How to check a counterparty: an overview of services. Checking counterparties for reliability: specialized services and self-checking Check the organization for integrity by TIN

One-day counterparties are capable of causing damage both to the state in case of tax evasion, and to the taxpayer, who will have to prove the validity of the tax benefit received when refunding VAT or when accounting for expenses for profit tax purposes as a result of interaction with such unscrupulous counterparties.

Inspections are guided by the Decree of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated October 12, 2006 No. 53 "", which fixed the main signs of dishonesty taxpayer and rules for their determination.

Taxpayers, in order to prove the exercise of due diligence and caution when choosing a counterparty, can turn to public criteria
self risk assessment for taxpayers used by the tax authorities in the process of selecting objects for on-site tax audits (approved by order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 30, 2007 No. MM-3-06 / [email protected]""), as well as clarifications from the financial authorities regarding the case in which the taxpayer is considered to have fulfilled the obligation to verify the counterparty.

In order to protect yourself from the risks of running economic activity and possible claims from the tax authorities, there are many opportunities to verify the integrity of a potential business partner.

We have identified a number of actions that, in the opinion of the tax authorities and the courts, must be taken in order to confirm the exercise of due diligence and caution when choosing a counterparty.

You can find out if a license was issued to a potential counterparty at websites of licensing authorities- for each type of activity, the licensing authority will be different. For example, the website of Rospotrebnadzor allows you to search through registers of licenses issued for activities related to the use of pathogens of infectious diseases, and for activities in the field of the use of ionizing radiation sources.

7. Familiarize yourself with the annual financial statements of the counterparty. In accordance with paragraph 89 of the Regulations on the maintenance accounting and financial statements in Russian Federation(approved by the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 29, 1998 No. 34n), the annual financial statements of the organization are open to interested users(banks, investors, creditors, buyers, suppliers, etc.) who can familiarize themselves with it and receive copies of it with reimbursement for copying costs, and the organization should provide an opportunity for interested users to familiarize themselves with the financial statements.

In addition, Rosstat is obliged to provide information on the annual financial statements of organizations free of charge (Regulations on the Federal State Statistics Service, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation of June 2, 2008 No. 42, Rosstat of May 20, 2013 No. 183 "On approval of the Administrative Regulations for the provision of Federal state statistics service public service"Providing interested users with accounting (financial) reporting data legal entities operating on the territory of the Russian Federation").

8. Explore the registry unscrupulous suppliers . Of course, a potential counterparty is not necessarily a participant in the procurement system for state and municipal needs, but there is such a possibility. Therefore, we still recommend that you go through this optional verification stage and search for the appropriate registry, updated by the FAS Russia.

Advice We recommend developing local normative act on the organization and improvement of pre-contractual work with potential counterparties, which would indicate its goals, principles of activity and interaction of managers, supply and security services, lawyers and other officials of the taxpayer in contact with potential counterparties, and also list the documents that must be requested from counterparties and other persons. The courts also pay attention to the existence of such a local act (decree of the FAS MO dated May 23, 2013 in case No. A40-98947 / 12-140-714). In addition, it makes sense to publish individual orders on checking a specific counterparty for subsequent confirmation of their correctness in the event of a conflict.

9. Check the authority of the person signing the contract. Courts often point to the need to verify credentials as a condition for recognizing a taxpayer in good faith (FAS ZSO of May 25, 2012 in case No. A75-788 / 2011, of the Eighth Arbitration Court of Appeal of September 20, 2013 in case No. A46-5720 / 2013) . Moreover, if the taxpayer received all the necessary documents and information, but did not verify the authority of the representative of the counterparty to sign the documents, this will be the basis for recognizing this taxpayer as bad faith (FAS MO decision of July 11, 2012 in case No. A40-103278 / 11 -140-436).

When considering a case, in the event that the signatory refuses to sign on the documents, it is usually appointed handwriting expertise- but sometimes it does without it (FAS UO dated June 30, 2010 No. F09-4904 / 10-C2 in case No. A76-39186 / 2009-41-833). However, more often the courts emphasize that a simple visual comparison of signatures and testimony of a taxpayer's representative cannot be recognized as sufficient grounds for recognizing that documents were signed by unidentified persons (decision of the Third Arbitration Court of Appeal dated October 13, 2010 in case No. A33-4148 / 2010).

