How to close a business. How to obtain a certificate from the Pension Fund of Russia? Application form P26001

Closing a business properly is an important process. This is especially true for individual entrepreneurs. Indeed, unlike an LLC, debts can extend to his personal property.

The procedure for closing a business is not so simple; it requires collecting a number of documents and completing matters with all regulatory authorities. It is necessary to distinguish between situations of simple closure of an individual entrepreneur (by decision of the entrepreneur) and by a court decision. In this article we will look at what is needed to close an individual entrepreneur for the first case.

Preparing documents for closing an individual entrepreneur

To close an individual entrepreneur, you must provide the following: documents to the Federal Tax Service (FTS):

• Application to close an individual entrepreneur - about the state. registration of termination of business activity (form P26001).
• A receipt confirming payment of the state fee for closing an individual entrepreneur in the amount of 160 rubles. You can pay remotely on the website of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation.
• A document confirming the provision of the necessary information to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation (PFR). This paper is optional; if it is missing, the tax office will request information on its own.
• Certificate of absence of debt to the Pension Fund. Also an optional document, but sometimes the Federal Tax Service requires it.

Documents can be submitted to the tax office remotely through the Federal Tax Service website.

Also, the Federal Tax Service and other authorities will need:

• Passport
• Certificate
• Certificate of registration of individual entrepreneur
• Extract with data from the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs
• Number

We fill out an application to close an individual entrepreneur

When filling out an application, it is important to ensure that the form is up to date and the information provided is accurate. It is best to take the form in person from the tax office, because on the Internet the data can be out of date even on the official websites of government agencies.

If you are not sure that you know exactly the details of your tax office, you can fill out this data on the spot, with the help of a Federal Tax Service employee.

The data must be filled out very carefully; if there is an error, you will be asked to rewrite the application. If the error is not noticed at the verification stage, you will receive a refusal after reviewing the documents. If the application is submitted in person, a passport is required. If the document is provided by another person, a notarized signature of the applicant is required.

Submitting documents to the tax office

Documents should be submitted to the tax authority where you registered your individual entrepreneur. If you have any difficulties, you can check the number of the required inspection on the Federal Tax Service website or by calling the tax office helpline in your region.

Options for submitting documents to the Federal Tax Service:

• Personally.
• With the help of a representative, for which you need a power of attorney certified by a notary.
• By mail. The declared value should be indicated and an inventory of the investment should be made. In Moscow, delivery can be made using courier services.
• Via the Internet, using the Federal Tax Service website. In this case, you need to scan the papers in accordance with the technical requirements of the tax office, and you will also need an electronic signature or notarization. When submitting documents even electronically, the tax office issues a receipt.

On the sixth working day, the tax office issues:

• In case of refusal to liquidate an individual entrepreneur, a document explaining the reasons for such a decision.
• If successful, a certificate from the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs with the relevant information.

Documents can be received in person or sent by mail. In Moscow, courier services can be used.

Questions with the Pension Fund

To obtain a certificate of no debt to the Pension Fund (which must then be submitted to the Federal Tax Service), the following documents are required:

After the tax office has registered the closure of the individual entrepreneur, you should close your business with the Pension Fund within twelve calendar days. This requires:

• Provide a passport and a certificate of state registration of the closure of an individual entrepreneur.
• If you have a debt to the Pension Fund of Russia, obtain receipts for their payment.
• Pay the debt on insurance premiums no later than fifteen days from the date of closure of the individual entrepreneur.

The debt can be repaid in person at Sberbank or through online banking services. Failure to pay may result in you being wanted.

Questions with the Social Insurance Fund (SIF)

The Social Insurance Fund is the last authority before closing a bank account. If you did not have employees and you are not registered with the Social Insurance Fund, you can skip this step.

Otherwise, you should provide the FSS with documents confirming the absence of debt to the Federal Tax Service, Pension Fund, employees and write an application for deregistration with the FSS.

Closing a current account

Closing a bank account is the last step when closing an individual entrepreneur. The account should be closed only after completing all payments required from the individual entrepreneur. Balances of funds can be transferred to your own accounts in a current or other bank. Be sure to withdraw all the money from the account to the last penny, otherwise the account may not be closed. Also, you should not have any obligation to pay for Cash Settlement Services at the bank (CSR).

The closing procedure may take some time, depending on the bank. After completing the transaction, be sure to obtain a document from the bank confirming the closure of the account. You can also request a certificate of no debt to the bank if you had loans or an overdraft.

Closing an individual entrepreneur with debts

If you have debts to the tax office or bank, you will not be able to terminate the activities of the individual entrepreneur until they are paid. If you cannot pay this debt, you will have to resort to individual entrepreneur bankruptcy. In this case, debts will be collected from your personal property.

