President Donald Trump’s administration said it will not enforce financial reporting requirements widely viewed as an unnecessary headache for small business owners and an invasion of their privacy.
The move, announced Sunday by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, was cheered by U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, both Wyoming Republicans.
In January before Trump took office, Lummis and Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray teamed up on a court filing against the regulations.
Those regulations were part of the “beneficial ownership reporting rule,” made pursuant to a federal law called the Corporate Transparency Act. The stated purpose of the rule is to help the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) combat terrorism, money laundering and tax fraud.
But some small business owners went to court over reporting requirements about themselves and their bank accounts — mandates they deemed onerous and intrusive. Those requirements were put on hold by the courts before they took effect, but the administration’s action Sunday provides a greater degree of relief.
Bessent said the department will not enforce the contentious parts of the rule and will soon propose a formal change to narrow the rule’s scope so that it encompasses foreign companies only.
‘Major Win’
"This is a major win for small businesses all across the Cowboy State,” Lummis told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. “I know that Wyoming enterprises need relief after surviving the failed policies of the Biden administration.”
Hageman agreed.
“I applaud President Trump and the Treasury Department for halting enforcement and evaluating next steps,” she said.
“The Corporate Transparency Act threatens small-business owners with red tape, invades their privacy, and criminalizes those unaware of its existence,” Hageman told Cowboy State Daily. “We have seen months and months of back and forth as lawsuits worked through the court system, leaving business owners in the lurch about what is or is not required of them to comply with this burdensome law.”
Hageman added that legislation she is co-sponsoring would “ensure the Treasury's positive steps become a lasting victory.”
Gray also is pleased with the move against the rule.
“President Trump’s announcement suspending the onerous, unconstitutional, Biden-era reporting requirements is a huge win for small business owners across the country, including Wyoming,” he said in a statement. “I have been clear in my opposition to the Biden-era CTA and its implementation, including by filing amicus briefs.”
Courts
The Corporate Transparency Act was enacted in Trump’s first term, as Congress passed the legislation and then overrode Trump’s veto. The 2020 law set forth reporting requirements to kick in later — and the controversial requirements were then blocked by courts.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a key case out of Texas on an appeal brought by Merrick Garland, the attorney general under President Joe Biden. That led Lummis and Gray to file a friend-of-the-court brief, urging the high court to rule in favor of a small business in Texas that sells tactical gear.
“The last thing business owners in Wyoming need … are more attacks on their small businesses, privacy and constitutional rights,” Lummis said in a statement announcing the January filing of the brief.
“Small businesses are the backbone of the Cowboy State, yet the federal government’s murky at best requirements are setting them up to fail, not thrive,” her January statement said. “I am partnering with Secretary Gray to defend our small businesses from this egregious overreach.”
Other than agreeing to take that case, the Supreme Court has done nothing yet on the matter.
Bessent’s action Sunday appears to render that case moot, as well as similar cases, but the disposition of litigation remained murky Monday. For example it was not immediately clear whether Attorney General Pam Bondi has formally moved to dismiss Garland’s appeal.
Lummis’s Monday statement called the regulations an “unconstitutional assault on our small businesses.”
Bessent called the administration’s move a “victory for common sense.”
“Today’s action is part of President Trump’s bold agenda to unleash American prosperity by reining in burdensome regulations, in particular for small businesses that are the backbone of the American economy,” Bessent said Sunday.
