Search for counterparties and checking their reliability. Search for counterparties and verification of their reliability Bank service for verification of counterparties

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 doing business 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 Regulation on accounting and financial statements in the Russian Federation (approved by the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 29, 1998 No. 34n), the organization's annual financial statements 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 by the state statistics service of the state service "Providing interested users with data from the accounting (financial) statements of legal entities operating in the territory of the Russian Federation").

8. Examine the register of 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 regulation 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 (decree of the FAS MO dated 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 considered 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 rights of the latter 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. At the same time, it is important that the request be submitted personally to the office of the tax inspectorate (a copy of the request with a mark of acceptance must 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 of the necessary documents. At the same time, the courts emphasize that in the field of tax relations there is presumption of good faith, and law enforcement authorities cannot interpret the concept of "conscientious taxpayers" as imposing additional obligations on taxpayers that are not provided for by law (Decree 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 of December 16, 2010 No. KA-A40 / 15535-10-P in case No. A40-960 / 09-126-4, decision of the FAS MO of 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) - Unified State Register of 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, the authorized capital of the company, the full name of the director or the name of the management company, the numbers and dates of issue of licenses, OKVED codes, as well as information on liquidation or bankruptcy.

The second most important resource is a register of messages on liquidation, reorganization and other mandatory messages published by the state registration bulletin: 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, and mark dangerous factors. Allows you to calculate the probability of an in-depth tax audit due to a transaction 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 an electronic signature. The report contains all 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. The full version of the service can be tested on the site

Doubtful counterparties must 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 the addresses of large 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 leaders who have been recognized as nominal in a judicial proceeding. 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 cases. 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 the 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 public 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 abandonment of a company with government contracts is rare.

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.

28.08.18 71 924 28

And why does it matter

A firm can look good on the outside, have a beautiful office and a polite sales team, but inside there are huge debts, courts and a director on the run.

Alena Iva

And if you accept VAT deductible, the tax authorities can arrange the torn years for you just because the counterparty seems to her somehow unreliable.

Therefore, counterparties must be checked. Here's how to do it.

I’ll make a reservation right away: there are 16 ways to check a counterparty for different databases, sites and services, and if you use all of them, it will be worth the time. On the other hand, a counterparty that has passed all 16 steps is gold. If you started the check, and the first five stages turned out to be a failure, you can immediately refuse this counterparty - it is unlikely that you will find something good further.

How to check a counterparty: step by step

Request copies of the main documents from a potential counterparty.
Obtain an up-to-date extract from Rosreestr.
Check if the counterparty has a mass address.
Check if the director is disqualified.
Specify what kind of business the counterparty is running: small or medium. This will show the level of turnover of the company and the number of employees in the organization.
Check if the counterparty is bankrupt.
Check if the counterparty is excluded from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
Search for a counterparty in the database of bailiffs.
Check the counterparty in the file of arbitration cases.
Examine the financial statements of the counterparty. This will show if he has a profitable business.
Check the passport of the head or individual entrepreneur for validity.
If on the part of the counterparty the contract is going to be signed by a person with a notarized power of attorney, clarify whether its term has expired.
If your counterparty must have a license to operate, check its validity.
See if the director is a nominee.
Check if the counterparty is making changes to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
Check if the counterparty is included in the register of unscrupulous suppliers.

Why check counterparties

Unscrupulous companies are very good at pretending to be trustworthy. You can not trust either abundant advertising on the Internet, or generous discounts, or expensive suits. That's why check counterparties according to documents.

Calculate those who will not fulfill their obligations. My clients often talk about dishonesty of partners. The beauty salon was poorly renovated and disappeared - the losses amounted to a third of the original repair amount. The customer did not pay the builders for the work performed for three years - it was necessary to sue, but the customer went bankrupt.

It often happens that the buyer accepts the goods and does not pay. Or vice versa: the supplier receives an advance payment and does not ship the goods. The check will help decide whether it is worth cooperating with the counterparty, or there is a risk that he will not fulfill his obligations.

Do not work with ephemera. The counterparty may turn out to be a one-day firm that was created a week ago specifically to take advances from customers and disappear. In this case, you will only lose money, but this is also unpleasant.

It may turn out that the company does not exist at all. There is a website, there is a name and an account for transferring money, but there is no legal entity, and deceivers are hiding behind the website.

Calculate the scammers. Your counterparty may be committing financial crimes, such as cashing out or taking illegal loans. In this case, law enforcement agencies will check not only the counterparty, but also you as his partner.

