NFIB Vice President of Federal Government Relations, Jeff Brabant, recently appeared on The Lars Larson National Radio Show to discuss the implications of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) on small businesses. He emphasized concerns about privacy and compliance burdens associated with the Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirements mandated by the CTA.

Brabant pointed out that small business owners across the country are worried about how this mandate will affect them. He highlighted NFIB members' apprehensions regarding the privacy of their personal information and the financial burden of compliance.

"If you’re a small business owner with less than 20 employees and less than five million in revenue, you’re going to have to file all of your ownership information – they’re calling it ‘beneficial ownership information’ – with an agency called the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) really soon…and if you don’t, you can get fined up to $10,000 and you can go to jail for two years," Brabant stated during his interview.

He further explained, "Our members are very frustrated by this. They don’t think it’s fair that it only applies to small businesses, it’s an invasion of privacy, and it’s very burdensome. This is a lifelong commitment for small businesses; this isn’t a one-and-done…This is going to cost $77 billion to comply with [over ten years] by 32 million small businesses."

Currently, NFIB's lawsuit challenging the CTA is ongoing. Meanwhile, Congress has the option to pass the Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act. This legislation would repeal the CTA and permanently relieve small businesses from BOI reporting requirements.