Industry groups urge Congress to bury small-biz reporting rule

Dozens of trade groups, including HVAC and plumbing associations ACCA, HARDI, and PHCC, before the Fourth of July holiday sent a letter to Congress, urging leaders to ensure that a currently shelved small business reporting requirement does not return. 

Catch up quick: The Corporate Transparency Act, which took effect in 2024, required businesses with fewer than 20 full-time employees or less than $5 million in annual revenue to submit beneficial ownership reports — personal information filings of all owners holding more than a 25 percent stake — to the Treasury Department by Jan. 1, 2025. 

• But following a series of legal back-and-forths, the Treasury in March 2025 exempted all businesses from the requirement. (The requirement would have affected roughly 32 million businesses nationwide, including many contractors.) 

What’s happening: The move was “the largest deregulatory action of 2025, saving small businesses from over $128 billion of regulatory costs and compliance burdens,” the letter states. 

• However, “Without a legislative fix,” HARDI added in a blog post, “future administrations could revive” the mandate. 

Zoom in: The letter suggests that Congress can “lock in” the savings by repealing the requirement entirely — bills to scrap the law in the House and Senate currently have 194 and 34 cosponsors, respectively — or by codifying the Treasury’s March 2025 exemption.  

Looking ahead: It remains unclear whether the trade groups have received a response. The Treasury Department didn’t return a request for comment.