CTA Scam Alert: Don’t Get Scammed When Complying With the Corporate Transparency Act’s Disclosure Requirements

By Jordan M. Small and David H. Freedman

As we discussed in previous posts here and here, an estimated 36 million American businesses will soon need to comply with the new disclosure requirements implemented by the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). Given the CTA’s expansive scope and complex obligations and with a rapidly approaching effective date of January 1, 2024, and other reporting deadlines to follow, companies of all sizes are actively determining whether they are a non-exempt “Reporting Company” subject to the law and, if so, what they need to do to satisfy their obligations.

Unfortunately, bad actors are also acutely aware that businesses are just starting to familiarize themselves with the CTA and what they must do to satisfy its reporting and disclosure requirements. The federal agency charged with implementing and enforcing the CTA, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) division of the U.S. Treasury Department, recently issued an alert regarding CTA-related scams. Specifically, FinCEN said that it has been:

“notified of recent fraudulent attempts to solicit information from individuals and entities who may be subject to reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act. The fraudulent correspondence may be titled “Important Compliance Notice” and asks the recipient to click on a URL or to scan a QR code. Those e-mails or letters are fraudulent. FinCEN does not send unsolicited requests. Please do not respond to these fraudulent messages, or click on any links or scan any QR codes within them.”

As FinCEN notes, it does not send unsolicited requests, so businesses should consider any CTA-related communications suspect at this juncture and delete or discard them. If you have any questions regarding a communication or solicitation you have received about the Corporate Transparency Act, your company’s obligations under the CTA, or how Maddin Hauser can help you with compliance, please contact Jordan M. Small or David H. Freedman or your Maddin Hauser attorney.