What is the ultimate beneficiary of a legal entity? Beneficiary: what is this? In simple words about complex things. Examples and description

Beneficiary(from French benefice - benefit, profit or lat. beneficium - benefit) is a beneficiary, that is, the recipient of a cash payment, income, profit and other advantages and benefits according to a debt document or agreement. The beneficiary can be either a legal entity or an individual. The spelling “beneficiary” is common.

The beneficiaries are:

1. Persons who receive income from their property held in trust or used by third parties. For example, when leasing or leasing movable and immovable property, or transferring shares for use to brokers.

2. Recipients of insurance payments appointed by the policyholder. In this case, the beneficiary is indicated in the insurance policy (it is possible to insure property in favor of a third party). If the beneficiary specified in the insurance contract does not live to see the payments, the person who inherited the rights becomes the beneficiary.

3. Persons indicated by the issuing bank as the owner of the documentary letter of credit.

4. Persons receiving financial benefits from the trust.

5. Recipients of funds in collection.

6. Recipients of a bank certificate.

Market relations are developing, new economic entities are emerging. And many ordinary people do not understand what the word BENEFICIARY means. Let's try to figure it out. This concept has several definitions. And if you plan to engage in foreign trade activities, you definitely need to understand the whole variety of new concepts.

Beneficiary

A legal entity and an individual are allowed to be a beneficiary. Their income is generated by performing specific transactions. They are also the beneficiaries of transactions that are carried out with their property when managed on a trust basis. Interested parties, as they are also called, can hold bills of exchange and bank letters of credit.

What is a beneficiary? If foreign trade activities are carried out, it is a company that acts as a seller. If trust transactions are conducted, it is the person who benefits from the trust management of his property.

There is another definition that explains who the beneficiary is. You can become a beneficiary by inheritance if the one who was recorded in the insurance policy as a beneficiary died before the term of this agreement expired. Translated from French, this word is translated as profit.

Beneficial owner

According to Russian laws, the beneficial owner is the person who actually owns the entire company.

The beneficiary receives profit from the client's activities under an agency agreement or trust management.

The beneficial owner is an individual. He is the owner of the company directly or through other persons. Can control all client activities.

These persons may not appear in the constituent documents, but they fully control the conduct of the business. By law, the beneficial owner has a share in the capital of a legal entity of twenty-five percent or more.

The ultimate beneficiary is an individual, the owner of the beneficiary organization. It was during the opening of offshore companies that hidden ultimate owners of profits appeared. Information about them is known only to the bank when opening an account and to the company’s agent. The ultimate beneficiary can dispose of the bank account.

Read also: What is margin in simple words

Beneficiary and beneficiary

Are there any similarities and differences between a beneficiary and a beneficiary? Both have income from client actions. Difference. The ultimate owner has a stake in the company, a quarter or more. And he can control and manage the activities of this company. The beneficiary cannot do this. He doesn't even have his own share.

State control is exercised over the beneficiaries. There are certain conditions when the company is obliged to provide the necessary information about them. This is necessary in order to identify criminal acts and prevent them. This information also helps prevent financial fraud.

Beneficiaries and information about them

We have already said why information about these individuals may be required. Recently, another point has been added, no less important than the above - the prevention of terrorist operations and the fight against terrorists.

Banking structures may also require the necessary information, and companies are required to provide it. And from banks this information goes to Rosfinmonitoring. Banks cannot avoid doing this, because otherwise they could be fined up to half a million rubles. This applies not only to banks, but to any financial institutions.

Some companies, in order to hide the data of the real owner, open an account in the name of a person who is only given the right to sign. The beneficiary in this case is under constant control. It turns out that it is easy to identify the beneficiary, but more difficult - the real owner.

Financial and other government agencies also request data from real owners. For example, when public procurement contracts are concluded. The document “Information on the chain of owners, including beneficiaries” records all the data of the beneficiaries.

