Extension of submission of beneficial ownership data and penalties returns

Written by A. Antoniades on January 30, 2024. Posted in News.

Extension of time for the submission of beneficial ownership data to the register of Beneficial Owners of Companies and other legal entities

Following previous announcements of both the Department of Registrar of Companies and the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, you are informed that according to today’s announcement of the Registrar of Companies, and following efforts by the CCCI, the Department announces that the time of registration of the data of Beneficial Owners in the register of Beneficial Owners of Companies and other legal entities is extended until 31.03.2024 by decision of the Minister of Energy, Commerce & Industry, without any charge.

The proposal concerns all companies registered with the Registrar of Companies, including Public Companies and Trusts.

Based on an opinion of the Attorney General’s Office, the competent ministry is allowed to reimburse the financial charges imposed and collected on those businesses that did not proceed in time to the registration of their data.

The data concerning the Beneficial Owners of companies are the natural persons who have the ultimate ownership or control of the companies. The European Anti-Money Laundering Directive of the European Council provides this obligation.

By law, if a company does not comply on time, it is subject (itself and its directors and secretary, on a personal level) to a financial charge of €200 on the first day, while for each day of the continuation of the infringement it is charged with €100, with a maximum total charge of €20,000 per beneficiary.

PDF Circular – Extension of submission of beneficial ownership data and penalties returns