The concept of a beneficiary. Who is the beneficiary (beneficiary), where to see information about beneficial owners, how to fill out the questionnaire correctly. Who are the Beneficiaries

A beneficial owner is an individual who can control the business not only de jure, but also de facto. Beneficial owners are entrepreneurs whose status is determined on the basis of the provisions of Law No. 115-FZ - we will consider them in more detail.

Beneficiary: definition of the term

The beneficial owner - this is enshrined in the legislation of the Russian Federation - is recognized as an individual who directly or through the mediation of third parties owns more than 25% of the capital of a legal entity or has the ability to control the actions of this legal entity (Article 3 of the Law "On Combating Money Laundering" dated 08/07/2001 No. 115-FZ). The law also provides for the status of the beneficial owner of an individual (by default, being the same individual, unless there is reason to believe otherwise).

Example

The authorized capital of Salyut LLC is 70% owned by Lux LLC, 20% by V.S. Petrov and 10% by A.V. Stepanov. At the same time, Stepanov owns 100% of the authorized capital of Lux LLC. Thus, Stepanov is the beneficial owner of Salyut LLC, despite the fact that de jure his share in this organization is 2 times less than Petrov's.

Thus, the status of a beneficial owner is a legal category, and its characteristics are spelled out at the level of industry-wide legal regulations. However, what position can the beneficiary occupy in the business management structure? Consider how the key positions in the firm of the founder and CEO correlate with the status of the beneficial owner - this is important from the point of view of a more detailed understanding of the role of beneficiaries at various levels of legal relations.

Beneficiary - founder or CEO?

It does not fundamentally matter what position a person holds in a business - a founder, director or co-owner. The main thing for establishing the status of a beneficial owner is the compliance of a person's role in business with the criteria defined in Art. 3 of Law No. 115-FZ. He can be the actual owner (without a legally fixed share in the business - we will discuss the features of this status later in the article) and at the same time the general director, or de facto make key decisions in the management of the organization, while another person will be the director.

Of course, in the general case, the beneficial owner is the founder of the company (or one of them). But it is possible that he will be the person who bought the necessary share of the authorized capital later. There are common cases when the beneficial owner of a legal entity is the founder of the firm that owns the main share of the relevant legal entity.

Example

Citizen Lvov A.E. owns 55% of the shares in PJSC Victoria, which, in turn, is the owner of 70% of the shares in PJSC Almaz. In fact, Lvov does not directly own the shares of Almaz, but is an indirect participant in this company. The share of his indirect participation will be 0.55 × 0.70 = 0.385, or 38.5%. Therefore, Lviv has a majority interest (more than 25%) in the capital of Almaz PJSC and meets the criteria for the beneficial owner of this company.

So, the concept of the beneficiary is enshrined in law. But is it possible to say that the status of a beneficial owner is the same concept that another common term implies - “actual owner”?

Is the beneficiary and the actual owner (legal entity or individual) the same thing?

The concept of "actual owner" at the level of the legislation of the Russian Federation, in turn, is not fixed. In some sources of law, it is given in the same context as the term "beneficial owner" (for example, in the letter of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation of 04/09/2014 No. 03-00-РЗ / 16236). Is it possible to identify them in this regard?

In principle, this is legal, and the reason for this is the definition of the beneficial owner given in Law No. 115-FZ. This regulation states that a beneficiary may correspond to a person who has the ability to influence decisions made by a legal entity (even though he may not own any shares in the authorized capital of the company).

It is quite acceptable to refer to the “actual owner” of a person who, for one reason or another, is the beneficial owner of an individual. Moreover, in this case it is legitimate to speak of some “pure form” of actual ownership, since the legislation does not provide for the allocation of the authorized capital of an individual. For example, the beneficiary (actual) owner of an individual can be called the recipient of funds specified by the individual in his will.

Thus, the status of a beneficial owner is a legal category that can be identified with the concept of "actual owner", and this identification is best used in the context of control over the actions of a legal entity or over an individual. In the context of ownership of the authorized capital of a legal entity, it is better to use only the term "beneficial owner".

Which firms should keep records of beneficiaries?

The obligation to record beneficiaries rests with legal entities, which are not:

• state or municipal structures;
• international organizations;
• issuers of shares in organized trading (when information on securities is disclosed in accordance with the established procedure);
• by foreign issuers of shares in the framework of trading on a foreign exchange (if the exchange is included in the list determined by the Bank of the Russian Federation);
• foreign subjects of legal relations that do not have the status of a legal entity and do not provide for the presence of beneficiaries and the position of the general director.