And of course, the courts ascertain the fact of bad faith of the taxpayer in the event that the authorized representative of the counterparty by the time of signing the documents died(VAS RF dated December 6, 2010 No. VAS-16471/10) or his powers were terminated(FAS PO dated February 28, 2012 No. F06-998/12 in case No. A65-14837/2011). On the other hand, the latter case cannot, according to the courts, testify to the receipt of an unreasonable tax benefit if, before the conclusion of the disputed transaction, the taxpayer had long-term economic relations with the counterparty (FAS SKO dated April 25, 2013 No. Ф08-1895 / 13 in the case No. A53-12917 / 2012, decision of the FAS ZSO dated October 27, 2011 No. F07-8946 / 11 in case No. A52-4227 / 2010).

Before signing the documents, you should pay attention to the following:

• is the transaction being concluded for your counterparty major;
• hasn't expired term of office representative of the counterparty (it is determined by the charter of the organization or a power of attorney);
• not limited whether charter powers of the director to conclude transactions, the amount of which exceeds a certain value.

10. Make a request to the tax office at the place of registration of the counterparty. The courts emphasize that this is also regarded as a manifestation of the taxpayer's prudence (FAS ZSO dated October 14, 2010 in case No. A27-26264 / 2009, FAS ZSO dated March 5, 2008 No. F04-1408 / 2008 (1506-A45-34) in case No. A45-5924 / 07-31 / 153, of the Third Arbitration Court of Appeal of October 11, 2013 in case No. A74-5445 / 2012, of the Eleventh Arbitration Court of Appeal of September 5, 2012 in case No. A55-1742 / 2012 ).

Moreover, the district arbitration courts confirm duty of the tax authorities provide the requested information within the range of information not recognized in accordance with tax secrecy. Thus, the FAS ZSO emphasized that the inspectorate’s refusal to provide information about the taxpayer’s counterparty affects the taxpayer’s rights related to obtaining tax benefits, taking into account the taxpayer’s obligation to confirm due diligence and caution when choosing a counterparty (Resolution of the FAS ZSO dated December 14, 2007 No. F04- 67/2007(77-A67-32) in case No. A67-1687/2007).

Sometimes the courts even emphasize that the taxpayer had the opportunity to contact the relevant services to check the counterparty, but he did not do this (FAS MO dated September 14, 2010 No. KA-A40 / 10728-10 in case No. A40-4632 / 10- 115-57).

True, occasionally the courts still come to the conclusion that the taxpayer could not apply to the inspectorate at the place of registration of the counterparty, since only tax authorities have such authority (FAS SZO dated July 31, 2013 in case No. A13-8751 / 2012).

But even if the tax office refuses to respond to the request, he the fact of his direction will indicate that the taxpayer wanted to protect himself when choosing a counterparty and can serve as evidence of due diligence in the future. It is important that the request be submitted personally to the office tax office(a copy of the request with a mark of acceptance should remain on hand) or by mail with a return receipt and an inventory of the attachment (in this case, one copy of the inventory and the returned notification remain).

As we can see, the positions of the courts regarding the scope of actions that must be performed to verify the counterparty's good faith differ. True, sometimes the courts are a little cunning.

So, they point out that the tax inspectorate did not prove the lack of due diligence of the taxpayer - on the contrary, when making controversial transactions, they were requested notarized copies required documents. At the same time, the courts emphasize that in the field of tax relations there is presumption of good faith, and law enforcement agencies cannot interpret the concept of "good faith taxpayers" as imposing on taxpayers additional responsibilities not provided for by law (decision of the FAS MO dated January 31, 2011 No. KA-A40 / 17302-10 in case No. A40-30846 / 10-35-187, decision of the FAS MO dated December 16, 2010 No. KA-A40 / 15535 -10-P in case No. A40-960 / 09-126-4, decision of the FAS MO dated July 22, 2009 No. KA-A40 / 6386-09 in case No. A40-67706 / 08-127-308).

