Check your counterparty. What should be requested from the counterparty to verify it? Check the counterparty by TIN: Federal Tax Service

Entrepreneurial activity- it's always a risk. Including the risk associated with a lack of information about partners (buyers, suppliers, contractors), especially about their financial condition and business reputation.

Even a deal that is well thought out in terms of ensuring the fulfillment of obligations, if concluded with a fraudster, can result in large material losses.

You can verify the reliability of your partner and partially protect yourself from unscrupulous performers and customers by using the online electronic service posted on the website nalog.ru, “Check yourself and your counterparty.”

Request it from your counterparty constituent documents, TIN, or main state registration number. The service “Business risks: check yourself and your counterparty” nalog.ru by TIN or OGRN will provide more accurate information about any legal entity, individual entrepreneur or peasant (farm) enterprise. The fact is that several companies with identical names and entrepreneurs with the same last name, first name and patronymic can be registered, even in the same region.

Follow the link. When creating each request, you need to enter the code from the image. Using the capabilities of the site, generate a current extract from the Unified State Register legal entities or individual entrepreneurs(Unified State Register of Legal Entities or Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs). From it you will find out when and where the company was registered, who its founders and managers are. Get information about species economic activity enterprises, existing licenses, if the activity is licensed.

To avoid losing profits or even being subject to criminal prosecution for participating in corruption schemes and money laundering, before concluding an agreement, collect and analyze information about your counterparty.

Using the information posted on the page "Check if your business is at risk?" Make sure your potential partner meets the criteria listed below.

1. The organization is active and is not threatened with exclusion from the register of legal entities by decision of the tax inspectorate.
2. The types of activities necessary for the execution of the contract are included in the list OKVED organizations or entrepreneur, has all the necessary permits and licenses.
3. The future partner is not in the process of liquidation or reorganization.
4. The head of the company is not included in the register of disqualified persons, and disqualified persons are not members of the executive bodies of the organization.
5. The leader or founder is not a “mass” leader or founder. Such information is especially important if it turns out that one of the controlled companies is in bankruptcy or is a defendant for a significant amount.
6. The company is not registered at the address of mass registration of legal entities. Registration in itself, for example, at an address in a business center, is not yet an alarming factor. But this is worth paying attention to if there are other signs of a “fly-by-night company.”
7. A legal entity is not included in the list of those with tax arrears and not representing tax reporting more than a year. However, it is not yet possible to obtain such information regarding individual entrepreneurs.

Check yourself and your counterparty - “nalog.ru” official website

As of June 1, 2019, it will be possible to check yourself and your counterparty in even more detail. nalog.ru is the official website of the Federal Tax Service using the online service “Business risks: check yourself and your counterparty / Check if your business is at risk?” will provide the opportunity to access data that was previously considered private. You can find out the following information about a business partner:

• The amount of income and expenses for the year according to financial statements.
• Information about the number of employees.
• The special tax regime applied by the organization (simplified system (STS), single tax on imputed income (UTII), etc.).
• Amounts of arrears on taxes, fees, insurance premiums, debts on penalties, fines.
• Amounts of taxes and fees paid for the year.

In turn, your counterparty will have at its disposal similar information about your company.

How to use this information?

Based on data for the previous year on income and expenses, the number of employees, taxes and fees paid, you can determine the scale of the organization’s activities and compare it with the volume of the contract being concluded. Is it realistic that a company that has received at most a couple of million rubles in revenue in a year, having only 1 person on its staff (most likely a director), is able to fulfill a construction contract worth 500 million?

Overdue debt to the tax office can lead to blocking of accounts in all banks. It can also be a signal that the partner is undisciplined and uncommitted, or that he has financial difficulties.

nalog.ru. Check the counterparty by TIN, and not fall for the bait of the “great combinators”

Government agencies constantly publish on their websites open information, at their disposal, thereby giving business partners the opportunity to study each other.

The services of the website of the Federal Tax Service nalog.ru - verification of the counterparty reveal the basic data about the counterparty described above.

