Corporate transparency act

When I started this blog, I had hoped that I could post monthly, but time got away from me, budget ratification meetings and new HOAs took precedence in my life, which is great! I've got a break in between meetings and allows me to dig deeper into some of the laws Congress is trying to enforce. The Corporate Transparency Act aka CTA is one of them. 

Enacted in 2021 as an attempt to prevent money laundering, Congress established a "beneficial ownership information (BOI) report to be filed with FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) a bureau within the U.S. Department of Treasury. This would require each board member to provide their current residential street address, date of birth, legal name and a scanned copy of their driver's license, passport or state-issued ID. Each time a board member would change, the HOA would have 30 days to update their records with FinCEN. 

From a personal and professional standpoint, I was infuriated. Board members are volunteers and it's hard enough to get members to volunteer for these positions as it is. This would just add to the reasons why not to serve on an HOA board. I also found it to be a huge encroachment by Congress. Luckily, the Federal Courts also agreed that this is an enormous overstep by Congress and on March 5th they held the Corporate Transparency Act as unconstitutional. 

While it is far from over as Congress will most likely appeal, at this time board members can take a breath. If Congress figures out a way to enforce this act, members have until January 1st, 2025 to file their initial report. This is one law I don't recommend jumping on, or can ethically get behind. I understand the need to control money laundering, but in our little neck of the woods, we are dealing with small, non-profit HOA's who just want to get their lawns watered, not mega-huge corporations that funnel millions of dollars through their entity every year.