WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday revived a requirement that owners of millions of small businesses register with an arm of the Treasury Department charged with fighting money laundering and other financial crimes.
The justices granted an emergency plea made by the Justice Department in the waning days of the Biden administration to allow enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act, enacted in 2021 to crack down on the illicit use of anonymous shell companies.
Owners and part-owners of an estimated 32.6 million small businesses must register personal information with Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN. The information includes photo IDs and home addresses.
It’s unclear whether the Trump administration will devote much effort to enforcing the registration requirement, which has been opposed by Republican-led states and lawmakers, as well as conservative and business interest groups.
The registration requirement was blocked by a federal judge in Texas, who ruled that Congress lacked the authority to pass the corporate transparency law in the first place. It was kept on hold by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pending its review of the judge’s ruling.
The Supreme Court action allows enforcement of the registration requirement while the Texas case winds through the courts.
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