Organizations are obliged to know their beneficiaries, take measures, if necessary, to obtain information about them, listed in subpara. 1 p. 1 art. 7 of Law No. 115-FZ, update this information annually, store the received data for at least 5 years.

In addition, information about the beneficiaries of the company may be disclosed in its reporting - in the manner prescribed by law (clause 7, article 6.1 of Law No. 115-FZ).

Which firms must disclose their beneficiaries?

Legal entities, as well as individual entrepreneurs, are required to provide information about beneficiaries upon request (clause 6, article 6.1 of Law No. 115-FZ, clause 10 of the provision approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 19, 2014 No. 209):

• to Rosfinmonitoring;
• in the FTS.

In addition, when contacting an organization or individual entrepreneur that manages funds, legal entities and individual entrepreneurs provide information about their beneficial owners - this is also their legal obligation, provided for in paragraph 14 of Art. 7 of Law No. 115-FZ. The scope of this information is defined in par. 2 sub. 1 p. 1 art. 7 of Law No. 115-FZ.

Failure by the company to provide information about beneficial owners to the indicated state bodies is a reason for applying sanctions against it under Art. 14.25.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Namely - a fine on officials in the amount of 30,000-40,000 rubles, on legal entities - 100,000-500,000 rubles.

Results

The beneficial owner is the founder or director, one of the owners or the actual owner of the company (even if de jure he does not own any shares in the authorized capital of the organization), who has the ability to at least control the activities of the relevant business entity. At the same time, the organizational and legal status of this subject does not matter - it can be both a legal entity and an individual entrepreneur.

To legally determine the status of a beneficial owner, it is necessary that an individual owns at least 25% of the authorized capital of the organization. Firms and individual entrepreneurs are required to inform Rosfinmonitoring, the Federal Tax Service, money management organizations about their beneficiaries upon request.

You can learn more about the features of the work of financial control bodies (which, in particular, have the authority to request information from legal entities and individual entrepreneurs about their beneficiaries) in the articles:

• ;
• .

Who is a beneficiary? You may have heard the word on TV news or in movies. However, this term itself is not popular enough, even taking into account the peculiarities of the development of the economy, business and entrepreneurship, as well as the era of the Internet.

We will try to answer the question of who the beneficiary is as detailed as possible. At the same time, it is worth highlighting some details, since the word has several meanings, and therefore there are some difficulties with their definitions, for example, in the areas of business and law.

Term

The very word beneficiary has French roots (from. benefice - income, profit) and translates as beneficiary. It is possible that it also comes from the English benefit, which translates as wealth. In any case, the context is related to the monetary sphere and values.

Definition

In the broadest sense, a beneficiary is a person who owns some valuable property and benefits from it, for example, by transferring the use of his property. The nature of the values ​​in this case can be completely different: real estate, transport, securities, production facilities and other assets. The simplest example is the landlord of an apartment: very often people who rent out real estate are called rentiers. Also here can be attributed and sublease, that is, the removal of real estate in order to rent it at a higher price.

However, the term beneficiary there are other areas of application, as it is used in many areas related to law and economics. In particular, insurance, brokerage and business. This will be discussed in more detail.

Why you may not have heard of this term

Despite such logical things as the spread of the Internet, the emergence of many different portals and sites dedicated to jurisprudence, economics and business, the word itself beneficiary used quite rarely.

The most commonly used words are, for example, the founder of a business, the lessor, the owner, the owner, however, the described term is almost never used and is highly specialized. The reason lies in the fact that this foreign word unusual, and also has many synonyms and expressions similar in context, examples of which you can see above.

A wider circulation of the word to which this article is dedicated occurred with the advent of the wording of the federal law, which entered into force on December 21, 2016, which obliges legal entities to disclose information about beneficiaries. We will talk about this innovation further, after highlighting some facts.

Who can be a beneficiary

Beneficiaries can be both legal entities and individuals. An example is the owners of production facilities, vehicles and premises that are rented out and used by enterprises.

However, this terminology is used in different areas: even though the meaning is similar, the meanings may differ slightly, depending on the context, which may cause misunderstandings and difficulties. The following are the most common examples from various fields where the described term appears widely.

Insurance companies

In the insurance industry, a beneficiary is a person who can claim a benefit. It is important to note that this is not necessarily the owner of the insured property. For example, the recipient of funds may be a bank.