Rights and Responsibilities

The rights of beneficiaries are protected by law. But they also have some obligations. The beneficiary can protect his property with a special trust management agreement. If the contract is violated, the ultimate owner and nominee are responsible for this.

A beneficial owner is an individual who can control the business not only de jure, but also de facto. Beneficial owners are entrepreneurs whose status is determined on the basis of the provisions of Law No. 115-FZ - let's look at them in more detail.

Beneficiary: definition of the term

A beneficial owner - this is enshrined in the legislation of the Russian Federation - is recognized as an individual who directly or through third parties owns more than 25% of the capital of a legal entity or has the ability to exercise control over the actions of this legal entity (Article 3 of the Law “On Combating Money Laundering” dated 07.08.2001 No. 115-FZ). The law also provides for the status of the beneficial owner of an individual (by default, this is the same individual, unless there is reason to believe otherwise).

Example

The authorized capital of Salut LLC belongs 70% to Lux LLC, 20% to V. S. Petrov and 10% to A. V. Stepanov. At the same time, Stepanov owns 100% of the authorized capital of Lux LLC. Thus, Stepanov is the beneficial owner of Salyut LLC, despite the fact that de jure his share in this organization is 2 times less than Petrov’s share.

Thus, the status of a beneficial owner is a legal category, and its characteristics are prescribed at the level of industry-wide legal norms. However, what position can a beneficiary occupy in the business management structure? Let's consider how the key positions in the company of the founder and general director relate to the status of the beneficial owner - this is important from the point of view of a more detailed understanding of the role of beneficiaries at various levels of legal relations.

Is the beneficiary the founder or the CEO?

Fundamentally, it does not matter what position a person holds in a business - founder, director or co-owner. The main thing for establishing the status of the beneficial owner is the compliance of the person’s role in the business with the criteria defined in Art. 3 of Law No. 115-FZ. He can be the actual owner (without having a legally secured share in the business - we will consider the features of this status later in the article) and at the same time the general director, or de facto make key decisions in the management of the organization, while the director will be another person.

Of course, in general, the beneficial owner is the founder of the company (or one of them). But it is possible that he will be the person who subsequently purchased the required share of the authorized capital. There are common cases when the beneficial owner of a legal entity is the founder of the company that owns the main share of the relevant legal entity.

Example

Citizen Lvov A.E. owns 55% of shares in PJSC Victoria, which, in turn, owns 70% of shares in PJSC Almaz. In fact, Lvov does not directly own Almaz shares, but is an indirect participant in this company. The share of his indirect participation will be 0.55 × 0.70 = 0.385, or 38.5%. Consequently, Lvov has a dominant participation (more than 25%) in the capital of PJSC Almaz and meets the criteria of the beneficial owner of this company.

So, the concept of a beneficiary is enshrined in law. But can we say that the status of beneficial owner is the same concept as that implied by another common term - “actual owner”?

Are the beneficiary and the actual owner (legal entity or individual) the same thing?

The concept of “actual owner” at the level of legislation of the Russian Federation, in turn, is not fixed. In some sources of law it is given in the same context as the term “beneficial owner” (for example, in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation dated 04/09/2014 No. 03-00-РЗ/16236). Is it possible to identify them in this regard?

In principle, this is legal, and the reason for this is given by the definition of beneficial owner given in Law No. 115-FZ. This regulation states that a beneficiary may correspond to a person who has the ability to influence decisions made by a legal entity (even though he may not own any shares in the authorized capital of the company).

It is quite acceptable to call the “actual owner” a person who, for one reason or another, is the beneficial owner of an individual. Moreover, in this case it is legitimate to talk about some “pure form” of actual ownership, since the legislation does not provide for the allocation of the authorized capital of an individual. For example, the beneficiary (actual) owner of an individual can be called the recipient of funds indicated by the individual in his will.

