DES MOINES — U.S. Representative Zach Nunn (IA-03) today hosted Andrea Gacki, Director of the U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for a forum with local small businesses to discuss ownership reporting requirements.
“Thank you to Director Gacki for visiting Ankeny today to hear directly from small businesses on the red tape that’s making it harder for them to do business,” said Rep. Nunn. “We need to do everything we can to keep bad actors from operating shell companies on Main Street, but we shouldn’t do it at the expense of good operators. Today’s discussion will ensure that we can use the law to keep our country safe and support job creators.”
The forum convened FinCEN and small businesses to discuss how to leverage public and private sector tools to protect individuals, businesses, and consumers from financial crimes. Local businesses raised concerns about how the Corporate Transparency Act reporting requirements will impact Iowa’s Main Street businesses.
In 2020, Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act to establish new ownership reporting requirements for businesses to root out nefarious shell companies operated by foreign adversaries. However, during implementation, the U.S. Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) failed to notify small businesses of the new reporting requirements. According to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), 90% of NFIB members had never heard of the new reporting requirements.
In April, Rep. Nunn introduced the Small Business Red Tape Relief Act to hold FinCEN accountable for educating businesses on these requirements to prevent small businesses from being penalized for not complying with new requirements when they have not even been informed.
###