¶ 2901
Overview
The subject. Every Belize trust, LLC, company and foundation now operates inside a framework of anti-money laundering law, beneficial ownership registers and international exchange of information. This chapter examines that framework as it applies to the vehicles studied in this book. It covers the international standards that shaped the framework, Belize's ratings under them, the Money Laundering and Terrorism (Prevention) Act and the obligations it places on the professionals who form and administer Belize structures, the beneficial ownership rules of each vehicle statute, the channels through which information leaves Belize, and the classification of Belize structures under the Common Reporting Standard and the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
Why the subject belongs in a book on protective structures. The protective provisions examined in Parts II to V operate on claims. They direct the Belize court not to recognise a foreign creditor's claim against a trust, confine a member's creditor to a charging order and exempt a foundation's endowment from the claims of the founder's creditors (see supra chs. 11, 17, 21). None of them operates on information. A Belize structure is protected from the enforcement of foreign claims; it is not hidden from the authorities entitled to know who stands behind it. The planner who confuses the two misleads the client, and the client who relies on secrecy builds a structure that will fail the first compliance review of a bank. The framework examined in this chapter is the condition on which Belize structures are accepted by banks, custodians and foreign tax authorities, and compliance with it is part of the design of every structure (see supra ¶ 2770).
Confidentiality and secrecy. Two ideas must be kept apart throughout. Confidentiality is the protection of private information from the public and from persons with no legal entitlement to it. Belize law provides it: the Register of International Trusts is closed to the public, and a member of the public may learn only the name, registered agent and date of registration of an LLC or a foundation (see supra ¶ 2240.03). Secrecy is the withholding of information from authorities that are entitled to it. Belize law does not provide it, and every vehicle statute now contains a provision overriding any duty of confidence where the law requires disclosure to the Registrar, the Commission, the Financial Intelligence Unit or a competent authority. The protection a Belize structure offers is legal protection of assets; the client's identity and the structure's ownership are known to the registered agent and the trustee, are recorded in Belize and are available to the authorities on request.
Sources. The chapter relies on the Money Laundering and Terrorism (Prevention) Act, Cap. 104, in the consolidated text published by the Financial Intelligence Unit, which incorporates amendments to July 2023 and states that it is not authoritative ("MLTPA"); the Trusts (Amendment) Act 2023, No. 40 of 2023; the Limited Liability Companies (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 2023, No. 48 of 2023; the International Foundations (Amendment) Act 2023, No. 49 of 2023; the Belize Companies Act 2022 as amended by Act No. 27 of 2023; the Financial Services Commission's Guidelines on Beneficial Ownership Information for Legal Persons and Legal Arrangements, FSC/GG/003-2, dated March 18, 2025 ("BO Guidelines"); and the published statements of the Government of Belize, the Commission and the Global Forum on Belize's international ratings. The MLTPA uses "dollar" to mean the Belize dollar. MLTPA s. 2.
Plan of the chapter. Paragraph 2910 states the international standards. Paragraph 2920 records Belize's ratings and listings under them. Paragraphs 2930 to 2950 examine the MLTPA: who is a reporting entity and who supervises it, customer due diligence and records, and suspicious transaction reporting, offences and sanctions. Paragraph 2960 examines the definitions of beneficial owner and the register and filing obligations of each vehicle. Paragraph 2970 examines the exchange of information with foreign authorities and the limits of confidentiality. Paragraph 2980 classifies Belize structures under the Common Reporting Standard and FATCA. Paragraph 2990 sets out the practitioner's compliance workflow and a checklist.