If there are debts to the Pension Fund, termination of activities is possible, but the debt will have to be paid as an individual. If an individual entrepreneur tries to evade paying debts, they will start looking for him. Entrepreneurs resort to transferring debts from individual entrepreneurs to individuals in order not to pay insurance premiums after cessation of activity.

About the responsibility of individual entrepreneurs after closure

According to the law, an individual entrepreneur is a form of business in which a person is responsible to creditors not only with the property of the company, but also with his personal property. Thus, if after closing an individual entrepreneur you still have debts to the tax service, the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, former employees or creditors, you will be obliged to pay these debts. Otherwise, your property may be seized in court.

Closing a business is a complex and sometimes lengthy process. Opening an individual entrepreneur in our country is easier than stopping its activities. Therefore, you need to approach business responsibly, and try to organize processes in such a way that you do not have to close your activities in a year.

Video: what to do if you need to close an individual entrepreneur

Discussion (11)

It’s not a pleasant topic, but what to do if the business doesn’t take off, you need to close, unfortunately, this happened to me too, thank God I’ve already closed it! Your article is good, I learned a lot of useful information from it, I had to run less, thank you!

Difficulties may arise if you have unpaid debts to the tax office, pension fund, bank, and other creditors, especially if your business has court decisions on debt collection.

I closed my sole proprietorship 2 weeks ago. It turned out to be quite simple and absolutely anyone can do it. Paid tax (state duty) 160 rubles. I filled out an application to close an individual entrepreneur, the template of which I found on the Internet. With the fee paid and the application completed, I went to the tax office. I gave these 2 documents and received a certificate, with which I came back a week later to get the completed documents.

I closed the sole proprietorship after a year of work, no difficulties arose. The only dark spot for me was the presence of the seal. So I still haven’t figured out whether it was worth doing anything with her or not. It lies like a dead weight at home.

I opened a sole proprietorship in 2005. She worked for 3 years, paid taxes, but then returned to work with a constant source of income. And the IP certificate weighs like a weight. I tried to close it, but they won’t close it with debts. And now I don’t know what to do with large pension taxes. I read the article very carefully, found useful tips, I hope they will help me get rid of the burden.

I opened an individual entrepreneur last year, contacted the company and did not regret it, they did everything, they gave me ready-made documents. Paid 3000 rub. and got rid of headaches.

From personal experience, I can advise you not to immediately close the IP at the first difficulties, because if you still decide to continue the business, you will have to arrange everything again, wasting your time. To begin with, it is possible to temporarily suspend activities. At the same time, of course, we must not forget to submit a declaration in any case. But if you still firmly decide to close the individual entrepreneur, then there is actually nothing difficult about it, except that it will take a lot of time to go through all the authorities. To correctly write an application for closure, I contacted a service that deals with such registration.

There was an experience of closing an individual entrepreneur. There is, of course, nothing fatal in this, but you need to be patient to bring this matter to the end. Our tax authorities, where it is necessary to collect some documents, work simply on the verge of fantasy! They can’t meet any deadlines, you have to come several times, these eternal queues! My favorite expression is not ready yet... I even regretted several times that I decided to close it myself, without resorting to the help of companies that already have experience in these matters. Finally, it was all over, I received all the documents, but after that for another year they called and from time to time they demanded some incomprehensible additional payments from me, either for taxes or for something else, although I had everything paid and documents for hands were available.

There are a number of entrepreneurs who prefer not to close the enterprise, but only limit themselves to notification letters to the tax authority that the activity is not being carried out. This is only justified if you seriously plan to resume activities after a certain time. Otherwise, it is better to close the IP. Since today, most often, individual entrepreneurs are liquidated due to excessive pension contributions, the tax office very carefully checks this area, so a certificate from the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation about the absence of debt must be in hand already at the time of submitting documents for closure. Accordingly, all fees must be paid in advance.

When I started my business, I was faced with the choice of an LLC or an individual entrepreneur, I chose an individual entrepreneur and have never regretted it. But still, opening an individual entrepreneur is much easier than closing it. When I closed the individual entrepreneur, I did not have time to go through tax and pension matters, so I turned to a law firm, where they helped me with closing the individual entrepreneur. If you wish and have free time, you can solve this issue yourself. Moreover, now the tax inspectorates provide advice on opening and closing LLCs and individual entrepreneurs. Even document forms can be downloaded to a flash drive.

There is nothing complicated or scary about closing an individual entrepreneur. If, of course, you conduct business honestly and do everything according to the law, but whether a novice entrepreneur will have an advantage if he does this is a question. I closed my private enterprise last year.

An economic entity operating as an entrepreneur may also decide to terminate its activities. For such a case, this individual needs to know how to close an individual entrepreneur. After all, an entrepreneur can carry out this procedure independently or engage a competent organization specializing in this. The first option is not as expensive as the second, although it will require some knowledge.

Practice shows that many entrepreneurs decide to close their business. They may have a variety of reasons for this.

