ICYMI: NFIB Vice President Testifies on Beneficial Ownership Requirements on Small Businesses

July 19, 2023

ICYMI: NFIB Vice President Testifies on Beneficial Ownership Requirements on Small Businesses

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 19, 2023) – NFIB Vice President of Federal Government Relations Kevin Kuhlman testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions in a hearing titled, “Potential Consequences of FinCEN’s Beneficial Ownership Rulemaking.” The hearing addressed the beneficial ownership information requirements for small businesses. “NFIB has long opposed beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements because the regulations impact only small businesses under the threat of severe penalties. BOI reporting requirements were buried in an amendment as part of a large and unrelated bill. FinCEN has overreached in implementing the legislation, failing to both minimize reporting burdens on small businesses and provide clarity to small businesses. Finally, FinCEN is lacking in education and outreach to the small business community and few small businesses are aware of their requirements that begin in less than six months… “Ultimately, NFIB believes Congress should repeal the Corporate Transparency Act and better target revised anti-money laundering laws. This legislation establishes a massive government dragnet with the personally identifiable information of 32.6 million law-abiding small business owners with the hope that criminal money launderers will fess up and admit that they are hiding behind shell companies.” The Corporate Transparency Act was signed into law in 2021 as part of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. The Corporate Transparency Act is one of the most expansive small business regulations in history, affecting 32.6 million small businesses in the first year and five to six million small businesses every year thereafter, according to FinCEN’s estimates. Read his full testimony here. Watch his opening statements here.

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Regulations

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