Lifting the Corporate Veil

Central registry of companies to be made public

Prime Minister, David Cameron, has approved the introduction of a new publicly available central register that will make known details of those persons who own UK companies.

It is proposed that Companies House will oversee the central register which will contain around an estimated 2.5 million companies and partnerships where individuals own more than 25% of the shares. Public companies however are expected to be exempted.

The plan to establish a register of beneficial owners of companies was hatched at the G8 summit earlier in the year as an anti-evasion measure but, so far, it is only the UK who has pledged to put it in the public domain. This decision followed a period of consultation as to whether or not the register should purely be for the eyes of HMRC and Companies House.

Commenting on the decision to create a public register, the P.M said, “Some people will question whether it’s right to make this register public…Of course we in the government will use these data to pursue those who break the rules. And we’re going to do it relentlessly. But there are so many wider benefits to making this information available to everyone.”

Those individuals that seek to hide behind the corporate veil will now be exposed, of whom Mr Cameron remarked, “For too long a small minority have hidden their business dealings behind a complicated web of shell companies and this cloak of secrecy has fuelled all manners of questionable practice – and downright illegality……..We need to shine a spotlight on who owns what and where money is really flowing.”

Although many business organisations, such as the CBI, are supportive of the proposals, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales believe there are valid reasons for protecting details of company ownership. In contrast, the Tax Justice Network extolled the virtues of a central register hailing it as going a long way towards reducing corruption, money laundering and tax evasion.

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