If we are talking about life insurance, then the beneficiary can be not only the insured person, but also, for example, a spouse or heir.

Lending

In the credit sphere, the mechanism described above is called a bank guarantee. It implies a tripartite agreement, in which the bank will be the beneficiary and receive payment from the insurer (guarantor) upon the occurrence of a corresponding case with the client. This practice reduces the various risks associated with non-repayment of debt due to accidents and other negative factors that may affect the borrower.

In general, this area has many nuances and peculiarities, for example, in accordance with the Civil Code, the guarantor may refuse to satisfy the beneficiary's claim for payment in cases provided for by law. For example, these may be obvious violations of the terms of the guarantee, problems with certain documents, etc.

Federal Law "On counteracting the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism" dated 07.08.2001 N 115-FZ

This regulation and its latest editions contain a clause, the meaning of which is that legal entities are required to provide state authorities with information about beneficial owners. Even based on the name of this regulatory document, it can be concluded that the purpose of the changes is to counteract various crimes and offenses.

An indicative list of data includes:

• passport data;
• the address;
• TIN (if any);
• information about citizenship, a document confirming the legality of stay in the country (for foreigners).

Information about beneficiaries may be requested not only by government agencies, but also by banks and credit organizations. For this, there are special forms and forms, in addition, some data can be specified by requesting additional documents and information.

The obligations of legal entities include the collection and storage of information on beneficial owners, as well as documentary evidence of the information received. In addition, legal entities must update the received information about the beneficiaries every 12 months. Information is stored for 5 years after receipt.

The collection of data is carried out through inquiries regarding the participants of the firm, who are obliged to provide the information they have. Authorized state bodies and credit organizations have the right to receive such information. A document that contains such information is called a "Beneficiary Certificate" and contains information about the owners.

Relevant forms and forms in which the owners are indicated can be found in various sources. In addition, they are often present on the official websites of banks and credit institutions.

Beneficial owner

This term has a more precise meaning, as it appears in the above federal law and is more clearly specified. We are talking about such persons who have real power in making various decisions in firms due to the ownership of shares (more than 25%) in the authorized capital. Key actions can be carried out both directly and through third parties.

Examples include founders of organizations, holders of large shareholdings (in the case of joint-stock companies), as well as participants with a large share in the capital of enterprises.

In addition, federal law has an interpretation of the term beneficiary. The latter refers to the entity that receives income from the activities of the firm.

Thus, the beneficiaries of a legal entity are entities that have more than 25% of the assets of the enterprise and the ability to make decisions, and the beneficiaries are persons who profit from the activities of the company, for example, on the basis of various contracts, commissions, etc.

Ultimate beneficiary

This term refers only to an individual. This is the true owner of any company. If you do not delve into complex structures and legal terms, and give brief description, you can use the simplest example. For example, there is a limited liability company that makes a profit by being the founder of another organization. In turn, the owner of the first company will be the ultimate beneficiary, as he can benefit from the activities of several enterprises.

Thus, this definition describes the individual who has the most influence and the largest stake among the members of the organization.

Rights

If we consider the beneficiaries as founders, participants and shareholders, then the possibilities will be quite standard. These include such opportunities as disposing of their assets, controlling the work of the organization's management, participating in meetings, making decisions in accordance with their shares, making a profit, dividends. It is very important to document activities and enter into agreements related to the management of property or securities.

Results

Thus, we answered the question, who is the beneficiary. In a general sense, this is a person who has any sources of income that can be represented in a completely various forms: securities, real estate, various production facilities, etc.

As a summary, it can be concluded that recent changes in federal law oblige legal entities to disclose beneficiaries. The latter, in turn, are obliged to provide the necessary information. In addition, data may be collected by various banking institutions and credit organizations.

This legislation can contribute not only to the prevention of offenses, but also to the protection of the beneficiaries themselves, as it involves fixing transactions and operations on a contractual basis, which can become a pillar in protecting the rights of owners and founders.

In addition, the above federal law contains the most precise legal definition of who a beneficiary is.

It is important to note that the article is for educational and informational purposes only: the above information may change in accordance with current legislation and future amendments.

If the reader needs more data, then it is better to fully study the federal law indicated in the article on their own or seek help from qualified lawyers.

Managing partner, lawyer

24.01.2018

Evgeny Malyar

bsadsensedynamick

# business vocabulary

Terms, definitions, documents

Beneficiary (from French benefice "profit, benefit") - an individual or legal entity to whom a cash payment is intended; money recipient.

