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How to Identify Ultimate Beneficial Owner in UAE?

Last Updated

September 11, 2024

Table of Contents

Every small or large enterprise has the desire to maximize revenue and prevent its earnings from being tainted by fraud. There are many instances when multi-structured firms in the UAE fail to detect unauthorized accounts, which results in financial crimes.

To counter fraud, each business should acclaim Anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws. That is why the United Arab Emirates regulatory authorities require UBO compliance for all registered businesses. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to identify the ultimate beneficial owner in UAE, due to the entire ownership structure of the company. Here we will guide you in the identification of UBO under relevant authorities.

What is the Ultimate Beneficial Owner?

The ultimate beneficial owner meaning is a legal or a natural individual who ultimately owns and controls the transactions being conducted in a company. The UBO indirect ownership has effective control over the legal person.  Get to know more about Registration of Ultimate Beneficiary Ownership.

Main Objective of UBO

Entities must register for the role of Ultimate Beneficial Owner with their respective licensing authorities under the applicable legislation. The primary objective of ultimate beneficial owner UAE regulation is to increase accountability and transparency of business accounts. It also facilitates to:

  • Expose the origin of the criminal proceedings.
  • Fight against financial terrorism.
  • Stopping the access of unauthorized accounts.
  • Enhances financial transparency.
  • Ensure partners about UBO compliance.
  • Prevent institutions from money laundering.

To combat the risk associated with terrorist funding, each business entity must consider AML Laws and Penalties in the UAE. This is will save your financial records from unauthorized access and stop money corruption.

Essential Requirements for UBO Compliance

The ultimate beneficial owner UAE registration requires a piece of accurate information and documents. The real beneficiary details should include:

  1. Full Name, nationality, and place & date of birth.
  2. Residential Address
  3. Passport & ID number, date of issue, and date of expiration.
  4. Cessation of beneficiary status, at which point he became a UBO

Along with UBO registration, a company should also maintain a register of its shareholders or partners. It includes the following details of shareholders/partners.

  1. The number or class of shares that each shareholder or partnership owns.
  2. The date of the acquisition of the shareholder’s capacity.
  3. Basic information like ID, Passport, Nationality, Address, Place of birth, and other information should also be included along with a true copy.
  4. Detail about the members of the board who are nominated by their shareholders or partners.

UBO Declaration in Dubai, UAE

In order to operate a business in the United Arab Emirates, all entities are obliged to the declaration of the ultimate beneficial owner. It is compulsory before the identification of the real beneficiary of the company. According to the new resolution, all licensed businesses must acknowledge their ultimate beneficial owner declaration. The institute responsible or exempted from UBO compliance:

  • Legal Entities are responsible if located on the mainland and non-financial free zones.
  • Legal entities exempt from UBO that are directly or indirectly owned or may

Every small or large enterprise has the desire to maximize revenue and prevent its earnings from being tainted by fraud. There are many instances when multi-structured firms in the UAE fail to detect unauthorized accounts, which results in financial crimes.

To counter fraud, each business should acclaim Anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing laws. That is why the United Arab Emirates regulatory authorities require UBO compliance for all registered businesses. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to identify the ultimate beneficial owner in UAE, due to the entire ownership structure of the company. Here we will guide you in the identification of UBO under relevant authorities.

What is the Ultimate Beneficial Owner?

The ultimate beneficial owner meaning is a legal or a natural individual who ultimately owns and controls the transactions being conducted in a company. The UBO indirect ownership has effective control over the legal person.  Get to know more about Registration of Ultimate Beneficiary Ownership.

Main Objective of UBO

Entities must register for the role of Ultimate Beneficial Owner with their respective licensing authorities under the applicable legislation. The primary objective of ultimate beneficial owner UAE regulation is to increase accountability and transparency of business accounts. It also facilitates to:

  • Expose the origin of the criminal proceedings.
  • Fight against financial terrorism.
  • Stopping the access of unauthorized accounts.
  • Enhances financial transparency.
  • Ensure partners about UBO compliance.
  • Prevent institutions from money laundering.

To combat the risk associated with terrorist funding, each business entity must consider AML Laws and Penalties in the UAE. This is will save your financial records from unauthorized access and stop money corruption.

Essential Requirements for UBO Compliance

The ultimate beneficial owner UAE registration requires a piece of accurate information and documents. The real beneficiary details should include:

  1. Full Name, nationality, and place & date of birth.
  2. Residential Address
  3. Passport & ID number, date of issue, and date of expiration.
  4. Cessation of beneficiary status, at which point he became a UBO

Along with UBO registration, a company should also maintain a register of its shareholders or partners. It includes the following details of shareholders/partners.

  1. The number or class of shares that each shareholder or partnership owns.
  2. The date of the acquisition of the shareholder’s capacity.
  3. Basic information like ID, Passport, Nationality, Address, Place of birth, and other information should also be included along with a true copy.
  4. Detail about the members of the board who are nominated by their shareholders or partners.

UBO Declaration in Dubai, UAE

In order to operate a business in the United Arab Emirates, all entities are obliged to the declaration of the ultimate beneficial owner. It is compulsory before the identification of the real beneficiary of the company. According to the new resolution, all licensed businesses must acknowledge their ultimate beneficial owner declaration. The institute responsible or exempted from UBO compliance:

  • Legal Entities are responsible if located on the mainland and non-financial free zones.
  • Legal entities exempt from UBO that are directly or indirectly owned or may affiliate with the Emirate or Federal government and licensed institutes in free zones.

How to Identify Ultimate Beneficial Owner in UAE?

The chartered accountants in UAE, always follow a comprehensive way to identify the UBO under all regulatory authorities. This step-by-step procedure will help you a lot in the identification ultimate beneficial owner:

1- Get Info of Employees & Company

In order to identify the ultimate beneficial owner in UAE, the foremost step is to access the official information regarding company’s name, registration number, address and no of top-level management employees. This exact status of the organization helps the financial consultants to understand the structure of employees/ shareholders. The details should be up-to-date and authentic to combat financial frauds in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other emirates.

2- Determine the Chain of Ownership

The next step is to analyze the ownership chain of the firm. The certified accountants in UAE, shortlist the natural or legal person who meets the ultimate beneficial owner requirements as per regulations. It determines whether the ownership of the beneficiary is direct or indirect depending upon the percentage of shares and interests.

3- Identify the Ultimate Beneficial Owner

Lastly, compare all selected entities’ ownership, share, and percentage of management control to determine who has the most control. The result of this analysis identified who had the highest amount of control over the company as the ultimate beneficial owner.

BestaxCA Assist you in UBO Consultancy in Dubai

Bextax Chartered Accountants and financial advisors are highly productive in the compliance of the ultimate beneficial owner in Dubai. With over 15 years of experience, the consultants help businesses to regulate their records and company structure as per UAE laws. The team of experts provides UBO consultancy to all registered entities of the United Arab Emirates. They assist individuals and businesses in complete UBO compliance in the following ways, such as:

  • Understand your company’s multilayer structure
  • Identification and verification of the ultimate beneficial owner who holds 25% ownership.
  • Help entities in the filing and declaration of ultimate beneficial owner.
  • Prepare the required information related to real beneficiaries, and shareholders/ partners, and nominee/manager directors.
  • Provide 24/7 guidance until the UBO registration is approved by regulatory.
  • Cost-effective charges as well as high-quality UBO compliance service.
  • Safeguard your business from sanctions and penalties.
  • Assist you in follow-up queries from UAE relevant authorities.

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