I’m sure now you’ve already had a basic understanding of what Beneficial Ownership (BO) is and why every business is required to declare its BO. So now, let’s dig deeper into the particulars needed to fill up and submit a BO form. If by any chance you have missed the introduction to what a BO is, here is the quick link to send you there!
Just to recap, according to the Company Act 2016 [Act 777] (CA 2016), BO is those individuals referred to have ultimate power in a business and do not include directors or shareholders that have the word ‘nominee’ under their description or appointment.
How to do BO reporting?
The main question now will be how do we do the BO reporting? It’s actually a straightforward process, here’s a quick flow of what the reporting process should look like. Firstly, a company or limited liability partnership (LLP) must obtain and verify the BO information, then they will need to report the information to the Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM) and keep the information accessible to the BOs and relevant authorities. The person in charge of updating the BO information must always be prepared to update the information and prepare to notify the SSM if there are any changes to the BOs or the structure of the business.
Information reported in the BO report
We speak of BO reporting, but specifically, do you know what are criteria that we will need to meet the requirements of the BO declaration form? Ask no further, as we’ve listed it down below! These are the information that a company or a LLP will need to provide regarding the BO to the SSM.
- Full name
- Nationality
- Residential address,
- Date of birth
- NRIC or Passport No,
- Type of BO (direct/indirect)
- Criteria of BO
- Date of becoming/ceasing to be a BO
- The date of the Bo information was received
- Email address
What happens if you don’t declare BO?
I’m sure you’re eager to ask the 1-million-dollar question: what happens if you don’t declare your business’s BO? To put it in short terms, members of a company or partners of LLPs will be fined up to RM50,000 and even imprisonment if they fail to comply with the terms. On the other hand, those that are tasked to obtain, check, record and update the BO information in the BO register will be held liable to a fine of up to RM20,000 if found non-compliant.
Are you eager to learn more? As spoken, the consequences of not complying are severe, we do recommend hitting our secretaries up if you are stuck in any of the processes above so we can help save you a lot of trouble and money!