of small business owners in the nation’s courts. NFIB is currently active in more than 40 cases in federal and state courts across the country and in the U.S. Supreme Court.
NFIB is a member-driven organization advocating on behalf of small and independent businesses nationwide.
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