Thus, the status of a beneficial owner is a legal category that can be identified with the concept of “actual owner,” and this identification is best applied in the context of control over the actions of a legal entity or an individual. In the context of ownership of the authorized capital of a legal entity, it is better to use only the term “beneficial owner”.

Which companies must keep records of beneficiaries?

Obligations for accounting of beneficiaries are assigned to legal entities other than:

  • state or municipal structures;
  • international organizations;
  • by issuers of shares within the framework of organized trading (when disclosing information on securities in the prescribed manner);
  • foreign issuers of shares as part of trading on a foreign exchange (if the exchange is included in the list determined by the Bank of the Russian Federation);
  • foreign subjects of legal relations that do not have the status of a legal entity and do not provide for the presence of beneficiaries and the position of a general director.

Organizations are obliged to know their beneficiaries and, if necessary, take measures to obtain information about them listed in subparagraph. 1 clause 1 art. 7 of Law No. 115-FZ, update this information annually, store the received data for at least 5 years.

In addition, information about the beneficiaries of the company may be disclosed in its reporting - in the manner prescribed by law (clause 7, article 6.1 of law No. 115-FZ).

Which firms must disclose their beneficiaries?

Legal entities, as well as individual entrepreneurs, are required to provide information about beneficiaries upon request (Clause 6, Article 6.1 of Law No. 115-FZ, Clause 10 of the regulations approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 19, 2014 No. 209):

  • to Rosfinmonitoring;
  • to the Federal Tax Service.

In addition, when contacting an organization or individual entrepreneur that manages funds, the legal entity and individual entrepreneur provide information about their beneficial owners - this is also their legal obligation, provided for in paragraph 14 of Art. 7 of Law No. 115-FZ. The scope of this information is defined in paragraph. 2 subp. 1 clause 1 art. 7 of Law No. 115-FZ.

Failure by a company to provide information about beneficial owners to the specified government agencies is a reason for applying sanctions against it under Art. 14.25.1 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Namely, a fine for officials in the amount of 30,000-40,000 rubles, for legal entities - 100,000-500,000 rubles.

Results

A beneficial owner is a founder or director, one of the owners or the actual owner of the company (even if de jure he does not own any shares in the authorized capital of the organization), who has the ability to at least control the activities of the relevant business entity. In this case, the organizational and legal status of this entity does not matter - it can be either a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur.

To legally determine the status of beneficial owner, it is necessary that an individual owns at least 25% of the authorized capital of the organization. Firms and individual entrepreneurs are required to inform Rosfinmonitoring, the Federal Tax Service, and organizations managing funds about their beneficiaries upon request.

You can learn more about the specifics of the work of financial control authorities (which, in particular, have the authority to request information about their beneficiaries from legal entities and individual entrepreneurs) in the articles:

  • ;
  • .

Definition

Beneficiary(also beneficiary, beneficiary from French benefice - benefit) - individual or legal entity. the person to whom the money is intended, the recipient of the money.

For example:

A person who receives income from his property transferred in trust to another person, legal or physical (for rent, rental), or from the use of his property by third parties (for example, when a shareholder transfers shares for use to a broker in order to obtain maximum profit ( dividend)).

In the case of a trust, the person receiving income from the trust.

In insurance, a person appointed by the policyholder to receive insurance payments under an insurance contract. Fixed in the insurance policy.

A beneficiary may also be a person by virtue of inheritance law, if the person designated as such in the insurance policy (agreement) does not live to see the expiration of the insurance agreement.

In property insurance, any owner can be a beneficiary if the property belonging to him is insured by another person in his favor. For example, the lessee (tenant) enters into agreement insurance, being the policyholder, and the beneficiary under the contract is the lessor (lessor).

The beneficiary is also the person in whose favor the issuing bank opens a documentary

Sources

wikipedia.org - Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia


Investor Encyclopedia. 2013 .

