UK's Companies House has written to all overseas entities who already own or lease property or land in the UK and must register beneficial ownership information by 31 January 2023.
The letter includes an undertaking to trustees that information they disclose about beneficiaries, current or past beneficial owners, settlors, grantors and interested persons will be shared only with law enforcement and other public authorities such as HMRC.
The register went live on 1 August 2022, with swinging non-compliance penalties of £2,500 per day of non-compliance or a five-year prison sentence.
Overseas entities have until 31 January 2023 to tell Companies House who their beneficial owners are, or their managing officers if there are no beneficial owners.
According to a report by STEP, entities that have disposed of interests from 28 February 2022 are also required to register. In return, they will receive a unique 'overseas identity number' enabling them to register their dealings with the relevant UK land registry.
After registering with Companies House, the details of the overseas entity and its beneficial owners will be available to the public on the online register.
However, trusts are being treated differently, STEP further said. The letter from Companies House includes an explicit undertaking to trustees that information they disclose about beneficiaries, current or past beneficial owners, settlors, grantors and interested persons will not be available to the public. It will only be shared with law enforcement and other public authorities such as HMRC.
