I can’t tell you how many e-mails and
calls I received about whether condo associations and HOAs
must comply with a federal statute called the Corporate
Transparency Act which required companies to submit
beneficial ownership information to FinCEN, a United States
Department of the Treasury bureau that works to detect and
prosecute financial crimes, including money laundering and
terrorist financing.
Boards wanted to know if they were
required to now provide the government with personal
information about everybody on the board and it was making a
lot of board members very uncomfortable.
There certainly was an argument that
condos and HOAs were supposed to be exempt from these
reporting requirements as nobody is laundering money through
condos and HOAs. But, there was no specific exclusion for
condos and HOAs under the Act.
So here is where we are at the moment.
There was a case filed in a federal district court in
Alabama that declared the entire Corporate Transparency Act
unconstitutional. That case was appealed to the 11th Circuit
Court of Appeals. Why is that important? Florida is also in
the 11th Circuit. However, there no decision yet from the
11th Circuit..
Another case proceeded out of Texas that
also got a lot of attention. That case was called Texas
Top Cop Shop, versus Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General;
Treasury Department; Director Fincen, Andrea Gacki, Director
Of The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network; Financial
Crimes Enforcement Network; Janet Yellen, Secretary, U.S.
Department Of Treasury, and it was filed in the Eastern
District of Texas.
In that case, on December 3rd, 2024, the
District Court entered a nationwide injunction enjoining
enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act.
The Government then requested a stay of
the preliminary injunction, which the district court denied.
The Government appealed, and the court granted the
government’s emergency motion for a stay of the injunction
pending appeal. The court then reconsidered and said…….OK in
order to preserve the constitutional status quo, the
nation-wide injunction is back in effect for the time UNTIL
the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decides the entire issue.
SO THE BOTTOM LINE ----CONDOS AND HOAS CAN IGNORE THE
CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT --------------- FOR NOW.
If a condo or HOA already complied, you
wasted your time and any fee paid to prepare and file it.
If that’s not starting the year with some
confusing stuff ---- I don’t know what is.
Wishing all of you and you families a
happy and healthy new year.