Synonyms:

See what “Beneficiary” is in other dictionaries:

    BENEFICIARY- (beneficiary) 1. A person in whose favor trust management is carried out. 2. A person who is an heir under a will. 3. The person who receives money under a letter of credit. 4. The person who receives the payment after... ... Financial Dictionary

    BENEFICIARY(S)- (from lat. beneficium benefit) beneficiary, i.e. a person enjoying benefits under a contract or other legal basis, incl. the person in whose interests the trust property is carried out, the recipient of money under a letter of credit or... ... Legal dictionary

    BENEFICIARY- (from the French benefice profit, benefit) the person to whom the cash payment is intended, the recipient of money, benefit, profit, income. Possible spelling of the term beneficiary aria. Raizberg B.A., Lozovsky L.Sh., Starodubtseva E.B.. Modern economic... ... Economic dictionary

    Beneficiary- (Beneficiary) (from the French benefice profit, benefit) the person to whom the cash payment is intended, the recipient of the money. A person who receives income from his property transferred in trust to another person, legal or natural (with... ... Wikipedia

    BENEFICIARY- BENEFICIARY, BENEFICIARY [English] beneficiary owner of a beneficiary or fief] a person who receives income from trust property (letter of credit (LEC), insurance policy (POLICY), etc.), or a person in whose favor this property is established... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

    beneficiary- noun, number of synonyms: 2 beneficiary (1) recipient (17) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Dictionary of synonyms

    BENEFICIARY- (beneficiary) 1. A person in whose favor trust management is carried out. 2. A person who is an heir under a will. Business. Explanatory dictionary. M.: INFRA M, Ves Mir Publishing House. Graham Betts, Barry Brindley, S. Williams and others... ... Dictionary of business terms

    beneficiary- beneficiary The person in whose favor the payment is made, the letter of credit is issued; beneficiary under an insurance policy. Topics accounting Synonyms beneficiary ... Technical Translator's Guide

    Beneficiary- see Bank guarantee; Irrevocable letter of credit... Encyclopedia of Law

    BENEFICIARY- BENEFICIARY (from the Latin beneficium beneficium) beneficiary, i.e. a person who enjoys any benefits on the basis of a contract or other legal basis, incl. the person in whose interests the trust property is exercised... ... Legal encyclopedia

Books

  • Ultimate beneficiary, Roman Kuzyuk. This is the story of the three-year development of a successful company into a large corporation under the influence of an unknown beneficiary. The new owner forces the remaining shareholders and managers of the company...

Evgeniy Malyar

# Business Dictionary

Terms, definitions, documents

Beneficiary (from the French benefice “profit, benefit”) - an individual or legal entity to whom a cash payment is intended; recipient of the money.

Article navigation

  • What is a “beneficiary” from a linguistic and legal point of view?
  • Who are the beneficiaries under the law?
  • What is the difference between a beneficiary and a beneficiary?
  • How to find out beneficiaries
  • Ultimate beneficiary
  • Why is this so important
  • Who has the right to request information about beneficiaries
  • Who are the beneficiaries of a legal entity
  • Principal and beneficiary
  • Rights and obligations of the guarantor, principal and beneficiary
  • What is a “beneficiary bank”
  • Accounting information about the beneficial owner
  • Information about the chain of ownership, including beneficiaries
  • Beneficial Owner Questionnaire
  • Is the beneficial owner the founder or not?

Each accountant who made a payment abroad filled out the details of the beneficiary’s bank. This word is sometimes used in everyday life, when they want to name someone on whom a certain event will affect the most favorably. From this article you can learn the different meanings of the term “beneficiary” in relation to business.

What is a “beneficiary” from a linguistic and legal point of view?

Or who is this? Clarification is useful, since this foreign borrowing refers to both legal entities and individuals. The morphology of the term is French, related in origin to the word “benefit”, which is pleasant for artists. Translated, the root benefice means profit or benefit.

