How to check yourself and your counterparty with the Federal Tax Service.

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 business 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 infectious disease agents and for activities in the field of using ionizing radiation sources.

7. Get acquainted with the annual financial statements of the counterparty. In accordance with clause 89 of the Regulations on accounting and financial reporting in the 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 State Statistics Service of the state service "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 the 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 the conclusion of 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 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 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 apply to the inspectorate at the place of registration of the counterparty, since only tax authorities have such authority (FAS NWO 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 in person 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 point out 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 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 “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.

The problem of counterparty integrity is quite acute in modern business. Every year the state introduces many amendments to tax and administrative legislation to increase the transparency of transactions and combat fly-by-night companies and fraudulent schemes.

If an organization has entered a certain sector of the market seriously and for a long time, values ​​its name and reputation, it needs to be as confident as possible in its partners.

Let's take a closer look at what risks come from imprudently concluding contracts with unverified counterparties and how to protect yourself from such risks.

Why you may need to find out the counterparty by TIN before concluding an agreement

A partner applying for long-term cooperation with an enterprise may turn out to be unreliable for the following reasons:

• Lack of a license or permit to conduct certain types of activities. If you work in licensed areas, this is an extremely important point. You need to find out the types of activities according to OKVED, prescribed by the potential partner in the statutory documents, and the availability of the necessary licenses and permits.
• An unreliable person in a leadership position. When one person acts as the general director of a dozen companies, half of which are at the stage of bankruptcy, this is a serious reason to think about the advisability of working with such an enterprise. Checking the general director of a company also makes sense in the event of competitions for the place of a contractor. If all the companies that submitted applications to you for such a competition belong to one person, this clearly does not indicate in his favor.
• The commencement of liquidation or bankruptcy proceedings. The counterparty may remain silent about such facts, but you better be aware in advance.
• The timing of the company's activities. If representatives of the organization you are interested in assure you that they have been present on the market for decades, but the company was registered six months ago, it is better to find another partner.
• Bulk registration address. This fact in itself does not mean that the enterprise is unreliable, but it is definitely worth keeping in mind.
• Disqualification of the entire enterprise or its management. This term refers to a ban on the right to engage in certain activities.
• The provided details do not correspond to reality. This moment may arise simply due to the carelessness of the legal service of the future partner. For example, the TIN does not correspond to the specified checkpoint, however, if you do not focus attention on this in the future, this situation will bring a lot of headaches to your accounting department when trying to submit an alcohol declaration, where the invoice data is reconciled.

This is not a complete list of reasons why you may need to check the counterparty by TIN.

Why test yourself

Considering that now checking a potential counterparty by TIN is very popular and does not take much time, it would be useful to check your company in this way. This way, you can see the information that your partners will receive.

By constantly monitoring this data, you will be able to quickly respond to unwanted nuances that arise. For example:

• pay taxes on time;
• control your accounting service for the quality and completeness of submitted reports;
• be sure that you have not become a victim of a raider takeover.

The information in the Federal Tax Service's database is updated promptly and conducting such a check regularly will be more convenient and faster than ordering an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities each time.

How to check yourself and find out the counterparty by TIN on the tax.ru website - step-by-step instructions

Step one

You need to go to the Federal Tax Service website at http://egrul.nalog.ru/.

The home page will look like this.

It has two active windows for data entry. In the top one you need to enter the TIN number of the partner you are checking or his OGRN number, and in the second captcha, that is, enter the numbers that you will see below the window, in figure one these are the numbers 703799, you will have new ones every time.

Step two

So, let's check the counterparty using the TIN using an example. Let's take, for example, the TIN of OAO Gazprom. His TIN is 7736050003. Enter these numbers in the first window and the captcha in the second, click find.

Step three

In just a few seconds, the system processed our request and provided the following information.

Already at this stage, we see that two legal entities were registered in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities with the same name - Gazprom, a single organizational and legal form - Open Joint Stock Company and an identical TIN number. But one of them was registered in 2002 and is still operating, and the second operated for only 21 days. In addition, in this window you can see information about the checkpoint and OGRN of these companies, they have different ones, different legal addresses.