The official website of the Federal Bailiff Service fssprus.ru allows you to obtain information about open enforcement proceedings using the “Data Bank of Enforcement Proceedings” service.

Using the “Card Index of Arbitration Cases” service, located on the website of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation arbitr.ru, you can obtain data on the participation of a potential partner in legal proceedings.

Study your counterparties, use these and others available sources information. Thus, you will protect yourself from cooperation with unscrupulous partners, reduce tax, financial risks, risks of loss of business reputation.

How to exercise due diligence when choosing a counterparty? You can independently collect all the information about partners. Or you can use a convenient service to check yourself and your counterparty. In a few seconds you will receive a conclusion about the risks of business and tax audit.

Tax authorities require due diligence when choosing counterparties. Ignoring this requirement can lead not only to additional taxes and fines. A taxpayer who fails to exercise prudence may himself become unreliable in the eyes of his counterparties. We will tell you how to reduce business risks and check yourself and your counterparty.

Why check counterparties?

It is necessary to check the reliability of both suppliers and buyers. After all, verification has two main goals:

• Reduce tax risks,
• Reduce the risk of financial losses.

Order of the Federal Tax Service No. MM-3-06/333@ dated May 30, 2007. lists the criteria for checking the reliability of the counterparty. The inspectors themselves check companies using the same criteria. If a company shows signs of a one-day operation, then problems will arise not only for it, but also for its counterparties. Therefore, it is important to check your suppliers and buyers.

Any organization or entrepreneur can collect data about partners. Whenever controversial situation the taxpayer will have a greater chance of defending his case. It is enough to prove that the partner was checked according to the criteria specified in the Order of the Federal Tax Service No. MM-3-06/333@ dated May 30, 2007. If there is evidence of prudence, the court will lean in your direction.

Why check yourself? Firstly, to evaluate yourself according to the criteria of the examiners. This will help reduce the risks of inspections and claims from controllers. For example, if your company is mistakenly included in the unreliable lists, you can eliminate the signs of a fly-by-night company.

Secondly, to look at your company through the eyes of your counterparties. Then you can strengthen your weak sides and increase your own attractiveness in the eyes of potential customers.

How to check yourself and your counterparty independently and for free

You can check your counterparties yourself and completely free of charge; all the necessary sources are publicly available. The big disadvantage of self-checking is the laboriousness of the process. We'll tell you what to check.

Copies of documents

Request copies of the following documents from buyers and suppliers:

• Statutory documents,
• Extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities,
• Tax returns for VAT and income tax for the last three years,
• Accounting statements for the last three years,
• Analysis of account 68,
• Certificate from the Federal Tax Service on the status of settlements with the budget.

If the counterparty's activities are subject to licensing, ask for a copy of the license. Its absence may be decisive when the court makes a decision not in your favor (Letter of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated 02/11/2010 N 3-7-07/84, Resolutions of the FAS VSO dated 03/25/2010 in case N A19-15776/09, dated 10/08/2009 in case No. A33-17712/08).

Resources for checking yourself and your counterparties

Check the counterparty on the Federal Tax Service website:

• In the service “Business risks: check yourself and your counterparty”,
• In the register of disqualified persons,
• In the register of mass registration addresses,
• In the register of mass founders or managers,
• In the register of persons who refused to participate in the management of the organization.

Then visit the file of arbitration cases and the database of the Federal Bailiff Service. Is not full list, it is possible to check using other resources.

Business reputation

According to the courts, a positive business reputation is important criterion reliability of the partner (Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated May 25, 2010 N 15658/09).

To assess business reputation, you can use open sources, for example, look at publications that mention the company. Evaluate in what way (positive or negative) it is mentioned. You can look at reviews of the company from its contractors and employees. And also ask for letters of recommendation from other companies.

What else to pay attention to

• The actual location of the company, its production and sales areas,
• Documentary confirmation of the authority of the manager,
• The reality of fulfilling the terms of the contract (availability of production capacity, Vehicle, qualified personnel, etc.).

