File your beneficial owner notification to avoid liquidation

The PRH urges limited companies to notify it about its beneficial owners without delay. From the start of this year, the consequences for failing to do so can be negative.

All limited companies and cooperatives must, by law, submit information about their actual beneficial owners, that is, people with an ownership or controlling interest in the company, to the Trade Register.

The Patent and Registration Office (PRH) urges companies to file as soon as possible. A company must also file when its beneficial owner information changes, when a new company is registered, when there are no beneficiaries, and when there are no beneficiaries known to the company. Filing is free.

The PRH reminds companies that they must also notify it of its beneficial owners when the company’s information about its board or other officers are up to date in the Trade Register and the owners or stocks or shares have been indicated on the company registration form.

The form may be filed on the Business Information System website. Read instructions for filing here.

From 2024, failing to file may lead to harsher sanctions than before.

Company may be deregistered

The PRH says that a company may face difficulties operating if it does not file information on its beneficiaries and keep them up to date. A company’s partners can check on the Trade Register whether the company has filed a beneficial owner notification.

Banks, accounting firms and legal firms are obliged to verify their clients’ beneficial owner information. They are required to report if the company’s information is defective or inconsistent.

From 2024, failing to file may lead to harsher sanctions than before. The PRH may order a company be liquidated or remove it from the Trade Register if the company fails to notify it about its beneficial owners or correct erroneous information after being sent reminders.

Beneficial owners own over 25%

An actual beneficial owner in a limited company is a person who holds over 25% of the company’s shares or votes directly or via another company. A beneficial owner may also use a controlling interest in the company via the likes of a shareholder contract.

A partnership or limited partnership must also file when the beneficial owner is someone other than the partner or if the partner is a company. Sole traders do not have to file.

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