Central Trust Register

Obligation  to File in Central Register

There are obligations to register the trust in a central register maintained online through a portal maintained by the Revenue Commissioners.

Where a trust is administered in more than one Member State or 2 or more of the trustees of a trust reside in different Member States, then in certain circumstances, a certificate that the registration has taken place in another EU state will discharge the trustee. Conditions r apply.

Where the trustee of the trust concerned procures a certificate in writing from the corresponding registrar of, as appropriate stating that a trustee of that trust has filed information on the trust’s beneficial ownership in that Member State, and holds that certificate, in a place in the State, for the purpose of making it available for inspection by any person concerned, that procuring and holding of that certificate shall be regarded for the purposes of these Regulations as compliance by the trustee with the trustee’s initial central filing obligation and the “follow up obligation”.

The information, the subject of the certificate must consist of the information (other than the PPS number or any number or copy of a document containing such that would be required to be supplied to the Registrar in order to fulfil the trustee’s initial central filing obligation and, as appropriate, the  “follow up obligation”.

Delivery of information under this Part: delivery may be effected by persons external to trust (as well as by officers or employees of it)

In some cases, the duty may be discharged where the information is provided by another who acts on behalf of that person.

Registrar of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts

The Revenue Commissioners have appointed a registrar, known as the “Registrar of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts” and have established a register e known as the “Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Trusts”. The central register is  be maintained by the Registrar;

The information required to be delivered or submitted to the Registrar is entered in that register by the Registrar. This entry of information in the central register to the provision which prohibits disclosure of a PPS number or any number or copy of a document containing such number and imposes a requirement that the PPS number or such number or copy of a document be stored securely by the Registrar.

There is an obligation on trustees to deliver beneficial ownership information to Registrar and related obligations of designated business where certain discrepancies are discovered.

A trustee of a trust that is in existence before the coming into operation of the  Regulations must deliver the information specified below to the Registrar within 6 months from such commencement.

A trustee of a trust that comes into existence on or after the coming into operation of these Regulations must, within 6 months from its coming into existence, deliver the information specified to the Registrar in such manner as the Registrar determines.

Obligation Where Discrepancies

Where the following conditions are satisfied and whether in the circumstances of a business subject to money laundering control obligations taking the required measures becomes aware of a discrepancy between the information on the central register and that which it holds then it shall give notice of that opinion specifying the details to the central register.

On receipt the register may enter a notice of receipt of this information. It may serve a notice on the trustees concerning the notice received and requiring delivery

if the Registrar considers it appropriate to do so, make an entry in the relevant place in the central register which states that the notice has been received and specifies the particulars as respects which the foregoing discrepancy exists, and requiring delivery of a corrective return or other explanation.

Information which shall be delivered to Registrar

The following is to be sent  by a trustee of a trust to the Registrar of the central register maintained by Revenue Commissioners:

• the name, date of birth, nationality and residential address of each beneficial owner of the trust;
• a statement of the nature and extent of the interest held, or the nature and extent of control exercised by, each such beneficial owner;
• in the case of a trust other than one that is set up or operates entirely for the benefit of individuals, the class of individuals in whose interest the trust is set up or operates;

In addition, the following shall also be delivered to the Registrar by the trustee of the trust –

• for the purpose of verification of the information delivered the PPS number of each beneficial owner to whom such a number has been assigned, or
• in the case of a beneficial owner to whom a PPS number has not been issued and who is resident in a state, other than the State, any unique number issued to him or her, for the purpose of the administration of tax in that state, by an authority in that state, or his or her passport number or national identity card number and for the purpose of verification of either such number, a copy of the document, issued by the authority in the state concerned, containing such number.

Where the obligation imposed on a trustee is discharged by the trustee’s acting through an officer or employee of the trust, there shall be delivered to the Registrar –

• the name, address, phone number and e-mail address of the officer or employee for correspondence purposes, and
• particulars as to the capacity in which the officer or employee is acting.

Corporate’s Information

In the case of a legal entity  (such as a company) that is a beneficiary of the trust and which entity, the beneficial ownership of which is recorded, for the time being, in the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies (and other entities) any register, corresponding to either of those foregoing Registers, in another Member State –

• the name and registered address of the legal entity and a statement of the nature and extent of the interest held, or the nature and extent of control exercised by it, in relation to the trust, and
• any filing number assigned to the entity by, as appropriate, the Registrar of Beneficial Ownership of Companies and Industrial and Provident Societies, the Registrar of Beneficial Ownership of Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles, Credit Unions and Unit Trusts or the person who performs the functions of registrar or controller of the aforementioned corresponding register,

Ongoing

The Registrar shall delete from the central register information entered in it in relation to a trust if 10 years have elapsed from the date on which the final distribution is made under the trust (should such occur) and, as soon as may be after that deletion, the Registrar shall destroy that information.

PPS Numbers and the equivalent from other states shall be securely held and shall not be disclosed other than as permitted. The information is

The Registrar shall, as respects any information that has been received under paragraph (3) and recorded by the Registrar, destroy the information as soon as may be after 10 years have elapsed from the date on which the final distribution is made (should such occur) under the trust to which it relates.

The Registrar shall delete from the central register information entered in it in relation to a trust if 10 years have elapsed from the date on which the trustees of the trust cease to be resident in the State (should such occur), or the trust ceases to be administered in the State (should such occur).

Information to be provided by the Presenter

Where the information specified above is delivered to the Registrar by a person acting on behalf of the trustee concerned, the following information shall also be delivered by the presenter to the Registrar:

• the presenter’s name, address, phone number and e-mail address;
• particulars as to the capacity in which the presenter is acting; and
• if the presenter is not an individual, the name, address, phone number and e-mail address of an individual for correspondence purposes.

The Registrar shall, as respect any information that has been received and recorded by the Registrar, destroy the information as soon as may be after 10 years have elapsed from the date on which the final distribution is made (should such occur) under the trust to which it relates.

Duty to keep Up to date

Any changes that occur in the information contained in a trust’s beneficial ownership register are to be reflected by a corresponding change being made in the central register. Accordingly, there is imposed on the trustee a “follow up obligation” – to deliver information to the Registrar so as to allow any such change to be reflected in the central register.

Where at any later time after original registration which requires amendment or deletion so that it  remains correct, the trustee is to deliver to the registrar

• the same information as that which the trustee is required to enter in the trust’s beneficial ownership register, or
• the appropriate information that will enable the Registrar to make the same amendment or deletion of information in the central register as that which the trustee is required to make in the trust’s beneficial ownership register,
• and the follow up obligation shall be discharged within 14 days from the date on which the first-mentioned obligation falls to be discharged by the trustee.