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What is the register of beneficial owners and do we need to register?

You may have already gotten or will get an email from the Companies Registration Office (CRO) informing you of your “Obligation to Maintain and File Beneficial Ownership Information” and “Deadline of 22 November for Filing Beneficial Ownership Details is Fast Approaching”, through the Registration of Business Owners (RBO) website – www.rbo.gov.ie which went live on 29th July 2019.

All companies need to register and have until 22 November 2019 to register on www.rbo.gov.ie.

You can only file the information on www.rbo.gov.ie, there are no paper forms you can post to the CRO.

What is a Beneficial Owner?

According to the legislation A “Beneficial Owner” is a natural person who ultimately owns or controls, directly or indirectly, a legal entity.

This usually would be a shareholder who owns more than 25% of the issued share capital or/and ‘senior managing officials’ e.g. its Directors/Chief Executives/Board Members.

In order to comply companies need to at minimum record the following information on an internal register and on www.rbo.gov.ie :

1. Full name, residential address, date of birth and nationality;
2. A statement of the nature and extent of the interest held by each beneficial owner;
3. The date on which the individual was entered into the Register of Beneficial Owners website;
4. The date on which a person ceased to be a beneficial owner;
5. PPSN of each beneficial owner;
6. If no beneficial owner can be identified the Company must then enter the names of its ‘senior managing officials’ for example its Directors/Chief Executive/Board members on the Register of Beneficial Owners website www.rbo.gov.ie.

Some companies are keeping a copy of the passport, proof of address and correspondence from the revenue showing PPSN for each person identified as a beneficial owner on file as well.

Thereafter, you will need to record changes in beneficial ownership details and deliver these to the Central Register on www.rbo.gov.ie when they occur, and within a 14 day period.

You should take particular care if the company undertakes any procedures which might impact the structure of their beneficial owners – such as a fresh allotment of shares, transfer of shares, purchase of own shares or a redemption of shares, change in directors, board members or chief executives.

If you need any help registering on Registration of Business Owners (RBO) website – www.rbo.gov.ie or with any CRO documents please feel free to contact us.

Beneficial Owner