Around 100 attend Douglas briefing on new UK Companies House rules

About 100 people from the island’s business community attended a briefing in Douglas last week on how local firms can stay compliant with tougher UK Companies House rules, Isle of Man Today reported.

The event, titled “Changes at UK Companies House and how it affects offshore businesses”, took place at The Claremont Hotel. Its sponsor was Tiller Technologies, a firm that provides digital anti-money laundering and customer-checking services. The main speaker was Liz Kinsey, managing director of CRO Corporate Services Ltd.

According to the paper, the session dealt with four areas:

• the clean-up of the Companies House register under the UK’s Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023
• identity verification
• tighter transparency rules for the Register of Overseas Entities
• what Authorised Corporate Service Providers are now required to do when submitting filings

Under the overseas entities regime, beneficial owners of non-UK entities that hold land or property in the UK must register with Companies House if they meet at least one of a set of conditions, Isle of Man Today reported. These include holding more than a quarter of the shares or voting rights, having the right to appoint or remove most of the board, or exercising significant influence or control.

Ms Kinsey said the 2023 Act gave Companies House a bigger part in tackling economic crime, and that over time the changes would make registers more transparent and reliable. She added that they also meant “additional requirements, especially in regard to the Register of Overseas Entities” that the island must meet to stay compliant.

Julia Cowan, chief revenue officer at Tiller Technologies, said places had been sold out well before the day, which she said showed “a high level of interest in these important issues”.