Missouri small business owners and supporters are celebrating a new federal rule, ending a requirement for U.S. companies to report identifying information about their owners to the government.
The Treasury Department finalized the change last week, exempting millions of businesses nationwide. The mandate was created under the Corporate Transparency Act to help fight financial crimes. Small businesses account for more than 99% of all businesses in Missouri.
Brad Jones, Missouri state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, called the move a major victory.
"They have completely and totally exempted all American companies, and that's about 32 million small businesses, primarily under 20 employees. So this is a huge deal," Jones emphasized.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said it will delete information previously submitted from U.S. companies and individuals. The federation estimated the change will save small businesses nationwide more than $128 billion in regulatory and compliance costs.
Although the Treasury Department’s decision makes the exemption permanent through federal regulation, the underlying law is still on the books. Jones noted the federation is excited about the revision but is hoping to see it go even further.
"What we were really hoping is that Congress would get in there and completely get rid of the original bill, which was placed in the National Defense Act. The Corporate Transparency Act is what we really wanted to see completely go away, and we still do," Jones stressed.
Jones added that unless Congress gets rid of the mandate altogether, a future administration could bring it back. For now, only certain foreign companies registered to do business in the United States must report ownership information.
Missouri News Service originally published this story.
