Beneficial owner of Belize IBC

[Brutus]

Is it possible to find out the identity of the beneficial owner of a Belize‌ IBC company?

Is the person that holds the shares of the IBC the beneficial owner?‍

 

[James Turner]

The Shareholder is the Beneficial Owner and this information is not publicly recorded. To further‌ protect information about the UBO of a Belize Company you can use a Nominee Shareholder,‍ Trust or Foundation Shareholder also.

 

[Brutus]

Thanks for the information.⁠ I’m asking because I’m looking at some documents where the shareholder is a nominee shareholder⁤ and the beneficial owner is someone completely different. In such case if it comes down⁣ to taxes and proof of funds how can the beneficial owner show proof of funds,⁢ funds that are coming from the company?

 

[James Turner]

The Nominee Shareholder acts on behalf of the UBO, but by their very nature is‌ not the UBO themselves, otherwise would not be a acting in a nominee capacity.

Could you explain what you mean by this - if it comes down to taxes and‍ proof of funds how can the beneficial owner show proof of funds, funds that are⁠ coming from the company?

 

[Brutus]

I mean if the company is making a profit, the profit goes to the beneficial‌ owner in EU for example. If then the beneficial owner gets asked by bank/government in‍ their home country where the money is coming from I think there is an issue.⁠ How to handle such situation?

 

[James Turner]

The simple answer is that the income they receive will be taxable. If an EU‌ resident is the UBO of an offshore company in most cases their country of residence‍ will have Controlled Foreign Company Rules, which mean that the profits of the offshore company⁠ must be declared by them in their country of residence whether they receive income or⁤ not. This depends on a number of factors, including ownership percentages and control. In the⁣ case given here it would not matter whether the individual receiving income into the EU⁢ was the UBO or not. If they are receiving income from a company they would︀ be obliged to declare this for tax in their country of residence. The only way︁ for the companies profits not to be taxable is if the company was not owned︂ by an individual residing in a country with a CFC regime in which case they︃ 'may' not have an obligation to disclose their overseas companies profits for tax in their︄ country of residence unless they remit them into their home country.

 

[Brutus]

How would this work if the UBO is a tax resident in Portugal︅ under the NHR scheme? As far as I know in that case the foreign income︆ is not taxed and the UBO would be able to receive profits in their own︇ name tax free into their own personal bank account?

What is CFC regime?

 

[James Turner]

I am not so familiar with Portugal's NHR scheme, but if an individual is eligible‌ in their country of residence to receive income without tax for whatever reason, then I‍ see no issue for them. CFC is 'Controlled Foreign Company'. I would Google for further⁠ info on CFC in any particular country.