Avoid dealing with bankruptcy. You can contact a firm that is in bankruptcy. If you transfer money to such a firm, you will not see it soon, if at all.

Any transaction with a bankrupt, including yours, may be challenged in court by creditors. To get the money back, you need to be included in the register of creditors and wait for the end of the bankruptcy procedure, which can take several years.

Do not have problems with the tax. If the tax authority considers that you have not sufficiently checked the integrity of a potential counterparty, you may be denied a tax benefit. That is, you will not be able to pay less taxes - get a tax deduction or apply a reduced tax rate.

Case of life. After a tax audit of one company, additional income tax and VAT were charged in the amount of 10 million rubles. The fine and penalties went up another 4 million.

The reason for this was one supply contract. The tax office said that the company did not show due diligence when concluding the contract: the counterparty could not conduct real business activities, did not pay taxes, and generally existed only on paper.

We went to court, but he sided with the inspection. It turned out that the counterparty was generally excluded from the register of legal entities.

During the audit, the tax authorities found out that the passport of the person who signed the contract on behalf of the counterparty does not exist, and the signatures are fake. Then the police joined this case - the real fun began. The police were looking for the undelivered goods, the CEO and raised the ears of all the partners of the dishonest counterparty, including our unfortunate company, which in the end had to pay taxes and pay a fine.

Enforcement proceedings begin after winning cases in court. This suggests that a potential partner not only sues and loses, but also continues not to pay the bills.

On the same resource, you can also see tax arrears, they are also collected through bailiffs.

Check the counterparty in the file of arbitration cases

If there is no power of attorney on the site or it is revoked, the contract cannot be signed - such a transaction may be invalidated. First you need to contact the head of the counterparty, obtain evidence of the approval of the transaction and request a new power of attorney.

Check license validity

If your counterparty must have a license to carry out activities, it is better to check its validity - you never know. Without a license, he simply does not have the right to conclude transactions.

The presence of a license can be viewed in an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities on the tax website, and its validity can be checked by address.

For example, you can check the license for the sale of alcohol in the register of licenses of the Federal Service for Regulation of the Alcohol Market, and for educational activities - in the register of licenses of the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science.

Inclusion in the register of unscrupulous suppliers does not immediately characterize the organization as unreliable. But along with other verification methods, it will create an overall picture of the counterparty.

Rules so as not to get confused and not forget anything

On August 1, the tax authorities published more information about the companies in the public domain. But this information, therefore, I have prepared Counterparty Verification Regulations, which can be printed and applied to transactions. This way you will show the tax or court that you have checked the partner in as much detail as possible.

Another regulation will help to decide whether it makes sense to work with a potential counterparty.

I recommend considering all verification steps as a whole. If a potential counterparty did not pass the test in one or two steps, you can clarify the reasons with him and then make a decision to conclude an agreement. If you see that the counterparty has not passed the test for most of the steps, it's not worth the risk - look for a more reliable partner.

Before the Decree of the Supreme Arbitration Court of October 12, 2006 No. 53, it was necessary to check a partner only to protect yourself from fraudsters. And even then they checked it “on the knee” - they tried to find out more about the future partner through acquaintances or simply counted on luck.

After Decree No. 53 was passed, the tax authorities began to require businessmen to carefully choose partners. Now, having run into an unscrupulous counterparty, you risk getting not only a loss from an unexecuted transaction, but also sanctions from the tax authorities. In this article, we will tell you how to check future buyers and suppliers in order to securely conclude a contract.

From this article you will learn:

Who is an unscrupulous counterparty and what threatens cooperation with him

An unscrupulous counterparty is an individual entrepreneur or company that does not fulfill its obligations to partners and the state. They engage in fictitious activities, fraud and tax evasion.

In the Letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated March 23, 2017 No. ED-5-9 / [email protected] states that the tax authorities should pay attention to the sufficiency and reasonableness of the measures taken by the taxpayer to verify the counterparty. If the partner turns out to be a one-day firm and evades taxes, then you will be punished for this.

Additional taxes is the key threat. For cooperation with an unscrupulous partner, the tax authority may charge you additional VAT payable or refuse to accept transaction costs.

Alpha LLC on the USN "Income minus expenses" purchased from the supplier materials for the main activity in the amount of 1 million rubles. The income for the year amounted to 3 million rubles, the tax base for the simplified tax system was 2 million rubles, the tax payable was 300,000 rubles.

During the audit, the tax authority found that the supplier was unscrupulous, and forbade the cost of materials to be taken into account in expenses. The tax base will be all 3 million rubles, and the tax amount will be 450,000 rubles. That is, the company was additionally charged 150,000 rubles of tax even though the unscrupulous counterparty fully fulfilled its obligations to Alpha LLC.