Article navigation

• What is a "beneficiary" from a linguistic and legal point of view
• Who are the legal beneficiaries
• What is the difference between a beneficiary and a beneficiary
• How to find out the beneficiaries
• Ultimate beneficiary
• Why is it so important
• Who has the right to demand information about beneficiaries
• Who are the beneficiaries of a legal entity
• Principal and Beneficiary
• Rights and obligations of the guarantor, principal and beneficiary
• What is a "beneficiary's bank"
• Accounting information about the beneficial owner
• Information about the chain of ownership, including beneficiaries
• Beneficial Owner Questionnaire
• The beneficial owner is the founder or not

Each accountant who made payments abroad filled in the details of the beneficiary's bank. This word is sometimes used in everyday life when they want to name someone on whom an event will reflect most favorably. From this article you can find out different meanings the term "beneficiary" in relation to business.

What is a "beneficiary" from a linguistic and legal point of view

Or who is this? Clarification is not superfluous, since both legal entities and individuals are designated by this foreign borrowing. The morphology of the term is French, related in origin to the word “benefit performance”, which is pleasant for artists. In translation, the root benefice means profit or benefit.

In a business sense, unambiguously formulate in simple words, which means the word "beneficiary", is impossible - the meaning of the concept depends on the context. Here are the possible definitions:

• Beneficiary (generally).
• In the banking sense, the beneficiary is the natural or legal person to whom the payment or transfer is addressed. Indicated in the payment order.
• The owner of an organization (asset, firm, real estate, business) that makes a profit.
• Copyright holder.
• Beneficiary in the event of an insured event. It is not necessarily the owner of the policy: in this case, the beneficiaries may be the heirs.
• The recipient of a debt, for example, the bearer of a bill of exchange (draft) for the debts of the borrowing company.
• The person receiving the bank certificate.
• The potential owner of the letter of credit indicated by the bank that issued it (put it into circulation).
• The real, and not the nominal owner of the enterprise (sometimes not explicit, but hidden), who acts through intermediaries, but exercises control and makes a profit (beneficial owner).
• The person is the manager of the bank account of the company (for example, the bankruptcy trustee).
• In international trade, beneficiary countries are exporting states that receive foreign exchange earnings.

However, these definitions still do not fully explain what a beneficiary is. Additions and clarifications are required.

Who are the legal beneficiaries

It is best to consider any incomprehensible situation in a legal aspect - this way it looks simpler. The legal system of the state counteracts illegal money circulation. The purpose of the Federal Law of the Russian Federation 115 FZ is to prevent money laundering and ensure complete clarity as to who owns the assets.

It is no secret that sometimes one person is considered the owner of an enterprise (or a bank account), but in reality this property belongs to another person, who for some reason hides his wealth.

115 FZ indicates how to determine the real owner. The legislative act clearly establishes the reasons for classifying an individual as a beneficial owner:

• Direct or indirect participation in the capital of the enterprise in the share of 25% or more. In this he differs from a shareholder who has bought a small amount of securities based on dividends;
• The ability to control the activities of a business structure in order to maximize profits;
• The presence of relationships and actions that directly indicate the involvement of a person in business activity and his interest in financial results enterprises. Such circumstances may include insurance, bills, the purchase and sale of shares, participation in meetings of the board of founders.

The same criteria distinguishing the beneficiary are indicated in civil law.

What is the difference between a beneficiary and a beneficiary

The term “beneficiary” refers to a person who receives income from an asset. The beneficiary, in fact, has the same goal. Owning an enterprise or its share, he makes efforts to make a profit. What is the difference? It exists, and it is significant. Every person who benefits from commercial activities- beneficiary. The difference from the beneficiary is that the latter has a real opportunity to manage the process of making a profit, intervene in it, control and exercise control actions. This right gives him a share in the capital (at least a quarter, as already mentioned above). The ordinary beneficiary is deprived of this power.

How to find out the beneficiaries

AT real life information about beneficiaries may, for various reasons, be a commercial secret, but the state, receiving this information from the owners, keeps it secret.

It happens that there are simply no beneficiaries, and by definition there cannot be, as well as beneficiaries, for example, in a charitable or non-profit organization.

Foreign firms and their branches are required to maintain a register of beneficiaries. When fulfilling legal requirements, government agencies should not have problems with how to determine the owner of the company.