Risk assessment

So, you have done all the work, spent time and collected a whole dossier on the counterparty. Does this provide a guarantee of protection from tax claims? You will be surprised, but no.

Too large a package of documents, according to inspectors, may be regarded as a conspiracy between companies. In their opinion, the unnecessary volume of documents was collected specifically to confuse the inspectors. In letter dated July 13, 2017 No. ED-4-2/13650@, the Federal Tax Service introduces the concept of pseudo-prudence.

Electronic service “RNA: Verification of counterparties”

The service immediately offers to start searching for counterparties. You can indicate the TIN to immediately find the right company or entrepreneur. You can also search by name.

Immediately under the company name, the service issues a conclusion about the company’s reliability. One of the options is possible:

1. The company is reliable and the risks when working with it are minimal:

1. The company has signs of being a one-day company and when working with it, inspectors may have claims:

If you know the TIN of the counterparty, tax.ru - the official website of the Federal Tax Service of Russia - allows you to learn quite a lot about the legal entity, merchant or ordinary individual with whom you intend to cooperate. We will tell you what and how you can learn from this portal below.

Mandatory stage

The ability to check a counterparty using the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) on tax.ru has become firmly established in business practice. Moreover, on the one hand, this is your right, but on the other hand, it is also your duty to exercise the necessary caution when choosing business partners.

If you check a counterparty using the Tax.ru Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), you can be sure that you are receiving reliable information from official sources. In particular, they make it possible to:

• draw conclusions about the solvency of the counterparty, including mandatory payments to the treasury;
• can it be classified as ephemeral;
• find out the legal address and full name. the head of the organization of interest.

Meanwhile, in practice, checking a counterparty using the TIN on tax.ru does not always provide a sufficient amount of information to confidently draw a conclusion about the degree of reliability of the counterparty.

Main online service

First of all, in order to check the counterparty by TIN at tax.ru, go to the following link:

https://egrul.nalog.ru/

To find out the counterparty by TIN on tax.ru, you need to take the following steps, which are described in the table.

It looks like this:

It should be noted that the Federal Tax Service of Russia updates information from this service every day. Using tax.ru, searching for a counterparty by TIN allows you to be aware of:

• name of the organization, its legal address;
• OGRN, INN, KPP;
• dates of state registration;
• termination of activity (with date);
• invalidation of registration (with date).

In addition, from this service you can download and print an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities with more expanded information about the counterparty you are interested in. In particular:

• about the size authorized capital;
• founders/participants;
• persons who can act on behalf of the organization without a power of attorney;
• types of activities according to OKVED, etc.

A complete list of data about organizations and individual entrepreneurs that the Federal Tax Service puts into its open databases is given in Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated December 5, 2013 No. 115n.

Corporate history

On the tax.ru website, checking a counterparty by TIN for free also means finding out its corporate history. The publication of the Russian Tax Service “Bulletin of State Registration” helps in this. You can find it at the following link:

http://www.vestnik-gosreg.ru/publ/vgr/

Here you can find various communications from companies that they are required by law to post publicly. First of all, these are the facts of decision making:

• about closure;
• reorganization;
• reduction of authorized capital;
• purchase of LLC 20% of the authorized capital of another company, etc.

Threat of exclusion from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities

In relation to inactive organizations that do not exhibit any business activity, the Federal Tax Service may decide on future exclusion from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. Such data is also reflected in the publication “Bulletin of State Registration”. But the link to them is slightly different:

http://www.vestnik-gosreg.ru/publ/fz83/

When there is no connection with a legal entity

The Federal Tax Service daily updates the database containing companies that cannot be contacted at the legal address they declared during state registration. In this regard, you can check the counterparty by TIN on the tax.ru website here:

https://service.nalog.ru/baddr.do

Tax debts of the counterparty

To find out the tax debt of a counterparty using the TIN, you must use the following link:

https://service.nalog.ru/zd.do

This service makes it possible to obtain information about a company if it:

• does not submit tax reports for more than 1 year;
• as of April 1, 2017, her tax debt to the budget exceeded 1,000 rubles and a procedure for its forced collection was initiated.