Financial damage. An unscrupulous partner may disappear immediately after receiving money or products, and the company will be left without materials and goods.

LLC Pravda contacted Alpha LLC. The representative of the partner offered to purchase materials for production at low prices, only asked for an advance payment. To prove his honesty, a representative of Pravda LLC showed the company's website with positive customer reviews.

Without thinking twice, the partners shook hands. The director of Alfa LLC ordered the advance payment to be transferred, and the partner's representative hastily retreated. The next day, Alfa LLC tried to get in touch with the scammers, but to no avail. During a belated check, we found out that there is no such company in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, and the representative did not show either a passport or a power of attorney. And the colorful site, which the crooks boasted about so much, has changed its address and is now owned by Sincerity LLC.

Damaged reputation. The Federal Tax Service remembers your history: contacts with dubious persons are a good way to queue up for a tax audit. Partners may doubt your professionalism if you are often deceived by scammers. It is dangerous to work with you, because sooner or later scammers will bring you to the point that you will not be able to pay off your obligations. Other attackers, having learned about your failure, may try to cash in on you.

Check your partner before any deal, even if you have a long-term business relationship with him. But pay special attention to working with new contractors. The signal for strict verification will be:

prepayment requirement;
request for installment or deferment of payment;
the amount of the transaction that is significant for your business;
the presence of signs indicating dishonesty.

What are the characteristics of attackers

If your new or old partner has these signs, then you should be on your guard and do a thorough check of his conscientiousness.

Bulk registration address is the address where many legal entities are registered. It is pointless to visit company executives at a mass address, probably they have never been there. In the event of a conflict, you will not be able to contact the partner by coming to his office. Every city has these addresses. In business centers and industrial enterprises that rent out offices and premises for rent, there may also be several organizations, but this is normal.

Registration on a mass address alone does not mean dishonesty. Decent firms are also registered at such addresses, which save on office rent.

Mass Director- this is an individual who manages a large number of legal entities - from five. Surprisingly, all the companies they head are in different directions: from residential development to the export of oranges.

In organizations with a mass director, activities are usually fictitious, and they are created to evade taxation.

The company was registered a few days before the transaction. The sign has a dual character. This is a typical characteristic of one-day firms, but it can also be a start-up firm that has just opened.

Unsatisfactory financial situation— financial results of the company — profit or loss. An organization that operates at a loss will not pay for the shipped products on time. And if she has loans, then you run the risk of running into a pre-bankrupt enterprise. Collecting your money in the bankruptcy procedure is an unsuccessful undertaking - according to statistics, the share of creditors' claims satisfied by selling the debtor's property for 9 months of 2018 amounted to 6.8%.

Pay attention to company property. The presence of real estate and fixed assets is good, and their absence is another sign of a one-day firm.

Inability to get in touch with the head of the future partner. Unscrupulous persons will work with you through representatives, and try to hide information about the real director or founders. And the representative himself will not rush to confirm the authority - he forgot the power of attorney at home, left it in the car, ate a hamster, etc.

Lack of information about the counterparty on the website of the Federal Tax Service and in other services. Now there is information about all companies, regardless of size, and on the tax website you can get an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and EGRIP. The lack of information on the network is a signal of dishonesty.

It is worth judging a company only by a combination of signs, the more there are and the more serious they are, the higher the likelihood of dishonesty. Much depends on the nature of the firm. For example, a cleaning company may not have real estate or expensive equipment, simply because it does not need it.

How to check a counterparty by TIN and other details for free

Start the check by requesting the documents of interest from the partner. If he refuses to give them or takes time, use the Internet. There are paid and free services for verification. Most of the free sites are enough to identify unscrupulous individuals and intruders. To reduce business risks, check yourself and your counterparty in the following services.

1. Website of the Federal Tax Service. The nalog.ru website provides many opportunities for checking yourself and your counterparty by TIN and other details. The tax authorities have provided the following services for checking themselves and counterparties by TIN for free.

Service "Checking the counterparty". Following the link, you can check the fact of registration of an individual entrepreneur or legal entity in the Unified State Register of Taxpayers. To do this, you need to enter the TIN, KPP (if known) and the date of the transaction with the counterparty.

An organization with this TIN is registered in the Unified State Register of Taxpayers

Bulk registration address verification service. Here you can check the partner's legal address or get a list of bulk addresses in the designated region.