In a business sense, it is impossible to clearly formulate in simple words what the word “beneficiary” means - the meaning of the concept depends on the context. Here are possible definitions:

  • Beneficiary (in general).
  • In a banking sense, a beneficiary is an individual or legal entity to whom a payment or transfer is addressed. Indicated in the payment order.
  • The owner of an organization (asset, company, real estate, business) that generates profit.
  • Copyright holder.
  • The beneficiary in the event of an insured event. It does not have to be the owner of the policy: in this case, the beneficiaries can be the heirs.
  • The recipient of the debt, for example, the bearer of a bill of exchange (draft) for the debts of the borrowing company.
  • The person receiving the bank certificate.
  • The potential owner of the letter of credit, indicated by the bank that issued it (put it into circulation).
  • The real, rather than nominal, owner of the enterprise (sometimes not explicit, but hidden), who acts through intermediaries, but exercises control and receives profit (beneficial owner).
  • A person is the manager of a company’s bank account (for example, a bankruptcy trustee).
  • In international trade, the beneficiary countries are the exporting states that receive foreign exchange earnings.

However, these definitions do not yet fully explain what a beneficiary is. Additions and clarifications are required.

Who are the beneficiaries under the law?

It is best to consider any incomprehensible situation from a legal perspective - it looks simpler this way. The legal system of the state counters illegal money circulation. The purpose of Federal Law of the Russian Federation 115 FZ is to prevent money laundering and provide complete clarity as to who owns the assets.

It is no secret that sometimes one person is considered the owner of an enterprise (or a bank account), but in reality this property belongs to another person, who for some reason hides his wealth.

115 of the Federal Law specifies how to determine the real owner. The legislative act clearly establishes the reasons for classifying an individual as a beneficial owner:

  • Direct or indirect participation in the capital of an enterprise in a share of 25% or more. This distinguishes him from a shareholder who bought a small amount of securities in anticipation of dividends;
  • The ability to control the activities of a business structure in order to extract maximum profit;
  • The presence of relationships and actions that directly indicate a person’s involvement in business activities and his interest in the financial results of the enterprise. Such circumstances may include insurance, bills, purchase and sale of shares, participation in meetings of the board of founders.

The same criteria that distinguish a beneficiary are specified in civil law.

What is the difference between a beneficiary and a beneficiary?

The term "beneficiary" refers to the person who receives income from an asset. The beneficiary, in fact, has the same goal. Owning an enterprise or its share, he makes efforts to make a profit. What's the difference? It exists, and it is significant. Every person who benefits from commercial activity is a beneficiary. The difference from the beneficiary is that the latter has the real ability to manage the profit-making process, intervene in it, control and exercise control actions. This right gives him a share in the capital (at least a quarter, as already mentioned above). The ordinary beneficiary is deprived of this power.

How to find out beneficiaries

In real life, information about beneficiaries may, for various reasons, constitute a commercial secret, but the state, receiving this information from the owners, keeps it secret.

It happens that there are simply no beneficiaries, and by definition there cannot be, just like there are beneficiaries, for example, in a charitable or non-profit organization.

Foreign companies and their branches are required to maintain a register of beneficiaries. If legal requirements are met, government agencies should not have problems with how to determine the owner of the company.

The Civil Code contains articles on liability for misrepresentation of provided information, providing for strict penalties, and types of criminal penalties are applied in relation to funds of criminal origin. Inspection bodies have enough means and opportunities to find out whether the general director is the beneficial owner or whether someone else is managing the company.

Below in the article is a sample of filling out a table in which entrepreneurs undertake to annually indicate beneficiaries and, in case of changes, reflect them.

Ultimate beneficiary

The adjective seems redundant (after all, it is already clear that this is the true owner), but only at first glance.

Firstly, the final beneficiary is always only an individual, that is, a specific person who receives income from a business.

Secondly, it may not exist at all, since an ordinary person, unlike a legal entity acting as a beneficiary, does not necessarily own a quarter of the capital of the entire business.

