NEWS | Congress Holds Committee Hearing on NSBA Priority Issue Corporate Transparency Act, CTA Database

NSBA continues urging Congress to act on our Priority Issue to repeal the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), including deleting the unconstitutional database created as part of its undue regulations.

ANALYSIS | NSBA continues to monitor legislative efforts surrounding the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), including recent actions in the House Financial Services Committee to advance repeal legislation. While transparency and efforts to combat illicit financial activity remain important, NSBA has consistently raised concerns about the CTA’s implementation and the disproportionate compliance burden it places on America’s small businesses. Many small-business owners, who are already navigating a complex regulatory landscape, face uncertainty, added costs, and potential penalties tied to reporting requirements that were not designed with their realities in mind. As policymakers debate the future of the CTA, NSBA urges Congress to prioritize practical, commonsense solutions that protect national security objectives without placing undue strain on small businesses, and to ensure that any framework moving forward is clear, streamlined, and workable for the millions of entrepreneurs who drive the U.S. economy.

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APRIL 22, 2026 | THIS WEEK, the House Financial Services Committee voted to advance the Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act (H.R. 425).

Introduced by Congressman Warren Davidson (R-08-Ohio), this bill would limit beneficial ownership reporting requirements to only foreign-owned entities, effectively codifying a repeal of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).

Passed as part of a national security and defense spending package in 2019, Congress enacted the CTA with an intent of decreasing money laundering and improving security of U.S. financial systems.

However, Congress exempted large corporations from these beneficial ownership disclosure requirements, and information collected by the CTA is duplicative to other disclosure rules already in place and appropriately available to federal authorities.

Vague, incomplete regulations produced by the U.S. Department of Treasury enacting the CTA have only plagued small businesses since.

Already disadvantaged by regulatory requirements without the resources of larger entities to ensure compliance, small-business owners should not unfairly be expected to bear the burden of fulfilling Congress' intent of stemming money laundering when their larger counterparts do not face the same obligations.

This is why NSBA has stood firmly against the CTA since 2022, when we filed the first federal lawsuit against this law and won, surviving appeals and even bolstered in our position by additional lawsuits filed from other concerned groups and small-business coalitions.

For the illegal database the CTA's beneficial ownership disclosures creates, as well as the warrantless searches conducted by Treasury and its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) accessing this information without proper authority, NSBA is advancing its challenge over this law, recently filing a petition for a hearing at the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).

RELATED | NSBA ADVANCES CTA LAWSUIT TO SUPREME COURT

NSBA's position against the CTA is not because the small-business community supports money laundering; rather, we are fighting for protections of the nation's most important economic community, standing firmly against the illegal database the CTA creates and the Fourth Amendment warrantless search violations it invites.

While we believe it is important for SCOTUS to weigh in on whether Congress possess the ability to legislate authority for disclosures by small-business owners for the back-and-forth among the lower court decisions, NSBA applauds pursuit of repeal by other channels.

For instance, after hearing the concerns from our members through countless hours of advocacy, the Administration announced a freeze on FinCEN enforcement of the CTA, only maintaining disclosure requirements for foreign-owned entities.

The enforcement freeze by FinCEN was a welcome announcement, but more is needed to ensure a subsequent executive order or rule change from a future administration does not reinstate the undue reporting requirements.

This is why we are grateful to Rep. Davidson and the House Financial Services Committee for their consideration and passage of H.R. 425 - a solid pathway to formal, legal repeal of the 2019 authority.

If you think the this law doesn't apply to you or your small business, NSBA encourages you to check out CTA resource center.

If you already know the dangers of this unconstitutional, overbearing law, learn more about how you can support our efforts over the CTA, and follow us as we continue pursuit of full repeal of the CTA.