segunda, 22 abril 2019

The Portuguese legal regime of the Central Register of the Beneficial Owner

VolverThis month the Commercial and Corporate Law Department of Belzuz Abogados S.L.P. – Portugal Branch is focused on the legal regime of the Central Register of the Beneficial Owner.

The Portuguese Central Registry of the Beneficial Owner legal regime transposed the Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing into domestic law.

The Portuguese legal regime establishes the obligation, for a very broad range of legal entities (including, inter alia, companies, branch offices, funds, associations, foundations and representations of non-resident entities developing an activity in Portugal) to declare, through an electronic form, sufficient, exact and updated information regarding their beneficial owners, all the circumstances indicative of such quality and the information related to the economic interest that is held in such entities.

The regime introduces new disclosure obligations for Portuguese entities which include, among others:

• The obligation to disclose to the Portuguese public authorities detailed information on:

(i) the disclosing entity;

(ii) if applicable, their direct shareholders (including the detail of the number of shares held by each shareholder);

(iii) their managers or directors;

(iv) their beneficial owners;

(v) the declarant.

• In the case of companies, the obligation to produce and keep updated internal records on the identification of the direct shareholders (including details on the number of shares held by each shareholder) and of all individual(s) who, directly or indirectly have ownership of the shareholding or the effective control of the Portuguese disclosing company.

The initial disclosure form to be filed by entities subject to the regime should be completed by 30 June 2019.

Entities failing to comply with the new rules will be subject to penalties (up to €50,000) and prevented, namely, from applying the domestic withholding tax exemption on dividends distributed to qualified shareholders or to participate in any transaction related to the transfer of immovable property in Portugal (either as a seller or as an acquirer). Failure to comply with the reporting obligation regarding beneficial owner will be recorded in the commercial registration certificate of the entity subject to the Beneficial Owner Central Register.

 

Belzuz Abogados SLP

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