Example: enterprise “A” owns 30% of company “B”. Moreover, each of the founders of LLC “A” has ten percent of the shares, respectively, there are 10 of them. There is no final beneficiary in this case, since none of the owners of “A” meets the definition of who such a beneficiary is (a 25 percent share is required). own).

Why is this so important

The need for Federal Law 115 objectively exists. The state is obliged to fight shadow business schemes, expose corruption and cut off financial flows that fuel terrorism.

Information about the true owners of enterprises, bank accounts and other assets is also required to be provided by financial institutions: leasing and insurance companies, pawnshops, stock market operators. It happens that the company is headed by the notorious “chairman”, whose functions only include signing documents.

Information about the owners of the counterparty, including the ultimate beneficiaries, may be requested not only by government agencies, but also by other organizations if a justified request is submitted. In particular, disclosure of beneficiaries is especially important in public procurement.

Who has the right to request information about beneficiaries

The final and initial chain of beneficiaries, in accordance with Article 105 paragraph 2 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 913 of July 31, 2017, is disclosed at the request of the Federal Tax Service or Rosfinmonitoring, including its interregional departments.

The certificate of final beneficiaries is a list containing the following information (Federal Law 115, Article 1, Clause 1):

  • Name (full);
  • Citizenship;
  • Date of birth;
  • Series and number of passport (citizen of the Russian Federation) or residence permit (if a foreign person);
  • Individual tax number (code).

In practice, all affiliates are also checked.


Download sample

The given example of filling out the table may contain information about one beneficiary (if he is the only one) or several.

Disclosure of beneficiaries is not mandatory for public authorities, as well as institutions with a share of state capital (including regional and municipal structures) over 50%.

Who are the beneficiaries of a legal entity

Who is the beneficial owner of a legal entity, in fact, has been discussed in the article so far. This is a person who has the opportunity, due to a significant share of his participation in the capital of a registered company, to take part in its management. Could there be any other beneficiary? The answer to this question is yes.

A beneficiary of an individual is a recipient of a benefit from another individual as a result of inheritance, a gift agreement, or other legal action establishing his or her ownership of property or funds.

The difference in this case is the same as between a businessman and just a rich person. The first increases his wealth and has the means of production for this, while the second can only spend his money.

As already written, the beneficial owner in an LLC has at least a quarter of the total share capital.

Principal and beneficiary

A bank guarantee is one of the most important tools for ensuring the security of a major transaction. In relation to such a situation, the concept of a beneficiary takes on a special meaning, but in addition to him, two more persons are involved in the process: the principal and the guarantor.

The principal is the party who applies for a guarantee to the bank and undertakes to fulfill the terms of the agreement.

After this definition, the outline of the guarantee process becomes clear. The contractor is usually interested in the transaction, and it is he who makes efforts to convince the customer that he does not risk anything by doing business with him. He also pays for the services of the guarantor.

The beneficiary of a bank guarantee is the second party to the contract. The guarantor is a bank (or other financial institution), and it provides insurance for the fulfillment of mutual obligations.

Rights and obligations of the guarantor, principal and beneficiary

The basis for the guarantor's obligation to the beneficiary is the principal's failure to fulfill the terms of the concluded contract. In this case, costs and losses are repaid with bank funds in full.

Of course, not every person can receive a guarantee - it must meet a number of requirements established by the institution that is a potential guarantor. In particular, solvency and the size of the charter capital matter.

The guarantor's obligation under the guarantee to the beneficiary is terminated if it turns out that the principal has provided false information about his financial position.

Not only the beneficiary, but also the other parties to the agreement (principal and guarantor) have rights. The customer, if he makes unreasonable demands (the fact must be documented) or provides false information about the failure of the other party to fulfill obligations under the contract, is deprived of the right to the guarantor's obligation provided for by the bank guarantee.

