CRBR is a register collecting data on real beneficiaries. The Central Register of Beneficial Owners is kept using an ICT system. The purpose of CRBR is to counteract money laundering and terrorist financing.
Central Register of Beneficial Owners – Who is the beneficial owner?
The actual beneficiary is a natural person who exercises direct or indirect control over the entity, which enables him to exert a decisive influence on the activities undertaken by this entity, and a natural person on behalf of whom economic relations are established or an occasional transaction is carried out.
The real beneficiary in the case of a legal person other than a company whose securities are listed on regulated market (stock exchange) subject to disclosure requirements resulting from the provisions of European Union law or the corresponding provisions of the law of a third country is among others:
- a natural person holding more than 25% of shares or shares,
- a natural person holding more than 25% of the total number of votes in the decision-making body of this legal person, also as a pledgee or usufructuary,
- a natural person controlling a legal person or legal persons who jointly hold more than 25% of the total number of shares or shares (or more than 25% of the total number of votes),
- a natural person holding a senior management position in the case of documented inability to determine or doubts as to the identity of the natural persons referred to above and in the case of no suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing.
The actual beneficiary in the case of a natural person conducting business activity for whom there are no indications or circumstances that may indicate that it is controlled by another natural person or persons, it is assumed that such a natural person is also the real beneficiary.
Obligation to register in the Central Register of Beneficial Owners (CRBR)
Applications to the CRBR may only be made by a person authorized to represent the company, no one else, e.g. an accountant, may do so.
The application to the Central Register of Beneficial Owners is free of charge and is submitted in electronic form on the website crbr.podatki.gov.pl.
The deadline for registration in the CRBR is 7 days from the date of entering the company into the National Court Register, or 7 days from the event justifying the need to make a change in the register.
What is an obligated institution?
Obligated institutions include, among others: banks, credit unions, investment companies, investment funds, alternative investment companies, investment fund companies, insurance companies, entrepreneurs conducting bureaux de change, in some cases notaries, attorneys and legal advisers, tax advisors.
In addition, the obligated institution will be an entrepreneur entered into CEIDG (register of sole proprietorships) providing services consisting in, among others, on: acting as a member of the management board, providing the registered office, business address or correspondence address and other related services to a legal person, entities operating in the field of bookkeeping services, real estate agents, entities operating in the field of games of chance, entrepreneurs in the field of, in which they accept or make payments for goods in cash with a value equal to or exceeding the equivalent of EUR 10,000, regardless of whether the transaction is carried out as a single operation or several operations that appear to be related.
What does the obligated institution do?
The obligated institution is mainly obliged to apply enhanced financial security measures in cases of higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing specified in the Act, consisting, among others, in identification of the client and verification of his identity, identification of the beneficial owner, determination of the ownership structure, ongoing monitoring of the client’s economic relations.