Tax NewsFlash - October 2023

Dear Readers,

In September 2023, a series of legislative changes came into effect aimed at identifying and recording the beneficial owners of companies in Kazakhstan.

The amendments introduced¹ the concept of Register of Beneficial Owners of Legal Entities in the Anti-Money Laundering Law.

According to the introduced definition, the Register of Beneficial Owners of Legal Entities is a state database designed for the registration and storage of information about the beneficial owners of legal entities for the purpose of combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

The Financial Monitoring Agency ("FMA") is empowered² to determine the procedure for maintaining the register and to maintain the register of beneficial owners.

The FMA approved³ the Rules for Maintaining the Register, according to which the FMA will form and maintain the register by integrating with the information systems of other state authorities. The FMA will also receive information about beneficial owners from financial monitoring entities, law enforcement agencies, special and other state authorities and organizations.

The FMA will provide information from the register to:

• Regulatory state authorities for entities under their control;
• Law enforcement and special state authorities;
• Financial monitoring entities.

The provision of information will not breach the terms set for gathering and processing personal data, as well as other data safeguarded by law.

The amendments supplement the Administrative Offences Code with a provision⁴ stating that the submission of false information or documents about the beneficial owners of legal entities entail an administrative fine of 80, 200, or 300 times the monthly index factor for small, medium, and large-sized entities, respectively.