In addition, the legislation (Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Article 378 and Chapter 26) provides for other cases of termination of the warranty:

  • Payment by the guarantor of the guarantee amount;
  • Expiration of the warranty period;
  • Voluntary waiver by the beneficiary of his right to a guarantee.

The latter situation is, as a rule, due to circumstances forcing the beneficiary to withdraw his claims and awareness of the weakness of his legal positions in the event of litigation. However, this possibility is provided for in Article 378 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. To do this, you need to write a letter of appropriate content addressed to the guarantor.


Download sample

What is a “beneficiary bank”

The beneficiary's bank is the guarantor of the transaction. This financial institution has the authority to make a request to determine the true beneficial owner of the bank client. Who is this: an honest entrepreneur who, for some business reasons, hides the fact that he owns the enterprise, or a representative of organized crime?

The personal data of the beneficiaries is provided to the bank in the form of a certificate (Article 7 of Federal Law No. 115 allows for a simplified format), corresponding to the sample already given above.

Accounting information about the beneficial owner

Article 105 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes mandatory disclosure of information about the beneficiary in the financial statements. There is also a complete list of interdependent persons and “intermediate” companies (including affiliates and controlled by foreign companies).

In response to a formal request for information about the beneficiaries of a legal entity, the organization must send a letter. An approximate sample of filling is given earlier in the text of the article and contains information that can be used to identify the owner of the enterprise.

The beneficiary's consent to the processing of personal data is not provided for by law.

As already mentioned, this certificate may be needed not only by state regulatory authorities, but also by banks when issuing guarantees.

Information about the chain of ownership, including beneficiaries

At the request of the counterparty, since 2012, on the basis of Instruction No. VP-P13-9308 of the Government of the Russian Federation, organizations undertake to provide information about the chain of beneficiaries (including the final one) and owners. The attached form contains the required fields. No additional explanation is required on how to fill out the information. You just need to remember that individual entrepreneurs and individuals duplicate information on the left and right sides of the table. A sample of filling out personal data has already been provided.

The table is a list of legal entities belonging to each counterparty.

Beneficial Owner Questionnaire

Information about the beneficiary is provided voluntarily, along with consent to the processing of information, and is issued in the form of a questionnaire. This document is needed to open a bank account, as well as in case of changes in the composition of the founders or the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. Form for a legal entity:


Download the form

Form for an individual:


Download the form

No special explanation is required - the property is contributed entirely in accordance with the constituent documents.

Since the final beneficiaries can only be individuals, the requirements for the accuracy of the information they provide when filling out the questionnaire are the most stringent.

If a company does not provide government authorities with information about beneficial owners, it may be subject to penalties, in accordance with Article 14.25.1 of the Code of Administrative Violations:

  • For officials – from 30 to 40 thousand rubles.
  • For legal entities – from 100 to 500 thousand rubles.

Is the beneficial owner the founder or not?

So, in conclusion, it remains to dwell on how to determine the beneficiary by appearance and position. This may be the founder or the CEO, and sometimes it is the same person. Or these are different people, and they are far from each other (sometimes on different ends of the planet).

A reader who has carefully read the text presented will be able to understand how a beneficiary differs from a founder:

Firstly, the person who created the enterprise can later sell part of its share or all of it to other people.

Secondly, there is a very clear legislative criterion for whether a particular person is the beneficial owner. This is the ownership of a quarter (or more) of the authorized capital in the company's securities.

Example:

Mr. Petrov owns 60% of the shares of the Alpha company, which in turn owns 83% of Beta LLC. The general director of Beta LLC and the founder of this company, Sidorov, has a portfolio of 23% of the shares of the company he heads. Which of these two persons can be considered the beneficial owner?

At first glance, it seems that Sidorov looks more respectable. Firstly, he is a leader, and secondly, he only slightly falls short of the 25% quota established by Federal Law 115. In addition, it is quite possible that he drives a more expensive car and wears a prestigious suit, which Petrov does not have.