The Civil Code contains articles on liability for misrepresentation of information provided, providing for severe penalties, and types of criminal penalties are applied to funds of criminal origin. The inspection bodies have enough means and opportunities to find out whether the CEO is the beneficial owner or someone else is running the enterprise.

Below in the article is a sample of filling out a table in which entrepreneurs undertake to annually indicate the beneficiaries and, in case of changes, reflect them.

Ultimate beneficiary

The adjective seems redundant (after all, it is clear that this is the true owner), but only at first glance.

First of all, the ultimate beneficiary is always only an individual, that is, a certain specific person who receives income from the business.

Secondly, it may not exist at all, since an ordinary person, unlike a legal entity acting as a beneficiary, does not necessarily own a quarter of the capital of the entire business.

Example: Company A owns 30% of Company B. At the same time, each of the founders in LLC "A" has ten percent of the shares, respectively - 10. The ultimate beneficiary in this case is absent, since none of the owners of "A" meets the definition of who the beneficiary is (necessarily 25 percent own).

Why is it so important

The need for the law FZ 115 objectively exists. The state is obliged to fight shadow business schemes, expose corruption and cut off financial flows that fuel terrorism.

Information about the true owners of enterprises, bank accounts and other assets is provided in without fail also financial institutions: leasing and insurance companies, pawnshops, stock market operators. It happens that the head of the company is the notorious "sitz chairman", whose functions include only the signing of documents.

Information about the owners of the counterparty, including the ultimate beneficiaries, may be requested not only by government agencies, but also by other organizations, if a reasonable request is submitted. In particular, the disclosure of beneficiaries is especially important in public procurement.

Who has the right to demand information about beneficiaries

Final and initial chain of beneficiaries, according to Article 105 par. 2 tax code of the Russian Federation and Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 913 dated July 31, 2017, is disclosed at the request of the Federal Tax Service or Rosfinmonitoring, including its interregional departments.

The certificate of ultimate beneficiaries is a list containing the following information (FZ 115, art. 1, p. 1):

• Name (full);
• Citizenship;
• Date of Birth;
• Series and number of the passport (citizen of the Russian Federation) or residence permit (if a foreign person);
• Individual tax number (code).

In practice, all affiliates are also checked.

Download Sample

The given sample of filling in the table may contain information about one beneficiary (if he is the only one) or several.

Disclosure of beneficiaries is not mandatory for public authorities, as well as institutions with a share of state capital (including regional and municipal structures) over 50%.

Who are the beneficiaries of a legal entity

About who is the beneficial owner of a legal entity, in fact, so far it has been discussed in the article. This is a person who has the opportunity, by virtue of a significant share of his participation in the capital of a registered company, to take part in the management of it. Could there be any other beneficiary? The answer to this question is in the affirmative.

The beneficiary of a natural person is the recipient of the benefit from another natural person as a result of inheritance, gift agreement or other legal actions establishing his ownership of property or money.

The difference in this case is the same as between a businessman and just a rich person. The first multiplies his fortune and has the means of production for this, while the second can only spend his money.

As already mentioned, the beneficial owner in an LLC has at least a quarter of the total share capital.

Principal and Beneficiary

A bank guarantee is one of the most important tools for ensuring the security of a major transaction. In relation to such a situation, the concept of a beneficiary acquires a special meaning, but besides him, two more persons are involved in the process: the principal and the guarantor.

The principal is the party that applies for a guarantee to the bank and undertakes to fulfill the terms of the contract.

After this definition, the scheme of the guarantee process becomes clear. The contractor is usually interested in the transaction, and it is he who makes efforts to convince the customer that he does not risk anything by dealing with him. He also pays for the services of the guarantor.

The beneficiary in a bank guarantee is the other side of the contract. The guarantor is a bank (or other financial institution), and it provides insurance for the fulfillment of mutual obligations.

Rights and obligations of the guarantor, principal and beneficiary

The basis for the emergence of the obligation of the guarantor to the beneficiary is the principal's failure to fulfill the terms of the concluded contract. In this case, the costs and losses are repaid by the bank in full.

Of course, not every person can receive a guarantee - it must meet a number of requirements established by the institution that is a potential guarantor. In particular, solvency and the size of the founding capital matter.

The obligation of the guarantor under the guarantee to the beneficiary is terminated if it turns out that the principal has provided false information about his financial position.

