07/04/2025 - The Secretariat of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) successfully hosted a virtual event today, bringing together more than 450 officials from 95 jurisdictions for the launch of new capacity-building tools aimed at supporting jurisdictions in implementing a central register of beneficial owners.
Since 2016, the Standard on Transparency and Exchange of Information on Request has required that adequate, accurate, and up-to-date beneficial ownership information be available and accessible to tax authorities. While the Global Forum does not prescribe a specific mechanism for meeting this requirement, as there is no one-size-fits-all solution, peer review results show that combining multiple approaches tends to be more effective than relying on a single mechanism. In particular, one of the trends in several jurisdictions is the implementation of beneficial ownership registers.
The capacity-building tools launched today are available upon request from Global Forum members. They aim to help jurisdictions wishing to implement a central register of beneficial owners, either maintained by the tax administration or a commercial register. They have been developed considering the experience gained from the Global Forum peer review process, good practices shared by member jurisdictions and relevant literature and documentation on this critical area. These tools need to be tailored by interested jurisdictions, and technical support is available to this end.
Participants also heard directly from member jurisdictions that have already implemented beneficial owners' central registers, who shared valuable insights into their experiences, challenges, and successes in improving access to beneficial ownership information.
The Global Forum Secretariat remains committed to supporting jurisdictions through tailored technical assistance and peer learning opportunities, as they continue to implement the beneficial ownership requirements under the tax transparency standards.
The Global Forum is the leading multilateral body mandated to ensure that jurisdictions around the world adhere to and effectively implement both the exchange of information on request standard and the standard of automatic exchange of information. These objectives are achieved through a robust monitoring and peer review process. The Global Forum also runs an extensive capacity-building programme to support its members in implementing the standards and help tax authorities make the best use of cross-border information sharing channels.
The Global Forum capacity-building programme is supported by the following development partners: