We have already informed you about the intention of the government to introduce a national register of Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBO).
The Royal Decree on the operating procedures of the UBO register has been published in the Belgian Official Gazette on 14 August 2018. It refers to an entry into force on 31 October 2018 with a transitional period for a month, ie 30 November 2018.
However, according to a press release of Federal Public Service Finance (‘FPSF’) published on 27 September 2018, the deadline for first registration to the UBO register will be extended to 31 March 2019. From our contacts within the FPSF, we understand that the reason behind the extension is that the practical procedures for the mass registration are not yet fully into place. Consequently the initial deadline of 30 November 2018 was not feasible.
Please note however that presently, the UBO register is already available online. All companies and legal entities can log in to the application and should be able to submit the information about their ultimate beneficial owner(s).
If you have any other question with regard to this matter, please reach out to your regular PwC-advisor, contact Kristof Wuyts (+32 3 259 32 10) or Stefan De Plus (+32 3 259 30 08).