Not only the beneficiary has rights, but also the other parties to the agreement (principal and guarantor). The customer, if he makes unreasonable demands (the fact must be documented) or provided false information about the failure to fulfill obligations under the contract by the other party, is deprived of the right to the guarantor's obligation provided for by the bank guarantee.

In addition, the legislation (Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Art. 378 and Chapter 26) provides for other cases of termination of the guarantee:

• Payment by the guarantor of the amount of the guarantee;
• Expiration of the warranty period;
• Voluntary waiver by the beneficiary of his right to a guarantee.

The latter situation is caused, as a rule, by the circumstances forcing the beneficiary to withdraw his claims and the realization of the weakness of his legal positions in the event of litigation. However, this possibility is provided for by Article 378 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. To do this, you need to write a letter of appropriate content addressed to the guarantor.

Download Sample

What is a "beneficiary's bank"

The beneficiary's bank is the guarantor of the transaction. This financial institution has the authority to make a request, the purpose of which is to determine the true beneficial owner of the bank's client. Who is it: an honest businessman who, for some business reason, hides the fact that he owns the enterprise, or a representative of organized crime?

The personal data of the beneficiaries for the bank are provided in the form of a certificate (Article 7 of the Federal Law No. 115 allows a simplified format) corresponding to the above sample.

Accounting information about the beneficial owner

Article 105 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes mandatory disclosure of information about the beneficiary in the financial statements. There is also a complete list related parties and "intermediary" companies (including those affiliated and controlled by foreign firms).

In response to a formal request for information about the beneficiaries of a legal entity, the organization must send a letter. An exemplary sample of filling is given earlier in the text of the article and contains information by which it is possible to identify the identity of the owner of the enterprise.

The consent of the beneficiary to the processing of personal data is not provided for by law.

As already mentioned, this certificate may be needed not only by state regulatory authorities, but also by banks when issuing guarantees.

Information about the chain of ownership, including beneficiaries

At the request of the counterparty, since 2012, on the basis of Order No. VP-P13-9308 of the Government of the Russian Federation, organizations undertake to provide information on the chain of beneficiaries (including the final one) and owners. The attached form contains mandatory fields. Additional explanations about how to fill in the information are not required. It should only be remembered that individual entrepreneurs and individuals duplicate information in the left and right parts of the table. A sample of filling in personal data has already been given.

The table is a list of legal entities belonging to each counterparty.

Beneficial Owner Questionnaire

Information about the beneficiary is provided voluntarily, simultaneously with the consent to the processing of information, and is drawn up in the form of a questionnaire. This document is needed to open a bank account, as well as in case of changes in the composition of the founders or data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. Form for a legal entity:

Download form

Form for an individual:

Download form

No special explanations are required - the property is paid in full in accordance with the constituent documents.

Since the ultimate beneficiaries can only be individuals, then the requirements for the accuracy of the information indicated by them when filling out the questionnaire are the most stringent.

If a company does not provide information about beneficial owners to government agencies, it may be subject to penalties in accordance with Article 14.25.1 of the Code of Administrative Violations:

• For officials - from 30 to 40 thousand rubles.
• For legal entities - from 100 to 500 thousand rubles.

The beneficial owner is the founder or not

So, it remains in conclusion to dwell on how to determine the beneficiary of appearance and position held. It can be the founder or the CEO, and sometimes they are the same person. Or they are different people, and they are located far from each other (sometimes at different ends of the planet).

The reader, who has carefully read the above text, is also able to understand how the beneficiary differs from the founder:

Firstly, the person who created the enterprise can later sell part of his share or all of it to other people.

Secondly, there is a very clear legislative criterion for whether a particular person is a beneficial owner. This is the ownership of a quarter (or more) of the authorized capital in the company's securities.

Example:

Mr. Petrov has a 60% stake in Alfa, which in turn owns 83% of Beta LLC. The general director of Beta LLC and the founder of this company, Sidorov, has a portfolio of 23% of the shares of the enterprise he heads. Which of these two persons can be considered the beneficial owner?

At first glance, it seems that Sidorov looks more solid. Firstly, he is a leader, and secondly, he is only a little short of the 25% quota established by Federal Law 115. In addition, it is quite possible that he drives a more expensive car and wears a prestigious suit, which Petrov does not have.

However, a simple calculation shows that the modest Petrov, in fact, through his 60%-owned company Alfa, controls Beta by almost half (0.6 x 0.83 = 0.4980, that is, 49.8%). So he is the true beneficial owner.

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