Registration of Beneficial Owners

What is the UBO register?

The UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owners) register  is a register in which companies, (international) non-profit associations, foundations, trusts, fiduciaries and all similar legal arrangements must register their beneficial owners. This register was introduced in Belgium on the basis of the law of 18 September 2017 on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and the restriction of the use of cash (Loi du 18 septembre 2017 relative à la prévention du blanchiment de capitaux et du financement du terrorisme et à la limitation de l’utilisation des espèces).

According to this law, companies must register the details of their beneficial owners within a month of incorporation.

The obligation only applies to individuals who are setting up a company. Self-employed persons with sole proprietorships are exempt and do not have to register their beneficial owners.

Who Is a Beneficial Owner?

Beneficial owners are the natural persons who:

• own the entity or
• exercise control over the entity, directly or indirectly (e.g. through intermediary companies).

UBO Registration by Legal Representatives

• Several rules apply to the registration of beneficial owners in the UBO register:Legal representatives, such as directors or managers, are responsible for registering beneficial owners in the UBO register.
• They must inform the beneficial owners of their registration.
• Registration can be delegated to a company employee or an external party, such as an accountant.

For more information, please refer to the manual for authorised representatives.

How to Register the Actual Beneficial Owners of Your Company

To register the beneficial owners of your company, you must follow these steps:

1. Go to the UBO register and log in with the company name.
2. Click on ‘Search an entity’ and then on the enterprise number which will appear in blue at the bottom of the page.
3. You are now in the entity's UBO file. Click on ‘Edit’ at the bottom of the page.
4. Fill in the beneficial owners of your entity:
   • Click on the icon  in the column ‘Action’ to fill in the data of a natural person.
   • Click on the icon  in the column ‘Action’ to fill in the data of an intermediary entity.
5. Click ‘Save’ to save your data.
6. In the ‘Supporting Documents’ section, you have to add documents demonstrating that the registered information is adequate, accurate and up-to-date. If the information is already included in a deed published in the Belgian Official Journal, you can link your UBO register to the Belgian Official Journal by clicking on ‘Link to the Belgian Official Journal’.

Updating Information

Information on beneficial owners must be adequate, accurate and up-to-date:

• In the event of any changes, you must update the information in the UBO register within 30 days of the change.
• Even if there are no changes, you must confirm the data registered in the UBO register annually by clicking on the ‘Annual confirmation’ button. It is not necessary to re-enter the data; a simple confirmation is sufficient.

Sanctions for Non-Compliance:

Sanctions may be imposed on companies that fail to meet their obligations:

• Companies that do not comply with their UBO registration obligations or whose information is not accurate or up-to-date may be fined between 250 and 50,000 euros.
• In some cases, the company may also be removed from the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, the national database of all Belgian companies.

Need Help?

FPS Finance

Contact Centre

Tel.: +32 2 572 57 57 (code 16551)

Email: ubobelgium@minfin.fed.be

Website: UBO Register | Compliance | FPS Finance (belgium.be)