A beneficial owner is the natural person who really controls a company or profits from its business — typically through a stake of at least 25% in voting rights or capital. In both Slovakia and Czechia every company must register this person, but the two countries differ in where the data is kept, who may access it and how failure is punished.
Who is a beneficial owner?
A beneficial owner is always a natural person — never another company — who genuinely controls a legal entity or in whose favour its business is carried on. In Slovakia the concept is defined in Section 6a of Act No. 297/2008 on anti-money-laundering; in the Czech Republic it follows from Act No. 37/2021 on the register of beneficial owners. The purpose in both cases is the same: to reveal the real people behind a chain of companies.
The threshold is broadly aligned. Slovak law looks for a direct or indirect stake of at least 25% of voting rights or registered capital, or a right to at least 25% of the economic benefit; Czech law speaks of an end recipient or a person with ultimate influence, typically holding more than 25%. If no such person can be identified in Slovakia, the senior management (the statutory body) is treated as the beneficial owner.
For example, if a company is owned by two shareholders holding 60% and 40%, both are beneficial owners because each exceeds 25%. If the owner is another company, you must trace ownership further until you reach the natural persons at the end.
Where is the beneficial owner registered?
In Slovakia the beneficial owner is entered in the non-public part of the commercial register. The obligation has applied since 1 November 2018, and companies formed earlier had to add the data by the end of 2019. Only authorised bodies can access the details.
In the Czech Republic the data goes into the register of beneficial owners kept by the registry court at esm.justice.cz. The standalone Act No. 37/2021 took effect on 1 June 2021. Until the end of 2025 part of the record was openly available to anyone, but since 17 December 2025 the public part has been closed: the Czech and EU courts held that unlimited public access was a disproportionate interference with privacy. Today the register is open mainly to the company itself, public authorities and AML-obliged persons, while anyone else must show a legitimate interest to the court.
Who files the entry and what does it cost?
In Slovakia the company files the entry itself through its statutory body on a prescribed form; you do not need a lawyer or a notary and the entry is not subject to a court fee. In Czechia the entry is likewise proposed by the company, but a distinctive feature is the automatic transcription, whereby the system copies certain persons — such as a sole shareholder — from the public register on its own.
Even where automatic transcription applies, responsibility for accuracy stays with the company: for complex structures it may miss the real owner, so the entry must be completed manually. If you are reorganising ownership, our overview of putting money into your s.r.o. covers a closely related area.
Identifying the beneficial owner in a more complex ownership structure also has a legal dimension — from assessing indirect holdings to the correct wording of the supporting documents for the entry. The law firm STEINIGER | law firm can help set these up and review them.
What data is recorded about a beneficial owner?
Both registers record a fairly detailed set of data: the person’s name, date of birth, address of residence, nationality and the grounds on which they qualify as a beneficial owner — that is, whether through voting rights, capital or economic benefit, and the size of the holding. Slovakia additionally records the type and number of the identity document in the non-public part.
The most demanding part in practice is determining the nature and size of the holding. With direct ownership it is straightforward, but with holdings, foreign owners or cross-shareholdings you must carefully calculate the indirect stakes, or the wrong person ends up in the register.
How do the two registers differ from the Slovak RPVS?
A frequent source of confusion in Slovakia is the difference between the beneficial-owner entry in the commercial register and the Register of Public Sector Partners (RPVS) under Act No. 315/2016. The commercial-register entry is a blanket duty for every company, the data is non-public and the company files it itself.
The RPVS, by contrast, applies only to entities that do business with the state and receive public funds. Entries there are made and verified by an authorised person — a lawyer, notary, bank, auditor or tax adviser — and the register is public. Registering the beneficial owner in the commercial register does not replace the RPVS obligation, and vice versa. Czechia has no direct equivalent split; it operates a single register of beneficial owners.
What penalties apply and when must you update?
In Slovakia the registry court may impose a fine of up to EUR 3,310 for failing to register a beneficial owner or for incorrect data, and the penalty can reach the statutory body responsible for the entry. In Czechia the fine can be up to CZK 500,000, but the more painful consequences are often private-law ones: an unregistered beneficial owner may not be paid a profit share or exercise voting rights at the supreme body.
In both countries the record must be kept current. Any change in the beneficial owner — a transfer of a stake, a change of shareholder or of the statutory body, or a change in the ownership structure — must be reflected without delay, since relying on automatic transcription alone is risky for anything but the simplest structures.
Not sure who your company’s beneficial owner is, or whether your entry is up to date? Let us check it with you.
FAQ
Does every company have to register a beneficial owner?
Yes. In both Slovakia and Czechia the duty applies to companies entered in the commercial or public register. In Slovakia the entry goes into the non-public part of the register; in Czechia many simple structures are handled by automatic transcription. Either way, responsibility for the accuracy of the data remains with the company.
Is beneficial-owner data public?
In Slovakia the data sits in the non-public part of the commercial register and only authorised bodies can access it. In Czechia part of the register used to be open to anyone, but since 17 December 2025 the public part has been closed on privacy grounds; access is now limited mainly to the company, public authorities and AML-obliged persons, with others needing to show a legitimate interest.
What happens if I do not register the beneficial owner?
In Slovakia the registry court can fine you up to EUR 3,310. In Czechia the fine can reach CZK 500,000, and there are also private-law consequences: an unregistered beneficial owner cannot be paid a share of profit and cannot exercise voting rights. Keeping the entry current after any ownership change is therefore essential.