Ensure that your company’s beneficial ownership is registered at the Swedish company registration office
Beneficial ownership. Is your company’s beneficial ownership registered at the Swedish company registration office/Bolagsverket? In order to combat money laundering, the European Parliament adopted a new directive in 2015 where the majority of companies must notify the beneficial ownership. The law that regulates this; The Act on the Registration of beneficial ownership (2017: 63) has been in force in Sweden since 1 August 2017. Among companies we are in contact with we occasionally note that there is still no registration of a beneficial ownership at the Swedish company registration office/Bolagsverket.
What does beneficial owner mean?
The Swedish company registration office explains it like this “A beneficial owner is someone who ultimately owns or controls a company, association or other type of legal entity. A beneficial owner can also be someone who benefits from someone else acting on their behalf."
Does your company need to report beneficial ownership?
The majority of Swedish companies, associations and legal entities must register beneficial ownership information with the Swedish company registration office. For example, the company forms limited companies, trading companies and economic associations. Foreign companies / associations that have operations in Sweden must follow the rules that apply to the corresponding Swedish legal entities.
Only the following entities does not need to register beneficial ownership:
- Estates of deceased or bankrupt persons
- Limited companies with voting shares admitted to trading on a regulated market, and subsidiaries thereof
- Non-profit associations which do not have any beneficial owners
- Simple partnerships
- Sole traders
- The state, county councils and municipalities as well as legal entities where these have a significant deciding role
- Foreign companies / associations domiciled in the European Economic Area (EEA) that have registered a real principal in another central register within the EEA.
How to register beneficial ownership
It is easy to report / update beneficial ownership. You do this on the Swedish Companies Registration Office's/Bolagsverkets website where you will find an e-service and instructions on how to proceed. The information must be registered by an authorised signatory for the company or association and signed with a Swedish e-identification such as Mobile BankID. Please note that the e-service is available in Swedish language only. You need to have access to basic information about the company and the owners for the registration.
If you would like Accountor to ensure that your company complies with the Act (2017: 63), registration of beneficial ownership, please contact your contact at Accountor or our Corporate services consultant, Jenny Rundgren at Advisory, Accountor, jenny.rundgren@accountor.se .
Do you find the Swedish rules and administration as well as accounting in your company cumbersome? Accountor can help. We can handle all or parts of your accounting. Contact us and we will help you.
