By Richard Johnstone | 31 October 2013
Prime Minister David Cameron today announced that the proposed register of the beneficial owners of UK companies will be made public as part of moves to tackle tax evasion.
Speaking at the Open Government Partnership’s annual summit in London, Cameron said the pledge built upon the government’s policy, announced in June, to create the register of who really benefits financially from firms’ existence. This was followed by a commitment at the G8 summit in the same month that member countries would also develop their own plans.
Cameron highlighted that governments needed to know who really owns and controls companies so that ‘all manners of questionable practice and downright illegality’, such as tax evasion, could be challenged.
Therefore the UK’s register of beneficial ownership for all companies, including shell companies, would be made public.
For too long, a small minority have hidden their business dealings behind a complicated web of shell companies, Cameron said.
Publishing the list would have many benefits, he added.
‘It’s better for businesses here – who will be able to better identify who really owns the companies they’re trading with.
‘It’s better for developing countries – who will have easy access to all this data, without submitting endless requests for each line of enquiry. And it’s better for us all to have an open system which everyone has access to – the more eyes that look at this information, the more accurate it will be.’
Cameron said that this ‘world first’ showed that Britain was leading the way on corporate transparency and action to tackle tax evasion and aggressive avoidance, and called on the rest of the world to publish similar registers.
‘Together we can make an even bigger difference,’ he added.
‘And together we can close the door on these shadowy, corrupt, illegal practices once and for all.’
Responding to the announcement, the CBI said that they backed the creation of the register ‘to promote transparency and stamp out illicit financial activity’.
Katja Hall, chief policy director at the CBI, said the ‘real prize’ would be getting other nations to sign up, so that ownership information could be tracked around the world. ‘Now that the UK has chosen to make this a public register, ensuring that others follow our lead will be critical to its success and to maintaining a level playing field,’ she said.