Beneficial Owners: How to Identify and Report Them Correctly

Who Counts as a Beneficial Owner?

A beneficial owner is a natural person – a human being, not a company – who ultimately controls a business. This is typically the case when someone directly or indirectly holds a significant share of the capital or voting rights (indicative threshold: 25%) or controls the company in another way. Customers, employees or mere authorised signatories do not have to be reported. To understand what the transparency register is and who is affected, see our overview Swiss Transparency Register: Is Your Company Required to Report?

Step 1: Analyse Your Ownership Structure

Create a complete overview of shareholders or partners and any intermediate companies. In multi-level structures, you must trace the chain back to the controlling natural person. Shareholders and beneficial owners are themselves required to provide the company with the necessary information within one month.

Step 2: Document and Maintain a Register

Record identification details as well as the nature and extent of the control exercised in a structured way, with supporting documents. Important: the transparency register does not replace the commercial register, the share register or the list of beneficial owners – these must be kept up to date separately.

Step 3: Report Electronically

Reporting is done electronically via the federal platform, generally via EasyGov, and is free of charge. A one-month deadline applies after registration in the commercial register and in the event of changes. Intentional violations can be punished with fines of up to CHF 500,000 – all deadlines and penalties in detail in our article TJPG 2026: Deadlines, Obligations and Fines of up to CHF 500,000.

Unsure? Check Your Reporting Obligation for Free

To find out whether your company is subject to the reporting obligation at all and which information is required, use the free online check at transparenzregister-eintrag.ch. The express or detailed check gives you an initial assessment of your obligations within minutes (source: transparenzregister-eintrag.ch).

Related Articles

• Swiss Transparency Register: Is Your Company Required to Report?
• TJPG 2026: Deadlines, Obligations and Fines of up to CHF 500,000