Cyprus to publish ultimate beneficial owner list of its money offshore accounts

[jakonda]

According to Reuters Cyprus is planing to launch a register in coming months identifying the owners of companies on the island, this is un-freaking-believable.
Would love to hear comments from esteemed colleagues from offshorecorptalk.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...with-register-of-company-owners-idUSKBN2AV1FB

 

[Sols]

Nothing really new here. It was announced a few months back and is in line with an EU requirement, that has been in the works for years. Cyprus is just one of the absolute last EU members to implement it.

Hiding UBO is becoming harder and harder (mainly more expensive).

 

[jakonda]

Oh, okay...I just came across this info today, didn't pay attention.

 

[Fred]

Get out of the EU as long as you can.

I'm happy today that I followed in 2018 @Martin Everson advise.

Asset register in EU follows next.

 

[Don]

Access to the UBO register is only available to competent authorities, upon request, meaning the register is not available to the public . This is advised to be the case until the end of 2021, at the earliest.

 

[Martin Everson]

Asset register in EU follows next.

Yup its already started. Reporting of safety deposit boxes came into force last year with AMLD5. Only a matter of time before you have to declare if you got a gold tooth in your mouth etc. That information is important to them for when the time comes for the EU to enact its final solution to tackle spiraling debt .

 

[Don]

Yup its already started. Reporting of safety deposit boxes came into force last year with AMLD5. Only a matter of time before you have to declare if you got a gold tooth in your mouth etc. That information is important to them for when the time comes for the EU to enact its final solution to tackle spiraling debt .

The next step is then the government forbidding the hoarding of gold or any other assets, repeating the US Executive Order 6102 and the history of former socialist countries. On top of that, OECD countries will likely start to fine tax advisors for suggesting cross-border structures.
There are clear signs we are heading towards the era of worldwide neocommunism.

 

[Martin Everson]

Yes...they will start by putting in extensive transaction reporting in place for anyone buying, selling or transferring physical gold bullion or even legal tender coins over a certain volume. But right now I am sure their focus is on another popular speculative asset .

 

[biz1]

@Martin Everson curious because you brought it up, in which jurisdictions are bank deposit boxes not automatically reported (now and in future)?

@Don just curious where will the information for that UBO registry come from - financial institutions only, or would they somehow add more reporting/registration requirements.

 

[CyprusLaw]

@Don just curious where will the information for that UBO registry come from - financial institutions only, or would they somehow add more reporting/registration requirements.

Each Cyprus company needs to complete online the information about their UBO(s), the following info must be completed: Name, surname, date of birth, nationality and residential address, Nature and extent of the beneficial interest held directly or indirectly, Identification document number indicating the type of document and the country of document issuance (Identity card or passport), Date on which the natural person was entered in the register as beneficial owner.

As was correctly indicated above the info will be available to competent authorities only for the first 6 months, until the full register is ready, it could take until the end of 2021. After that it will be available to the public but after they pay a designated fee in order to search the UBO of a particular company.

There are three ways to essentially avoid giving this info: (i) if there is serious reason to withhold this info, for example threats to life etc; (ii) A UBO is considered anyone holding 25% plus one share, so the info of anyone holding 25% and below will not be disclosed; (iii) If the direct shareholder of the company is a Non-EU trust then no further information will be required. Noting that in the event that a UBO cannot be identified/disclosed due to the above a managing person must be designated and info must be disclosed for him - this could be a director for example, CEO etc.

 

[Konstanz]

Asset register is not next, is the existing thing in some countries, since some countries has wealth tax.

You can still live in Europe and pay no or small tax:
1. You have money and have residence in Andorra, Gibraltar, Monaco, Switzerland (lump sum tax). These countries are not in EU, but open border with EU.
2. Have Dubai residence and live in Europe in multiple countries, not triggering residence. This is what the most people do, until EU realize that in most cases UAE reisdence is a domicilation fraud (99% cases) and put pressure to UAE to implement stricter rules.

 

[Martin Everson]

@Martin Everson curious because you brought it up, in which jurisdictions are bank deposit boxes not automatically reported (now and in future)?

Any outside the EU for now. For the future I don't have a crystal ball to confirm what will happen .

 

[biz1]

@Martin Everson aha interesting, so reporting bank deposit boxes is not a CRS, AEOI kind of thing (= worldwide) but it's a local European Union thing. I see.

I wonder if a non-EU resident or citizen gets a bank deposit box in EU, if they would report it to the non-EU country. I presume not.

This is a really weird and kind of sad regulation. Thanks for confirming that anywhere outside EU is fine.

 

[Martin Everson]

@Martin Everson aha interesting, so reporting bank deposit boxes is not a CRS, AEOI kind of thing (= worldwide) but it's a local European Union thing. I see.

Yes it is only part of the EU's 5th Anti Money Laundering Directive.

