A new register of companies’ beneficial owners won’t prevent “real owners” taking refuge, according to James Mather, of Serle Court.
The requirement on English companies and LLPs to hold a register of “people with significant control” came into force on 6 April. The government hopes the register will reveal the reality of who owns a company, regardless of the paperwork. Obscure company ownership structures can facilitate tax evasion, money laundering and other wrongdoings.
Writing in NLJ this week, however, Mather points out that people will still be able to hide behind offshore trust structures due to a number of flaws in the new rules: “In a significant loophole, corporate trustees—which will be the norm in the offshore arrangements of interest to the authorities and third parties—are not explicitly catered for.”