This is a completely new service on the website of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, so for now it is working in test mode. Tax officials promise to update it once a month.

To schedule on-site audits, tax officials use criteria for assessing the tax risk of an enterprise, indicators of the taxpayer’s profitability and the tax burden on his business. This information is not only open - tax authorities even recommend that taxpayers use it for self-checking. Federal tax service updated the values ​​for assessing the tax burden and profitability for 2017. Tables with numerical parameters of tax risks were published on the Federal Tax Service website.

Check financial condition your organization and its counterparties

Check YOURSELF Which financial indicators will definitely attract the attention of inspectors

There is a document with which a taxpayer can analyze how suspicious his reporting will seem to the tax authorities. This is a kind of chipboard manual, only declassified. The document is called “Publicly available criteria for self-assessment of taxpayer risks, used by tax authorities in the process of selecting objects for on-site tax audits».

In addition, there is another document - order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated October 14, 2008 No. MM-3-2/467@. The criteria are discussed in more detail below.

The level of tax burden deviates from the average value

This means that the tax burden (the amount of taxes paid divided by revenue) is below the average level for the industry in which it operates.

The company has been making losses for several years in a row.

We are talking about losses over two years or more. In order to avoid excessive attention from inspectors, unprofitable organizations can choose one of two paths. Or transfer part of the expenses to the future and show a profit, albeit small, in the reporting. Or explain to the inspectors the reasons for the loss.

Significant VAT deductions

It means that specific gravity VAT deductions in the amount of accrued tax for the previous 12 months exceed 89 percent. The same complaints can be made about this criterion as to the tax burden standard.

Expenses are growing faster than income

Inspectors compare how quickly a company's expenses are growing relative to its revenue. Moreover, accounting and tax accounting data are compared separately. And then they are compared. If the growth rates of accounting and tax expenses do not coincide, then the company may be among the candidates for audit.

Salary below industry average

Low wages are one of the favorite topics of tax authority commissions. Inspectors take the organization's wage fund and divide it by the number of employees. The resulting value is compared with average salary by industry. Those companies at risk are those whose prices are lower.

The taxpayer could more than once lose the right to a special regime

In order to apply the simplified system, pay UTII or agricultural tax, an organization or entrepreneur must not exceed the limits defined in the relevant chapters of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Let's say, for a “simplified” person, the residual value of fixed assets and intangible assets in accounting should not exceed 100,000,000 rubles.

So, a taxpayer working under a special regime is suspicious if one or another indicator approaches the maximum standard by less than 5 percent twice a year or more often.

An entrepreneur's expenses are approaching his income

This criterion is only for entrepreneurs. According to the Federal Tax Service of Russia, those whose share of professional deductions in their total income exceeds 83 percent are suspicious.

The company works with resellers and intermediaries

Despite the fact that the title of the eighth criterion refers only to working with resellers and intermediaries, in fact it concerns all those suspected of unjustified tax benefits. In other words, this criterion is met by all those companies that exhibit one or another of the signs listed in the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated October 12, 2006 No. 53.

The taxpayer does not provide explanations to the inspectors

Fly-by-night counterparties can cause 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 returning VAT or when accounting for expenses for profit tax purposes as a result of interaction with such unscrupulous counterparties.

Inspections are guided by the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated October 12, 2006 No. 53 "", which established the main signs of bad faith 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-assessment of risks for taxpayers, used by tax authorities in the process of selecting objects for conducting on-site tax audits (approved by order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 30, 2007 No. MM-3-06/333@ " "), as well as explanations from financial authorities regarding the in which case the taxpayer is considered to have fulfilled the obligation to verify the counterparty.

In order to protect yourself from risks when conducting economic activity and possible claims from 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 tax authorities and courts, must be performed to confirm the exercise of due diligence and caution when choosing a counterparty.

You can find out whether 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 Rospotrebnadzor website allows you to search through registers of licenses issued for activities related to the use of pathogens infectious diseases, and on activities in the field of use of ionizing radiation sources.