Such an understanding of good faith was developed by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in No. 329-O of October 16, 2003, which is often referred to by taxpayers when substantiating their position. In particular, the Court emphasized that the taxpayer cannot be held responsible for the actions of all organizations participating in the multi-stage process of paying and transferring taxes to the budget.

At the same time, courts often point to the need to request relevant documents from the counterparty, emphasizing that these actions have for the taxpayer nature of duty(FAS PO dated July 14, 2010 in case No. A57-7689 / 2009, FAS ZSO dated July 20, 2010 in case No. A81-4676 / 2009).

Sometimes the attention of the courts may be drawn to other details - for example, the conclusion of a contract for a "trial" delivery of goods. small party to verify the counterparty (decree of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow District dated December 16, 2010 No. KA-A40 / 15535-10-P in case No. A40-960 / 09-126-4), the fact of registration of the counterparty in several days before the transaction (FAS UO dated November 28, 2012 No. F09-11410 / 12 in case No. A60-7356 / 2012), etc. The tax authorities may also refer to the fact that the counterparty organization has "mass leaders and founders", and this fact should have alerted the taxpayer (FAS MO dated November 3, 2011 No. F05-11505 / 11 in case No. A41-23181 / 2010).

In conclusion, we note that the presence only one sign of dishonesty counterparty, as a rule, is not an obstacle to the recognition of the tax benefit received by the taxpayer as unjustified. However, their combination often makes tax inspectorates wary, and the courts make a decision not in favor of the taxpayer.

Not just a list of services, but a lawyer's commentary on each of them.

Verification using the services of the tax authorities

Key service Federal tax service(FTS) - Single State Register legal entities and individual entrepreneurs. At https://egrul.nalog.ru you can instantly get the current statement in pdf format. The extract includes information about the name and date of registration, authorized capital company, full name of the director or name management company, numbers and dates of issue of licenses, OKVED codes as well as liquidation or bankruptcy information.

The second most important resource is a register of messages on liquidation, reorganization and other mandatory messages published by the Bulletin state registration: http://www.vestnik-gosreg.ru/publ/vgr/. Its disadvantages include the fact that the organization may send documents for publication late, but the counterparty will not be able to complete the reorganization or liquidation before the expiration of the statutory deadlines after the publication of the message.

A similar, but narrower functionality is presented in the unified federal register of bankruptcy information - http://bankrot.fedresurs.ru/ - it reflects information only about bankruptcy.

"Chief Accountant Counterparties"

The service for accountants of small and medium-sized businesses will check counterparties and your company according to the methodology of the Federal Tax Service, note hazards. Allows you to calculate the probability of an in-depth tax audit due to a deal with a counterparty. Gives recommendations on which documents on the counterparty to collect for the accountant in order to avoid additional charges. Generates a ready report for the IFTS with electronic signature. The report contains all the information about checking for signs of a one-day business, solvency and resources, risks of non-execution of the transaction, business reputation and activity over the past year. The report will justify the choice of counterparty, contains a list of similar organizations in the same region, but with a lower rating. Full version service can be tested on the site

Doubtful counterparties should definitely be checked against the register of organizations in respect of which a decision was made to exclude them from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities due to non-performance of activities - http://www.vestnik-gosreg.ru/publ/fz83/.

The register of information about blocked accounts https://service.nalog.ru/bi.do, as a rule, is not used to check counterparties, but information about the presence of blocked accounts may serve as a reason for more prudent work with the company until the causes of blocking are eliminated. If the counterparty is a customer, buyer or other person from whom you expect payment, and the blocked account is the only one, you should wait for the unblocking before entering into new contracts.

In addition, if prepayment or delivery without prepayment is expected to a company with which you have not previously worked, it is recommended to check whether such a counterparty has filed applications with the Federal Tax Service - among them there may be an application for the liquidation of the company. You can check the status of applications submitted to the Federal Tax Service at: https://service.nalog.ru/uwsfind.do.