Theoretically, if the audit were carried out not in relation to the mentioned companies, but, say, in relation to a potentially dishonest organization, already at this stage it would be possible to establish whether this organization is active, where it is actually registered and when.

The data in the first column, namely the name of the legal entity, is active, that is, by clicking on it you can continue the analysis of the potential business partner.

Step four

When you click on the name of the first legal entity, the system automatically downloads to your computer a PDF file with an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities for this taxpayer. This is what she looks like - .

You can glean a lot of information from this file. For example, it indicates on what date and in which Federal Tax Service an entry was made in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities about the registration of this enterprise. There is also information why this company was declared inactive.

In this example, the following reason is indicated - the inclusion of a record of state registration of a legal entity upon creation was recognized as erroneous by a decision made by the registering authority.

The date of termination of existence and the name of the document issued in confirmation of this is reflected - a certificate confirming the presence of signs of an inactive legal entity. Certificate number 855 Was issued on 07/26/2006, and a certificate reflecting the presence of this entry in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, its details and the date of provision 15 000686143 12/20/2006.

Step five

Now let's analyze the existing company. This is the PDF file the system downloads when you click on the second legal entity - . There is much more information here, already 55 sheets, we will analyze the entire extract.

What information about the counterparty can you get?

By analyzing the extract received from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, you can obtain the following information about the existing legal entity:

• Its full and abbreviated legal name.
• Details of the certificate of inclusion of data in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
• Date and form of creation of the legal entity.
• The body that registered the establishment and the body that registered the enterprise for tax purposes.
• The name of the branch of the Pension Fund in which the enterprise is registered, the registration number in this fund and the date the number was assigned.
• The size and date of formation of the authorized capital of the enterprise.
• Information about the person who has the right to act on behalf of the company without a power of attorney. His f. And. o., position and TIN.
• Information about the main type of economic activity according to OKVED and the date of its assignment.
• Information about all additional types of economic activities and the dates of their assignment.
• Information about all licenses the enterprise has. Their numbers, dates of issue, names of the authorities that issued these licenses, their validity period. As well as the type of licensed activity and place of validity of the licenses.
• Information about all branches and representative offices of the legal entity. Their addresses, names, dates of organization and numbers of certificates of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
• Information about all changes made to the constituent documents from the moment of registration of the enterprise. The essence of these changes and their dates.

From the second example, it becomes obvious that the information that can be found on the public website tax.ru is very extensive.

In addition, it is absolutely reliable, current as of the date of the request and, importantly, free.

Many are familiar with the phrase: “Who owns the information, owns the world.” With the new service for checking yourself and your counterparty by TIN on the tax.ru website, owning the world becomes much easier.

For now, the described service is operating in test mode, but surely, given its demand, it will be transferred to the basic services of the tax office and will complement the line of no less relevant products.

What information about an individual entrepreneur can it provide and in what cases is it needed?

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Video - how to check yourself and find out the counterparty by TIN on the tax website. RU:

The legislation does not oblige them to conduct verification of counterparties; they are rejected by the courts, because under... obligations. Failure to take measures to verify the counterparty and documents on its behalf is... measures taken by the taxpayer when checking the counterparty at the stage of its selection are assessed. It’s important... we are inclined to believe that checking only the legal capacity of a counterparty does not indicate that... it will be easier to independently check the reliability of a potential counterparty. Important! Besides the tax...

Definitions and step-by-step instructions for checking a counterparty... They seem to be right, but... provided the Regulations for the selection of counterparties and a Questionnaire for checking the counterparty according to official websites... at the tax authority; checking the fact of entering information about the counterparty into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities; receipt..., then the commission waved its hand to the counterparty. If the audit confirmed the impeccable present and... life hacks can be provided for the impeccable verification of counterparties? Agreement approval sheet. In the document...

Verifying the counterparty is actually a mandatory condition for running a successful and risk-free business. How to check yourself and your counterparty as completely, efficiently, and most importantly – for free?

1 Checking the counterparty on the tax website

What can you find out from the Federal Tax Service?

• Information about the general director;
• Information about the authorized capital and its structure;
• Information about the founders and their shares in the capital;
• Information about the counterparty's licenses;
• Legal address of the company;
• Types of company activities;
• Date of initial registration and registration of the legal entity. persons or individual entrepreneurs;
• Dates of amendments to the constituent documents;
• Method of legal formation faces;
• Information about the holder of the register of shareholders;
• Information about amendments to the charter.