Addresses of mass registration in St. Petersburg

Service for searching information in the register of disqualified persons. A disqualified person is a person who, on the basis of a court decision, does not have the right to be the head or founder of an organization. Individuals can also be disqualified.

On the site you can check the head of the future partner company. The most common reasons for getting into the register are fictitious registration, non-compliance with regulations and labor violations.

The person with the specified full name is not included in the register of disqualified persons

Service for obtaining information about persons who cannot manage the organization. This service will provide information about individuals who cannot lead or represent a particular organization. Information enters the service from judicial acts.

There are no persons in the organization with this TIN in respect of which the fact of the impossibility of participation or leadership has been established

Unified register of small and medium-sized businesses allows you to establish the fact of registration of your partner, if it belongs to a small or medium-sized business, in the registry. Based on the results of the issuance, you can download the certificate in pdf. To search for information, one requisite is enough - TIN, OGRN, OGRNIP, full name of the entrepreneur or company name.

Unified register of small and medium-sized businesses - by TIN we found the organization, its details, category and region in which it is registered

Service for obtaining an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities / EGRIP. You can check yourself and your counterparty by TIN on the tax website by receiving an extract from the register of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs. The extract will reflect the basic information: date of registration, place of registration, etc. If there is no information about the partner, he is not registered.

The extract contains information about the founders, about the head, about the dates of registration with the Federal Tax Service, the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation and the FSS, the legal address and all the details. If any information is unreliable, then there will be a line "Additional information", where it is indicated "information is unreliable (results of verification of the reliability of information about the legal entity contained in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities)".

An extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities shows the date of registration of a legal entity, legal address, full name of the founders and head, place of registration with the Federal Tax Service, etc.

2. Card index of Arbitration cases. Contains all information about litigation where an individual entrepreneur or legal entity is involved. The partner can be checked by TIN or the name of the legal entity and full name of the individual entrepreneur. You should be interested in cases where the future counterparty is the defendant. You can open a court case and read judicial acts and decisions. A large number of litigation, especially debt collection, is a reason to doubt a partner.

The Arbitration Case File displays a list of completed and ongoing litigation against a partner

3. Database of enforcement proceedings. You can check legal entities and individuals for the presence of debts presented for collection through the database of bailiffs. The presence of enforcement proceedings means two things:

the counterparty lost the dispute in court;
he continues not to pay his debts.

You probably do not want to cooperate with such a person.

The data bank of enforcement proceedings shows information about the debt that was presented to the bailiff service for collection

4. Unified federal register of bankruptcy information. A bankrupt counterparty is the worst case scenario. Challenging transactions, disputes with other creditors, and in the end, only a small part of the money returned - this is waiting for you if you have not checked the partner through the EFRSB. If the future partner is on the register, refuse to cooperate with him. To search for a counterparty, go to the "Registers" tab, then - "Debtors" and enter its details.

The Unified Federal Register of Bankruptcy Information contains information on all bankrupt legal entities and individuals

5. Services for obtaining financial statements. Many services will give you counterparty accounting for a fee, but we recommend the website of the Federal Statistics Service. To get the reporting of the company of interest, go to the button "Provision of data of accounting (financial) statements", then "Brief information" and click on the link "Provision of data of annual accounting (financial) statements starting from 2012".

The sequence of actions to obtain accounting

Enter details and reporting date. Select the report format: .doc or .xlsx, a field for entering an e-mail will appear, where you will receive the reporting. Doc-file is convenient for reading and printing, xlsx - for calculations.

Advice: It is not always possible to order reports through Google Chrome, we recommend using Internet Explorer.

If you cannot analyze the partner's reports on your own, then use the Excel table, which we have prepared especially for our readers. In it, you can automatically carry out basic calculations and get recommendations. You only need to download the balance sheet and income statement from the Rosstat website and carefully insert it into the table. All indicators will calculate themselves and help you make the right decision.

You can also analyze reports on free services, for example, "Your financial analyst" or Itfinans.ru. Enter your data in the balance form and get a free analysis, which is almost as good as paid services.

6. Passport verification service. You can check the validity of the passport of the representative of the counterparty, director and founders. Whether or not to work with a company whose director has an invalid passport is a purely rhetorical question. To check your passport, you will need a series and document number. As a result, you will find out if it works now.

Passport verified by us is valid

7. Service for checking the power of attorney of a representative. When working with a representative, immediately request a notarized power of attorney for the right to act on behalf of the company. If he presented it to you with ease, then do not be too lazy to check its content and validity. To do this, enter the number and date of the power of attorney.