Obtaining information about bankruptcy, liquidation or exclusion of a company from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities— absolute contraindications to cooperation with the company.

Relative contraindications to cooperation include the presence of information about the company in the register companies with tax debts or not reporting for more than a year https://service.nalog.ru/zd.do. Not all companies in this rating are unreliable, but they are almost guaranteed to experience financial problems. Working with such companies is recommended only on the terms of advance payment for the contractor, or payment upon execution - for the customer.

The FTS website also has a number of registries containing information about indirect signs of unreliability.

• Register of "mass" directors (participants) - https://service.nalog.ru/mru.do. Information is updated once a week. The presence of a person on this list should not be the only reason for refusal to cooperate, since many entrepreneurs have several companies, and doing business with a "mass" director is a common business practice.
• Register of disqualified persons https://service.nalog.ru/disqualified.do and register of legal entities with disqualified managers https://service.nalog.ru/disfind.do. A disqualification is a sign that the person has previously "quit the company". A considerable number of managers who conscientiously fulfill their obligations in other companies ended up there due to the fact that they did not properly control the process of changing the director.
• Bulk Address Registry: https://service.nalog.ru/addrfind.do . The inaccuracy of the criterion is due to the widespread use of fictitious legal addresses among real, operating companies, as well as the periodic inclusion in the register of organizations registered at addresses big business centers.

If you have any doubts about the reliability of the counterparty, you should also refer to the register of nominees: https://service.nalog.ru/svl.do. The register includes only those managers who were recognized as nominal in judicial order. The criterion is precise, but by the time such information appears in the register, the unreliability of the company, as a rule, has been confirmed in a number of other ways.

Checking the counterparty for legal services

The Card Index of Arbitration Cases located at: http://kad.arbitr.ru/ is highly informative. It contains information on all arbitration disputes involving your counterparty since at least 2010, and often on earlier disputes.

The analysis of arbitration cases is not only the identification of bankruptcy applications, but also information on how often and for what reason the counterparty does not fulfill its obligations. Filing a claim for an amount comparable to or greater than the amount of the counterparty's assets is a valid reason not to cooperate with him until such a case is resolved.

The file cabinet allows you to request information by name, PSRN or TIN. In practice, it is better to check the presence of arbitration disputes for all the specified details, since court employees often make mistakes when entering information into a file cabinet.

Card file of cases of courts of general jurisdiction - https://sudrf.ru/ significantly less useful for two reasons:

• Difficulty of identification. The card file searches only by name, there is no search by TIN / OGRN. The card index does not contain information about the address of the parties. It is practically impossible to check, for example, the company Vector LLC with its help - there will be hundreds of cases in the sample involving companies with the same name.
• The card file does not contain information on the amount of claims for pending cases. Accordingly, before the decision is made and published (which usually takes about a month), find out whether a debt of 100 thousand rubles was collected. or 100 million rubles. impossible.

When checking the counterparty's debts, be sure to use the data bank of enforcement proceedings - http://fssprus.ru/. The service allows you to find out not only about the number of debts, but also about whether they are being collected.

There are many companies on the market that often act as defendants in civil affairs. Using the database of enforcement proceedings, you can quickly conclude which companies you should not cooperate with. These are companies in respect of which there is information about the termination of enforcement proceedings on the basis of clauses 3 and 4 of part 1 of Art. 46 of the Federal Law "On Enforcement Proceedings", that is, due to the impossibility of finding the debtor or the lack of property.

To a lesser extent than in counterparty checks and to a greater extent when conducting an audit of a company before buying it, the register of checks of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation is useful - https://proverki.gov.ru/. According to the TIN or PSRN of the organization, you can get information about the inspections being carried out, the inspection body, the status of the inspection (scheduled / unscheduled) and its result.

Additional free services for checking counterparties

To assess how dangerous current litigation is for the company and to obtain general information about its financial statements, you can use the Rosstat information on the company's financial statements, located at: http://www.gks.ru/accounting_report.