7. Get acquainted with the annual financial statements of the counterparty. In accordance with clause 89 of the Regulations on management 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 the costs of copying, and the organization must 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 dated June 2, 2008 No. 42, Rosstat dated May 20, 2013 No. 183 “On approval of the Administrative Regulations for the provision of Federal service state statistics public services"Providing interested users with accounting (financial) reporting data of legal entities operating on the territory of the Russian Federation."

8. Study 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 going through this optional stage of verification and searching for the appropriate register, updated by the FAS of Russia.

9. Check the authority of the person signing the agreement. Courts often point to the need to verify credentials as a condition for recognizing a taxpayer as bona fide (FAS ZSO dated May 25, 2012 in case No. A75-788/2011, Eighth Arbitration Court of Appeal dated September 20, 2013 in case No. A46-5720/2013) . Moreover, if the taxpayer has received all the necessary documents and information, but has not verified the authority of the counterparty’s representative to sign the documents, this will be grounds for recognizing this taxpayer as dishonest (resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow Region dated July 11, 2012 in case No. A40-103278/11 -140-436).

When considering a case, if a signatory refuses to sign on documents, a handwriting examination- but sometimes it can be done without it (FAS UO dated June 30, 2010 No. F09-4904/10-S2 in case No. A76-39186/2009-41-833). However, more often than not, courts emphasize that a simple visual comparison of signatures and the testimony of a taxpayer’s representative cannot be considered a sufficient basis 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 establish the fact of bad faith of the taxpayer in the event that the authorized representative of the counterparty at the time of signing the documents died(Higher Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation 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, in the opinion of the courts, indicate the receipt of an unjustified tax benefit if, before concluding the controversial transaction, the taxpayer had a long-term economic relationship with the counterparty (FAS SKO dated April 25, 2013 No. F08-1895/13 in the case No. A53-12917/2012, resolution of the FAS ZSO dated October 27, 2011 No. F07-8946/11 in case No. A52-4227/2010).

Before signing documents, please pay attention to the following:

• Is the transaction being concluded for your counterparty large;
• hasn't it expired? term of office representative of the counterparty (as determined by the organization’s charter or 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, Third Arbitration Court of Appeal dated October 11, 2013 in case No. A74-5445/2012, Eleventh Arbitration Court of Appeal dated September 5, 2012 in case No. A55-1742/2012 ).

Moreover, 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 refusal of the inspectorate to provide information about the taxpayer’s counterparty affects the latter’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 so (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow Region 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 contact the inspectorate at the place of registration of the counterparty, since only the tax authorities have such authority (FAS NWZ of July 31, 2013 in case No. A13-8751/2012).

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

As we see, the positions of the courts regarding the scope of actions that need to be performed to verify the integrity of the counterparty vary. True, sometimes the courts are a little disingenuous.

Thus, they indicate that the tax inspectorate did not prove the lack of due diligence of the taxpayer - on the contrary, when making controversial transactions, he was asked for notarized copies 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 agencies cannot interpret the concept of “bona fide taxpayers” as imposing additional obligations on taxpayers not provided for by law (Resolution of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Moscow Region dated January 31, 2011 No. KA-A40/17302-10 in case No. A40-30846/10-35 -187, resolution of the FAS MO dated December 16, 2010 No. KA-A40/15535-10-P in case No. A40-960/09-126-4, resolution of the FAS MO dated July 22, 2009 No. KA-A40/6386 -09 in case No. A40-67706/08-127-308).

This understanding of good faith was developed by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in October 16, 2003 No. 329-O, which taxpayers often refer to when justifying 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 indicate the need to request relevant documents from the counterparty, emphasizing what these actions mean for the taxpayer nature of the 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 an agreement for the “trial” supply of goods small batch to check the counterparty (resolution 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 is completed (FAS UO dated November 28, 2012 No. F09-11410/12 in case No. A60-7356/2012), etc. 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 recognizing the tax benefit received by the taxpayer as unjustified. However, their combination often makes tax inspectors wary, and the courts make a decision not in favor of the taxpayer.