Website of the Federal Notary Chamber

8. Service "FAIR BUSINESS"- an analogue of paid services for checking counterparties. "For an honest business" will check the counterparty by TIN and details known to you. The base is formed at the expense of the project participants, and there are two sides: it is free, but there is little information on many individual entrepreneurs and legal entities.

The site is convenient to use if the company has created a card there. Then you can get all the information that we collected from previous services. By entering any details into the search, you will find a partner and see financial statements, court cases and other information on the corresponding buttons.

The result of the search in the service "FAIR BUSINESS"

These are the main services for checking counterparties. Use them and save the results of the check to prove your prudence.

If you often deal with new partners, collecting information bit by bit from each source will take a lot of time. In this case, refer to paid analogues.

Paid services for checking counterparties

Paid services are aggregators of information from free sources. All services are special, although their capabilities are about the same. Note that all the free services above check only Russian individuals and legal entities. Many paid programs, for example, “Kontur.Focus” and “Spark” also check foreign partners for additional money.

1. "Contour. Focus". Convenient service for checking contractors. By TIN or partner name, you can find and download in a convenient format:

a brief summary of the company;
information about cases in the Arbitration Court;
data on collateral;
information on public procurement;
licenses, certificates and company declarations;
information about the trademarks of the legal entity;
information about the mention in the media and the Internet;
posted vacancies;
a list of links that can be visualized as a web;
automatic financial analysis of the counterparty.

Results of the Contour.Focus test

Through the "Connections" button it is convenient to find persons connected with your partner. Perhaps these will be your current or past partners with a good reputation, which will be a plus for a new counterparty. And maybe vice versa: in the chain of connections you will see people with whom you definitely would not contact.

convenient and intuitive interface;
visualization of relations between companies and owners;
checking the passports of individuals;
information about licenses and certificates of companies;
one-time access;
verification of foreign companies;
mobile application for iOS and Android;
covers the needs of large businesses in checking partners.

cost - the price of a package with a full range of functions - from 57,500 rubles, cheaper packages provide fewer features;
financial analysis is not interactive - it can only be uploaded;
to request information about foreign companies, you need to pay an additional 12,500 rubles;
the operation is updated within 5 to 7 days (the delay is greater than that of SPARK and Prima-Inform);
there is no information about blocked accounts of companies.

Prices for tariffs - from 22 to 185 thousand rubles a year. You can buy access for one day - from 1,300 rubles.

2. SPARK. Aggregates information from various sources. The service is similar to the previous one and has similar features.

Company card on SPARK

the database is updated every 1-2 days;
companies are displayed on the map - it is convenient to search for the nearest partners;
the database includes companies from the CIS countries;
financial analysis online;
covers the needs of large businesses in partner verification

SPARK does not show prices on the website; according to reviews on the Internet, an annual subscription costs more than 200,000 rubles;
it is impossible to check the passports of individuals;
incomplete list of licenses and certificates compared to "Kontur.Focus";
no mobile app.

3. "Prima-Inform". Favorably differs from the previous analogues in the update rate. Thanks to the “gateway” data loading algorithm, the database is formed instantly. The functionality of the system is simpler than that of SPARK and Kontur.Focus, but it is more than enough for small and medium-sized businesses.

Service "Prima-Inform"

you can get a business certificate about an individual entrepreneur or organization (includes an extract from the Federal Tax Service, information about affiliation, litigation, bankruptcy and issued licenses) for 300 rubles;
instant database update;
displays information about the facts of blocking the company's accounts.

unloading is available only in the most expensive package;
financial analysis is only available for download.

The tariff for 100 checks per year costs 10,000 rubles, for 300 checks per month - 35,000 rubles a year. A tariff without restrictions on the number of checks will cost 45,000 rubles per year. The price of the tariff with a full package of features is not disclosed on the website.

Summary: how to be careful when choosing a counterparty so that the tax office does not find anything to complain about

Exercise caution to protect yourself from fraudulent contractors. Follow simple rules:

Check old and new partners, especially if they set conditions for prepayment, installments, or want to make a deal for a large amount;
Pay attention to signs typical for scammers:
- mass registration address;
- lack of information on the Internet and verification services;
- mass director;
- difficulty getting in touch.
Request documents from a partner. The fact that he provided all the documents already speaks in his favor;
If it was not possible to receive documents from the counterparty, use free services. Together they provide enough information to make a decision about cooperation;
If you often change partners, then checking on free services will take a lot of time. Do not save and buy a program to check. It can be “Kontur.Focus”, “Spark”, “Kasebook”, “Card file”, “Prima-inform” and any others. The choice depends on your capabilities and needs.