President Donald Trump is praising a rule change by his Treasury Department that ends the reporting requirement for so-called beneficial ownership information, possibly after receiving a push from Elon Musk.
“Exciting news!” Trump posted on Truth Social late on Sunday. “The Treasury Department has announced that they are suspending all enforcement of the outrageous and invasive Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirement for U.S. Citizens.”
The announcement came one day after Musk, the billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency leader, posted on X that he would “look into” changing the rule in response to a complaint about it. Trump and Musk were seen hanging out together at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend and flew back to the White House together aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening.
The Biden-era rule required companies to report information about their beneficial owners to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
A beneficial owner is defined as someone who exercises substantial control over a reporting company, and the aim of the rule was to cut down on money laundering and shell companies.
But Trump blasted it as an “absolute disaster” for small businesses and said the Treasury is also finalizing a new regulation to suspend the rule.
“The economic menace of BOI reporting will soon be no more,” he wrote.
The Treasury Department explained the move in a series of X posts, explaining that it will not enforce penalties or fines associated with the reporting rule.
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“The Treasury Department will further be issuing a proposed rulemaking that will narrow the scope of the rule to foreign reporting companies only,” it announced. “Treasury takes this step in the interest of supporting hard-working American taxpayers and small businesses and ensuring that the rule is appropriately tailored to advance the public interest.”
“This is a victory for common sense,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “Today’s action is part of President Trump’s bold agenda to unleash American prosperity by reining in burdensome regulations, in particular for small businesses that are the backbone of the American economy.”