BRS Extends Register of Beneficial Ownership Deadline
The Kenya Business Registration Service (“BRS”) has extended the period for submission by companies of the Beneficial Ownership Information by a period of six months. All companies registered in Kenya are required to prepare and submit a copy of their respective Registers of Beneficial Owners to the Registrar of Companies and to notify the Registrar within 14 days of any change in Beneficial Ownership Information.
BRS rolled out the e-Register for private companies in October 2020 and prescribed the deadline for making the submissions as 31 January 2021. With the 6-months’ grace period granted, effective 1 February 2021, the new deadline is now 31 July 2021.
The extension provides much needed respite, given the myriad challenges that companies had encountered in identifying their beneficial owners and in making the submissions on the BRS platform.
Failure to comply with the requirement is a criminal offence which attracts penal consequences for the company, directors and company secretary. It is therefore critical that companies continue with the effort to prepare and file the Registers of Beneficial Owners before 31 July 2021, as BRS has indicated that this would be the final extension.
