The obligation to disclose information about their beneficial owners is provided for by amendments to the Federal Law “On Combating the Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds from Crime and the Financing of Terrorism” (the law is supplemented by Article 6.1).

This law has long been turned into a “rubber” law, which can provide for any obligations and restrictions, both related and not related to the scope of its regulation.

From December 21, 2016, all legal entities will be required to have information about their beneficial owners.

A beneficial owner is defined as an individual who ultimately directly or indirectly (through third parties) owns (has a majority interest of more than 25 percent in the capital) a legal entity or has the ability to control its actions.

Legal entities will be required to update information on beneficial owners at least once a year and store this data for at least five years from the date of receipt.

Disclosure of information will be carried out at the request of government authorities, including the tax service, and will also be disclosed in the reporting of the legal entity.

The procedure and timing for submitting information about beneficial owners will be further determined by the Government of the Russian Federation.

In case of failure to provide information about beneficial owners at the request of the authorized body and other federal executive authorities, administrative fines are provided for officials: from 30 thousand to 40 thousand rubles, for legal entities – from 100 thousand to 500 thousand rubles (Article 14.25.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).