The situation
The group’s ownership structure, including a private foundation
An Austrian family group is run from a Vienna holding company. Sixty percent of the holding belongs to a private foundation set up by the founder, the rest to two of her children, and the group owns a Dutch distribution company in Eindhoven. A bank onboarding the Dutch company found a mismatch in the UBO register, and group legal must check every filing in both countries.
The beneficial owners of a foundation are not found the way a shareholder is. Austria has its own rules for foundations and its own review duties; the Netherlands has its own register and filing. The hours go on tracing control through each layer and confirming what each register needs, and by when.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- The EU definition
- Under the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, a beneficial owner is a natural person who ultimately owns or controls the entity, with a holding above 25% as an indication of ownership. Where no one qualifies, the senior managing officials are recorded.
- Foundations look through to people
- For trusts and similar arrangements, the beneficial owners include the founder, those who control the arrangement and the beneficiaries, not only shareholders. Austrian law sets its own rules for who counts in a private foundation.
- Registers are no longer open to all
- In WM and Sovim (C-37/20 and C-601/20) the Court of Justice held that general public access to beneficial ownership information was invalid. Who can see the data now is a separate question from what must be filed.
- Discrepancies get reported
- Obliged entities such as banks must report discrepancies between the register and their own checks. The EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulation will replace the Directive’s rules, and the research confirms when each change applies.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Austrian holding GmbH owned 60% by an Austrian private foundation and 20% each by two siblings; it owns 100% of a Dutch BV. Who are the beneficial owners of the holding and of the BV for the Austrian and Dutch UBO registers, and what review or update duties apply?
You start with
The group’s ownership structure, including a private foundation
- 01
Upload the structure
Add the group chart, the shareholder lists and the foundation’s governing documents. azta reads them and refers back to the passage it relied on.
File upload· Pro - 02
Trace the beneficial owners
Ask who the beneficial owners of each company are under Austrian and Dutch law. azta cites the Directive and each national act.
Cited research· Free - 03
Check the provisions
Open the Austrian and Dutch provisions in the original, with in-force status, to confirm deadlines and review duties.
Atlas statute reader - 04
Write the filing note
Ask for a note per company: who to file, what to file, deadlines and the correction needed for the Dutch entry. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
A note on UBO filing duties for each group company
What you get
A note on UBO filing duties for each group company
Filing note · draft
UBO register filings for the Vienna holding and the Eindhoven company
Vienna holding. The foundation holds 60% and is therefore looked through. Its beneficial owners under the Austrian rules for private foundations are listed in the Annex. The two siblings, at 20% each, are not beneficial owners through their shareholdings alone, unless they control the company in another way.
Eindhoven company. The Dutch entry currently names the two siblings. The beneficial owners are those traced through the foundation and the holding, as for the holding itself. The entry should be corrected.
Next steps. File the correction in the Dutch register, confirm the Austrian entry, and diarise the Austrian periodic review. Tell the bank once the correction is made.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
14 minutes a month
At €120 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 22
- Capacity at your rate
- €2,592
- More UBO filing notes a quarter
- 1.5
- Return on Pro
- 8×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoWhat stays with you
- The facts on control, including any shareholder agreements.
- The filings themselves.
- Communication with the bank and the family.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta file with the UBO register?
- No. It researches who must be filed and drafts the note. You or your advisor make the filing.
- Can it read the foundation deed?
- Yes. Upload it and azta reads it alongside the law, referring back to the clause it relied on.
- Can I keep the group’s filing records together?
- On Enterprise, shared workspaces keep the documents, research and notes for each entity together, with access by membership.