For general information about legal entities. for a person or individual entrepreneur on the Federal Tax Service website, it is enough to enter the TIN or OGRN. You can also search by legal name. faces. Information is also available for individual entrepreneurs. A search in the Federal Tax Service database among individual entrepreneurs is carried out by INN/OGRNIP or last name, first name and patronymic of the entrepreneur.

2 Checking the counterparty for liquidation or bankruptcy

Information about liquidation, reorganization, reduction of authorized capital or a decision to exclude a counterparty from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (bankruptcy) can be found in the State Registration Bulletin.

3 Checking the counterparty's address

It is no secret that shell companies or unreliable businessmen are often registered at the same address.

• The Tax Inspectorate provides a free service for checking the address of a counterparty for mass (more than 10) registration of companies using it - https://service.nalog.ru/addrfind.do.
• In addition, it is possible to check the correspondence of the actual address and the address specified in the constituent documents - https://service.nalog.ru/baddr.do. To search the Federal Tax Service database, in both cases you can use OGRN, INN and legal name. faces.

4 Verification of the manager and founders

• You can check whether the manager or founders have the right to engage in their activities at all here - https://service.nalog.ru/svl.do. The register contains information about persons in respect of whom there is a court decision prohibiting such activities.
• The fact that the director or founders are participants in or own several companies may be suspicious. Such information is contained here - https://service.nalog.ru/mru.do.
• At the same time, it will be useful to check whether the same persons are disqualified. The search is carried out by full name - https://service.nalog.ru/disqualified.do.
• You can check whether a disqualified person is part of the counterparty’s executive bodies here - https://service.nalog.ru/disfind.do.

5 Checking whether the counterparty has debt

• You can check how regularly your potential business partner pays taxes and whether he has any debt here - https://service.nalog.ru/zd.do. There you can also find those people who have not submitted tax reports for more than a year.
• Information about other outstanding debts of the counterparty can be found on the bailiffs website. All data on enforcement proceedings initiated against individuals, legal entities or individual entrepreneurs are stored there.

6 Checking the “freezing” of the counterparty’s bank accounts

Knowing the TIN and BIC of the counterparty bank, you can find out whether its banking operations have been suspended. Service address -

Risk is an integral element of entrepreneurial activity. However, it is reasonable to strive to minimize it. Moreover, exercising due diligence when doing business is a necessary requirement imposed on companies by regulatory authorities. After all, without checking its counterparties, an organization may encounter partners who do not fulfill their obligations, or even one-day companies. Considering that in the Federal Tax Service system, the TIN (taxpayer identification number) is the main unique attribute of an organization, individual entrepreneur or individual, it is from it that you can obtain important information that will allow you to draw a conclusion about the reliability of the counterparty. Or perhaps the organization simply wants to clarify the legal address of another company or full name. her leader. How the Federal Tax Service of Russia on its website helps organizations check their partners using the TIN, we will tell you in our material.

Federal Tax Service: check by TIN

On the Federal Tax Service website you can check the counterparty by TIN in several ways.

The most common is the online service “Business risks: check yourself and your counterparty” (nalog.ru / Electronic services). By entering the organization's INN in this Federal Tax Service service, you can find out the full name of the organization, its legal address, OGRN, INN, KPP and state registration date. In the same place, if there was a termination of activity or invalidation of registration, their dates will be indicated. Here you can also download an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, which contains more detailed information about the organization: the size of the authorized capital and information about the founders (participants), information about persons acting on behalf of the organization without a power of attorney, types of activities according to OKVED and other data.

Also on the website of the Federal Tax Service, the organization’s TIN will help answer the question of whether the company made decisions on liquidation, reorganization, reduction of authorized capital, as well as other facts, messages about which should be published in the journal “Bulletin of State Registration”. To do this, you need to contact the online service “Messages of legal entities published in the journal “Bulletin of State Registration””.

If the tax authority has made a decision regarding an organization regarding its upcoming exclusion from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, such information is also published in the journal “Bulletin of State Registration”. You can check such information using your TIN on the Federal Tax Service website.