There has been talk for some time that a new register of beneficial ownership for Scottish limited partnerships (“SLPs”) is in the pipeline. This was forecast under the Fourth Money Laundering Directive, and forms part of the Government’s aims to increase transparency in UK business.

Companies House has recently announced that it will be implementing this register for SLPs from 24 July 2017.

Last year, the Government introduced a register of people with significant control (“PSC”) in relation to all UK incorporated companies and LLPs (with some exceptions).  We anticipate that this PSC regime will essentially be extended to SLPs.  Whilst much of the detail of the new regime is still to be confirmed, we do know that from 24 July 2017:

• active SLPs must register PSC information with the registrar of limited partnerships in Scotland;
• any changes to this information must be notified within 14 days;
• every year, SLPs must confirm the details are correct; and
• PSC information must be provided when registering a new SLP.
  What we don’t know at this point is the criteria which will be used to identify the PSC of an SLP.

Among other details, we will also need to know exactly what PSC information will need to be provided and whether any SLPs will be exempt from the regime.

The Government is due to publish this information in future.  In the meantime, we will be monitoring the situation so please feel free to contact us with any queries.

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