beneficial ownership

In the podcast we discussed:

his favourite destinations in the world, book recommendations (incl. Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor E Frankl and The ONE Thing by Gary Keller) and hobbies, incl. singing rap in this song, some 14 years ago;

how it is possible to combine both tax practice (policy and disputes) and academic research;

tax policy vs law;

Pillar 2 and offshores;

arbitration for resolving tax disputes - the benefits of having it, and how to preserve neutrality;

his book “Beneficial Ownership in International Taxation”; there are 3-5 jurisdictions in the world that are responsible for a majority of flow of money through them and can be subject to scrutiny if the recipients are the beneficial owners;

Unshell directive and holding companies;

AI and tax authorities (they need to apply it only as long as the sources are explainable);

Singapore tax system.

For any questions please contact the author of the podcast: https://www.sorainen.com/people/janis-taukacs/ 

Much has changed since we last visited the US Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) in March of 2023 on KYC Decoded. Now that FinCEN has officially rolled out its beneficial ownership database, what is the lay of the land for risk and compliance professionals? In this episode, we welcome back Jim Richards, former BSA officer, author, speaker, and CEO of RegTech Consulting to share his thoughts on where we are now, where there is room for improvement, and just how useful this database will be when combatting financial crime.

Key highlights of this educational discussion include:

• Jim’s time testifying before US congress in June of 2023
• The current limitations around access to the database
• The types of organizations that are exempt from the database
• The level of threat the database poses – or doesn’t pose – to financial criminals in both the short term and longer term
• Suggestions on how FinCEN should move forward

If you would like to find out more about the work Jim Richards does or the CTA, please check out our recommended resources:

• Jim Richards’s personal blog
• FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Information
• Moody’s content on Ultimate Beneficial Ownership

If you are looking for deeper insight into who you are doing business with, learn more on our website and feel free to get in touch.

Case Study Podcast: It's a Family Affair - The Stratos Sanctions Case
 
1st case study of our podcast series analyses the tactics used to circumnavigate transaction monitoring tools to allow money to flow from Venezuela to Iran without detection.  

Looking at the tricks employed to conceal the true beneficial owners, this case is a great illustration of how sanctions restrictions can still be dodged without the use of stripping data from payment instructions.