The European Union (Anti-Money Laundering: Beneficial Ownership of Trusts) Regulations 2021 came into operation on 24 April 2021. The Regulations apply a similar beneficial ownership regime to express trusts, as already applies to corporates and certain other entities (such as UCITS) by way of previously published beneficial ownership regulations.
The Regulations require express trusts to keep internal beneficial ownership registers (an obligation carried over from 2019 regulations) and to file beneficial ownership information to a Central Register, which will be overseen by the Revenue Commissioners. Revenue is in the process of finalising this Central Register, which is due to open for filings on 26 July 2021. Existing trusts within scope of the Regulation will have until 23 October 2021 to file their beneficial ownership information.
In this briefing we take a detailed look at the Regulations and the implications for trustees of express trusts who must comply with them.
