Wife as the Ultimate Beneficial Owner

Your wife likely does not have the status of a beneficial owner (since you did not mention any contract regarding a silent partner or other special agreements with your wife). The situation would be different if the joint ownership of property during marriage (BSM) were terminated during the marriage.

According to the Ministry of Justice’s position: “Benefits that a spouse receives from the existence of BSM do not constitute economic benefits from business activities and therefore cannot be considered a beneficial owner under § 6a of Act No. 297/2008 Coll. on Protection against Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing and on amendments to certain laws (hereinafter referred to as ‘Act No. 297/2008’). A different situation would arise if the BSM were divided under § 148a(2) of Act No. 40/1964 Coll. Civil Code, i.e., in connection with the start of business activities by one of the spouses – the person registered in the commercial register; the other spouse would be considered a beneficial owner if they acquire assets from the first spouse’s business activities without adequate consideration. Similarly, a spouse would be considered a beneficial owner if they have a certain type of “economic agreement” with the other spouse, e.g., a pledge agreement on a business share or if the business share is directly owned by the wife, as she would then personally participate in the economic benefit from the business.”