The main disadvantage of the service- late display of information. For example, at the time of this writing, data for 2017 was not yet displayed - as a result, information about companies created less than 1.5 years ago is not available in the registry. The service often has technical problems leading to its inoperability.

When checking companies that are engaged in supplies for government needs, it is advisable to use the Unified information system in the field of public procurement. It contains information about the concluded contracts and their price http://zakupki.gov.ru/epz/contract/quicksearch/search.html.

In addition, the resource contains a register of unscrupulous suppliers: http://zakupki.gov.ru/epz/dishonestsupplier.

The presence of state contracts in a company increases its reliability. Bankruptcy, liquidation or "dumping" of a company with government contracts- a rarity.

Information on real estate objects owned by the company, as well as their encumbrance, can be obtained by the cadastral number on the Rosreestr website: https://rosreestr.ru/wps/portal/online_request.

Information about pledges of movable property - by the property identifier (for example, the VIN number of the car) on the portal of the Federal Notary Chamber: https://www.reestr-zalogov.ru/state/index

Checking using paid services

A big advantage of paid services for working with counterparties is the ability to get integrated information on many indicators on one resource.

In decreasing order of cost and functionality, paid services for checking counterparties include: SPARK (http://spark-interfax.ru/), Kartoteka Kommersant (https://www.kartoteka.ru/), Contour Focus (https://focus .kontur.ru/), Casebook (https://casebook.ru/). If two market leaders provide information about statements to the Federal Tax Service, judicial acts, affiliations, publications on liquidation or reorganization, then others provide only some of the information provided.

You can select the functionality and cost based on the tasks and specifics of the company's activities. At the same time, you should always understand that about 90% of the functionality of these services can be compensated for by the competent use of free services.

If there is no time to search on different sites, all information about the counterparty can be obtained in one place. Use the service "" (https://rnk.1cont.ru/), which was developed by the Russian Tax Courier magazine.

Right now, you can check the counterparty by TIN for free in the "Counterparties" program (using demo access).

Check counterparty by TIN for free

Learn all about the counterparty

The Federal Tax Service can wrap up the deal and remove money from expenses if the simplistic person has not shown the so-called " due diligence when choosing a counterparty". The partner must be “clean” according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, pay taxes on time and in the proper amount, and not be a one-day business. Our service will provide complete information about your partner as the Federal Tax Service sees him.

An additional advantage of the service is that you will find out if the counterparty has cases in arbitration and whether bailiffs are digging for it. You can also trace the chain of connections of the counterparty with other firms and check if they are fake.

Government contracts and licenses of all companies are available in our file cabinet. For example, if you are buying alcohol, check if the supplier has a license.

Another important option is to find out if the company is being audited: tax, labor, etc.

Subscription cost

To use the service, subscribe. During the subscription period, it will be possible to check any number of counterparties.

According to the new law, it is necessary to check counterparties every time before a deal. In order not to check every day of the statement, just find your partners and click the button " Track Changes"- if suddenly the tax authorities suspect the company of unreliability, you will immediately receive a message in your personal account.

The Federal Tax Service reported on its website that it had flagged 800,000 companies as unreliable, making it dangerous to work with them. These labels are in our service. Therefore, you can check all partners and put them under control in one click.

The editors of the magazine "Russian Tax Courier" made a service specifically for accountants and managers. We have implemented the traffic light principle: the counterparty is highlighted red(can't work) yellow(to be checked) or green(safe to work with) color. And you do not have to be an advanced computer user or understand the intricacies of Article 54.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation through due diligence.

When deciding on cooperation with a company or individual entrepreneur, the question of the reliability and honesty of the Counterparty constantly arises. This applies to the situation when an Individual orders a product or service, and the situation when a Legal Entity begins cooperation with a new Supplier / Partner / Client.

When making a payment (prepayment) for goods or services, it must be clearly understood that the Supplier will fulfill all its obligations, deliver the goods or provide the service clearly and on time.

It is important to check the Counterparty and choose reliable companies to eliminate possible risks delivery of low-quality goods, lack of warranty service.

