On April 17, 2026, the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) issued Memorandum M‑26‑11 announcing that there will be no annual inflation adjustment to federal civil monetary penalties (“CMPs”) for the calendar year 2026. (For prior annual CMP adjustments, see our previous blog post available here and here.)
The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (the “Act”) mandates annual adjustments to CMPs across the federal government, including CMPs administered by the Department of Treasury (e.g., OFAC sanctions penalties), Department of Commerce (e.g., export control penalties), and Department of State (e.g., ITAR penalties). The Act requires CMP adjustments to be calculated using October Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (“CPI‑U”) data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”). Due to the federal government shutdown, BLS did not publish CPI‑U data for October 2025. As a result, the statutory basis for calculating a 2026 adjustment multiplier does not exist. OMB therefore determined that no inflation adjustment can be made for 2026 and federal agencies are to continue using the 2025 CMP levels.
Although penalty amounts will not increase, agencies remain responsible for identifying, tracking, and reporting applicable CMPs. Agencies are also still required to publish notices in the Federal Register reflecting the outcome of the annual adjustment process, even if there is no change to the CMP amounts.
For entities subject to regulatory enforcement regimes, this guidance means there will be no inflation‑based increases to maximum civil monetary penalties in 2026. We will continue to monitor agency actions implementing OMB’s guidance.
The authors acknowledge the assistance of Avi Toltzis in the preparation of this blog post.
