The Corporate Transparency Act of 2021 is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on March 3, 2021 by Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Peter King. The bill requires corporations to disclose their beneficial ownership to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the United States Department of the Treasury. The bill is co-sponsored by Representatives Emanuel Cleaver, II, Steve Stivers, and Blaine Luetkemeyer.
The stated purpose of the bill is to “increase transparency in the corporate sector in order to prevent criminals and terrorists from using shell companies to launder money and evade taxes.” Under the bill, corporations will be required to disclose their beneficial ownership to FinCEN. The bill would also create a central registry of beneficial ownership information that would be accessible to law enforcement and financial institutions.
Currently, there is no centralized registry of beneficial ownership information in the United States. This lack of transparency makes it easy for criminals and terrorists to launder money and evade taxes using shell companies. The Corporate Transparency Act of 2021 would increase transparency in the corporate sector and make it more difficult for criminals and terrorists to use shell companies to launder money and evade taxes.
Critics of the bill argue that it would impose costly compliance burdens on corporations. They also argue that the bill would not be effective in combating money laundering and tax evasion because beneficial ownership information could still be hidden using trusts, LLCs, and other legal structures.
Supporters of the bill argue that the benefits of increased transparency outweigh the costs. They argue that the bill would make it more difficult for criminals and terrorists to use shell companies to launder money and evade taxes.
The Corporate Transparency Act of 2021 is a controversial bill that would increase transparency in the corporate sector. The bill has supporters and detractors, but none the less, the bill will be enacted into law as of 2022. Do you support the new Corporate Transparency Act Regulations?