Sorry...automatic reporting is not actually taking place like in CRS but registers willl exist like UBO company registers which can be accessed by another EU country. You can read between the lines that this data will be automatically harvested by tax authorities.

https://www.offshorecorptalk.com/th...ering-directive-10-jan-2020.26879/post-104915

I wonder if a non-EU resident or citizen gets a bank deposit box in EU, if they would report it to the non-EU country. I presume not.

Correct

This is a really weird and kind of sad regulation. Thanks for confirming that anywhere outside EU is fine.

In general everyone should split their assets between the EU and outside the EU. Not putting all eggs in one basket is sensible thing to do in uncertain times and EU is one big basket.

P.S I can see the UK now it is outside the EU becoming in its own rigtht an international offshore centre...wait and see.

 

[JohnLocke]

In general everyone should split their assets between the EU and outside the EU. Not putting all eggs in one basket is sensible thing to do in uncertain times and EU is one big basket.

I could not agree more with you.

 

[glengoolie]

i live in EU and there has been talk in the past week or two here, direct statements by politicians in power, about government having access to all bank accounts and knowing who has how much money at their disposal...just fyi. plus we are getting property tax reform(never for the better) and e-invoice copied from Hungary. this scamdemic choked the GDP for everyone so now they will be choking the people to get their money to pay for their government crap...literally people are losing jobs and i just read about finance minister giving out bonuses to some people...insanity. and national debt went up like 25% or something, just in the past year.

anyway, since cyprus companies are joint stock companies, one could simply go public and list the company on stock exchange and then just buy the shares through multiple brokers with corporate accounts. you will never get absolute anonymity but the more obstacles you put in place the harder to find out.

personally, i would never try to hide from the government. it's better to set yourself up in a way that legally allows you to pay no or very little taxes. and always remember, no matter how draconian some governments are, there is always another government that sees the opportunity to bring in people with money to spend, so there is always a place to go if things no longer work out for you.

 

[pipona]

Each Cyprus company needs to complete online the information about their UBO(s), the following info must be completed: Name, surname, date of birth, nationality and residential address, Nature and extent of the beneficial interest held directly or indirectly, Identification document number indicating the type of document and the country of document issuance (Identity card or passport), Date on which the natural person was entered in the register as beneficial owner.

As was correctly indicated above the info will be available to competent authorities only for the first 6 months, until the full register is ready, it could take until the end of 2021. After that it will be available to the public but after they pay a designated fee in order to search the UBO of a particular company.

There are three ways to essentially avoid giving this info: (i) if there is serious reason to withhold this info, for example threats to life etc; (ii) A UBO is considered anyone holding 25% plus one share, so the info of anyone holding 25% and below will not be disclosed; (iii) If the direct shareholder of the company is a Non-EU trust then no further information will be required. Noting that in the event that a UBO cannot be identified/disclosed due to the above a managing person must be designated and info must be disclosed for him - this could be a director for example, CEO etc.

Thanks for this explanation.

If I am understanding this correctly, by the end of this year all of those online casinos, P**N sites, etc using Cyprus as part of their structure will be wide open to having their owners doxxed, harassed, blackmailed or worse

 

[Golden Fleece]

Reporting of safety deposit boxes came into force last year with AMLD5.

I find this absolutely astounding. Do people not know that they are on the road to slavery? Every time that I think that the ever-increasing socialism in the U.S. is bad, I see evidence (such as this) that it is even worse in the EU.

 

[biz1]

Each Cyprus company needs to complete online the information about their UBO(s), the following info must be completed: Name, surname, date of birth, nationality and residential address, Nature and extent of the beneficial interest held directly or indirectly, Identification document number indicating the type of document and the country of document issuance (Identity card or passport), Date on which the natural person was entered in the register as beneficial owner.

As was correctly indicated above the info will be available to competent authorities only for the first 6 months, until the full register is ready, it could take until the end of 2021. After that it will be available to the public but after they pay a designated fee in order to search the UBO of a particular company.

There are three ways to essentially avoid giving this info: (i) if there is serious reason to withhold this info, for example threats to life etc; (ii) A UBO is considered anyone holding 25% plus one share, so the info of anyone holding 25% and below will not be disclosed; (iii) If the direct shareholder of the company is a Non-EU trust then no further information will be required. Noting that in the event that a UBO cannot be identified/disclosed due to the above a managing person must be designated and info must be disclosed for him - this could be a director for example, CEO etc.

@CyprusLaw, so each company incorporated in Cyprus is required to fill out this questionnaire.

* Exemption number (iii), does it apply also for a non-EU foundation?

* Where can I read more about this rule?

@CyprusLaw if you are a lawyer feel free to send me a direct message to discuss your services.

 

[biz1]

@CyprusLaw, so each company incorporated in Cyprus is required to fill out the UBO questionnaire, I see.

How does it apply if a Cyprus company has as sole director and owner, a non-EU foundation? Is only the foundation written as UBO, or should the person who was the *founder* of the foundation be written - the latter would be unfair as he is no longer affiliated with the foundation.

Saw some comments here The Cyprus UBO register – Guide and Information - 2021