On 01 August 2019, the Law No. 958.8 of 06 December 2018 on the register of ultimate beneficial owners of domestic legal entities (VwEG) came into force in Liechtenstein (in accordance with the requirements of 4th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive).
Liechtenstein legal entities set up before 01 August 2019 must provide the information about their ultimate beneficial owners within six months. Liechtenstein legal entities established after 01 August 2019 must make the entry in the register within 30 days.
Information about ultimate beneficial owners in Liechtenstein has to be collected by the Office of Justice of the Liechtenstein National Administration.
In the case of corporations, all persons who are beneficial owners must be registered. These are persons who:
1) ultimately directly or indirectly hold or control over 25 % of these legal entities or over 25 % of the voting rights therein;
2) ultimately directly or indirectly receive more than 25 % of the profits generated by these legal entities;
3) exercise control in another way over these legal entities or over their managements; or
4) are members of the governing body, if – after exhausting all possibilities and in the absence of any suspicious factors – no persons can be identified in accordance with clauses 1 to 3.
In the case of legal entities with a foundation-like structure, all those natural persons are registered as ultimate beneficial owners, who ultimately own or control the legal entities, including:
1) settlor;
2) trustee;
3) protector, where such exists; and
4) the beneficiaries.
The access to the information about ultimate beneficial owners is granted to certain “obliged entities” (including banks and professionals of the financial sector), within the framework of their customer due diligence, as well as public authorities such as the Office of the Public Prosecutor or the Financial Intelligence Unit of Liechtenstein.
Failing to fulfill the requirements will result in penalties up to CHF 200 000.
Source:
https://www.gesetze.li/chrono/2019008000