For Legal entities, verification of the Counterparty is the main action to prevent financial and tax risks. The Federal Tax Service strongly recommends checking Counterparties and exercising Due Diligence using all available open and legitimate sources of information. The easiest way to Check the Counterparty is to get an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities / EGRIP on the tax website. For more complete information, it is recommended to use the service for checking counterparties ZACHESTNYYBUSINESS.

On the ZACHESTNYYBUSINESS portal, you can check the Counterparty of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur for free according to information from official open sources (FTS, ROSSTAT, etc.)

The data on the portal is updated daily and synchronized with the nalog.ru service of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation*.

For a free check of the Counterparty by TIN / OGRN / full name / Name, use the search box:

To do this, enter the TIN or OGRN of the company in the search box.

If you do not have the exact details, it will be enough to enter the name of the company. If the name is common and a list appears at your request, it is advisable to clarify the request:
. enter the name of the company + the surname of the director (for example: TECHPROM IVANOV)
. or: company name + location (for example: TEHPROM MOSCOW)
. or all parameters at once (for example: TEHPROM IVANOV MOSCOW)

A brief algorithm for Checking the Counterparty (how to determine a reliable Counterparty using HONEST BUSINESS.RF):

1. The organization must exist, its status must be Active.
2. The company should not be in special registers of the tax service (FTS), otherwise a red inscription will appear on the card under the name of the company. For example:
   There is no connection with the legal entity by legal entity. address (according to the Federal Tax Service).
3. Companies with a period of activity of less than a year have increased risks (determined by the date of registration). According to statistics, every 3rd company ceases operations during the first year.
4. The company must be located at the address of registration. The company must not have a mass registration address. How many companies are still registered at this address is indicated in the card under the address. Bulk addresses are often used by unscrupulous companies or fly-by-night companies.
5. The types of activities of the company must coincide in meaning with the actual activities of the company.
6. Head (director) of the company. If you know who the head of the company is, check this information. There are cases when companies are registered with nominee managers, i.e. persons not participating in the activity. This is one of the main signs of unscrupulous companies.
7. Check the number of employees. A company that does not have its own employees and material and technical base may not fulfill its obligations.
8. Check the availability of registration in off-budget funds. Without registration, for example, in the FIU, the company cannot transfer funds to the Pension Fund.
9. The authorized capital of the company. The minimum in the Russian Federation is 10,000 rubles. The larger the authorized capital, the less risks when working with the Counterparty.
10. It is also worth paying attention to Financial indicators(does not apply to companies that have been in existence for less than a year). We pay attention to the articles: “Net profit (loss)” - a loss-making company may have financial difficulties. The article “Fixed assets” shows the presence of Property in the ownership of the company.
11. Particular attention should be paid to the data Arbitration Court(a separate tab in the card of a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur on the HONEST BUSINESS portal). Availability of court cases on non-fulfillment of obligations and claims for recovery Money to the checked Organization, speaks about unreliability of the Counterparty.
12. Check the FSSP data. The presence of enforcement proceedings indicates the forced collection of funds from the audited company.

We wish you to work with trustworthy, honest Contractors!
Convenient, comfortable work when checking Counterparties on the portal!
Your HONEST BUSINESS.RF.

* The data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities / EGRIP are open and are provided on the basis of clause 1 of article 6 federal law dated 08.08.2001 No. 129-FZ “On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs”: Information and documents contained in state registers are open and publicly available, with the exception of information to which access is limited, namely information about documents proving the identity of an individual . On the website ZACHESTNYYBUSINESS.RF you can check the Counterparty for free and exercise Due Diligence. All instructions and requirements presented on the website ZACHESTNYYBUSINESS.RF are not binding and are advisory in nature. Recommendations are given for the possible reduction of economic risks. When concluding transactions, taxpayers, first of all, must take into account the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Due to the principle of freedom economic activity the taxpayer carries out entrepreneurial activity independently at his own risk. The administration of the site ZACHESTNYYBUSINESS.RF is not responsible for possible economic losses / cases of lost income and does not give any guarantees or assurances to third parties.