Policy Issues
Joint Real Estate Trade Association Letter to Congress on Corporate Transparency Bills
November 5, 2019
Six real estate organizations. including The Real Estate Roundtable, wrote to congressional policymakers to express concerns with recent legislative efforts meant to aid law enforcement in investigation of shell companies engaged in money laundering, tax evasion and terrorism financing. While well-intentioned, the industry coalition believes the proposals currently under consideration that are designed to increase the transparency of the ownership structure of limited liability companies (LLCs) and real estate transactions would have negative, unintended consequences on the broader real estate market.
The letter details concerns with several of the bills that have been introduced and addresses these issues:
- Unreasonable Lookback Reporting
- Duplicative Reporting
- Unclear Guidance
- Access and Disclosure Raises Privacy Concern
- Notification and Process for Compliance Untested
- Severe and Punitive Penalties
The signatories believe any legislation that moves forward must strike a balance that does not harm small businesses in order to catch a small number of bad actors. As drafted, the proposals would do more to complicate the business operations of legitimate, small business owners than help law enforcement agencies identify illegitimate ones.
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