The first thing you should pay attention to in the context of the subject of the article is that the Law introduced a new interesting and expanded definition of the ultimate beneficial owner. In accordance with it, the ultimate beneficial owner is:
- for legal entities - any natural person exercising a decisive influence on the activities of a legal entity (including through the control / ownership chain);
- for trusts - the founder, trustee, beneficiary or group of beneficiaries, as well as any other individual who has a decisive influence on the activities of the trust (including through the control / ownership chain);
- for other similar legal entities, a person having a status equivalent to or similar to the persons indicated for trusts.
Signs of an indirect decisive influence on the activity are at least the ownership of at least 25 percent of the authorized capital or voting rights of a legal entity through related individuals or legal entities, trusts or other similar legal entities, or the exercise of a decisive influence by exercising the right of control, ownership , use or disposal of all assets or their shares, the right to receive income from the activities of a legal entity, trust or other similar legal entity , the right of a decisive influence on the formation of the composition, the voting results of governing bodies, as well as the conclusion of transactions that make it possible to determine the basic conditions for the economic activity of a legal entity, or the activities of a trust or other similar legal entity, make binding decisions that have a decisive influence on the activity of a legal entity person, trust or other similar legal entity, regardless of formal ownership.
Moreover, in accordance with the Law, the ultimate beneficial owner cannot be a person who has a formal right to 25 or more percent of the authorized capital or voting rights in a legal entity, but who is a commercial agent, nominee holder or only an intermediary in relation to such a right.
The Law provides that legal entities registered before the entry into force of this Law provide the state registrar with information about the ultimate beneficial owner in the amount specified by the Law, and the ownership structure, within three months from the date of entry into force of the regulatory legal act that will be approved form and content of ownership structure. Such a normative legal act should be an order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine on approval of the form and content of the ownership structure of a legal entity. The ownership structure, in accordance with the provisions of the Law, is a documented system of relations between individuals and legal entities, trusts and other similar legal entities, which allows you to establish all ultimate beneficial owners, including the control relationship between them, or the absence of ultimate beneficial owners.
However, as we see from the norm quoted above, in addition to the ownership structure, it will also be necessary to submit “information on the ultimate beneficial owner in the amount defined by this law”.
The list of this information we can find in the amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On state registration of legal entities, individuals - entrepreneurs and public associations" introduced by the Law. New article 171 stipulates that in order to confirm information about the ultimate beneficial owner of a legal entity, it must submit:1предусматривает, что для подтверждения сведений о конечном бенефициарном собственнике юридического лица, оно должно подать:
- application for confirmation of information on the ultimate beneficial owner (its form has not yet been approved);
- ownership structure (its form has not yet been approved);
- an extract or other document from the commercial, banking, judicial register confirming the registration of a non-resident legal entity in the country of its location - if the founder of the legal entity is a non-resident legal entity;
- a notarized copy of the identity document of the person who is the ultimate beneficial owner of the company, for a non-resident individual.