Let's look at the most common of them:

1. The most common reason is the liquidation of an individual entrepreneur due to the lack of financial capabilities for the further functioning of a small business. Closing can be carried out either by the entrepreneur himself or by a court decision when bankruptcy proceedings are underway against an individual.
2. Liquidation of an individual entrepreneur, carried out for the purpose of moving to another organizational form of doing business. For example, opening an LLC. Very often, individual entrepreneurs are closed for this reason because they want to carry out activities for which the creation of a legal entity is required by law (alcohol sales, insurance activities, pawnshops, lending, etc.). In this case, the closure of an individual entrepreneur coincides with the registration of a new enterprise, that is, both packages of documents can be submitted to the tax office at the same time.
3. When an entrepreneur is unable to run his business and, because of this, has no desire to work in the future, he also submits documents to the Federal Tax Service to close the individual entrepreneur.
4. An individual working as an entrepreneur may decide to close an individual entrepreneur due to health problems. The business is closed due to the death of a person who is an individual entrepreneur.
5. An entrepreneur can engage not only in activities for an individual entrepreneur, but also have another type of employment, for example, working under an employment contract. Due to heavy workload and lack of free time, he may close his business.
6. Termination of business in order to optimize taxation or avoid paying taxes altogether. Entrepreneurs often close and reopen individual entrepreneurs in order to change the tax regime to a preferential or more profitable one for them. This reason may result in administrative penalties for violation of the law.
7. Termination of activities on the basis of a decision prohibiting them from engaging in them.

Attention! Whatever the reason for terminating a business, it is necessary to properly close the business.

Bankruptcy or closure – which is better?

Depending on who makes the decision to terminate the activity, there are two ways to carry out this procedure. If an individual entrepreneur is forced to close the business by his creditors, then the entrepreneur must go through bankruptcy.

When an entrepreneur announces this decision on his own and he has no debt to other persons, he is deregistered according to a simplified scheme.

Voluntary termination of business provides that even if an entrepreneur has debts, he pays them off on his own without creditors going to court. As soon as they are paid, the Federal Tax Service will close his business if he submits application p26001.

Bankruptcy assumes that individual entrepreneurs are unable to make appropriate payments, so creditors will need to apply to the courts. It can also occur on the initiative of the debtor-individual entrepreneur. It differs from bankruptcy of a legal entity.

At the same time, consideration of the case in court requires the submission of all lists of debts, which must be documented. It will also be necessary to document with the help of documents that the entrepreneur does not have the opportunity to pay them off on his own.

During the consideration of the case, the court may decide to seize for repayment the property owned by the individual entrepreneur - buildings, land plots (with the exception of real estate in which the entrepreneur lives), transport, jewelry, art objects, property the price of which is more than 100 minimum wages, money, minus living wage, etc.

In this case, all seized property must be sold at auction, and the money received as a result of the auction must be paid to creditors. Debts for which the funds received are not sufficient are subject to write-off.

When choosing how to close an individual entrepreneur, an entrepreneur needs to understand that if he has enough funds, it is better to pay off his debts voluntarily and calmly deregister with the Federal Tax Service.

Attention! However, if the debt significantly exceeds the property and funds available to the individual entrepreneur, then it is better to initiate bankruptcy proceedings. In this case, the entrepreneur will lose part of his funds, he may be prohibited from operating as an individual entrepreneur, but as a result of bankruptcy he will be able to write off all remaining debts.

Closing an individual entrepreneur step by step instructions in 2019 if you have no employees

Let's look at how to close an individual entrepreneur in more detail, breaking this procedure into steps.

At the same time, the closure of an individual entrepreneur in 2019, the list of necessary documents and actions are not much different from previous periods.

Step 1. Fill out an application on form P21001 to close the individual entrepreneur

Legislation stipulates what documents are needed to close an individual entrepreneur. First of all, the entrepreneur needs to find and fill out an application for termination of business.

It is better to compose documents using the appropriate Internet services, which allows you to use the latest version of the forms that are currently used for these purposes.

If the entrepreneur enters data into the form manually, then he needs to use a pen with black ink. A specialized company can also draw up an application in form p26001 for an individual entrepreneur, but this will require additional costs.

Attention! If the application is submitted by a proxy, it must be notarized. A person acts on the basis of a power of attorney. When submitting an application in person, there is no need to have it certified by a notary.

Step 2. Pay the state duty

The required package of documents also includes a receipt for payment of the state duty for the procedure for closing an individual entrepreneur. Its amount in 2019 is set at 160 rubles.

You can pay the state duty both through bank branches and through terminals. When filling out a receipt manually, you must indicate the following BCC - 182 1 08 07010 01 1000 110.

Attention! A receipt can be created using the service on the tax website. Since the original receipt is submitted to the inspector along with the application, it is advisable to first make a copy of it.

Step 3. Form a package of documents

To terminate activities as an entrepreneur, you must submit the following package of documents:

• Original receipt for payment of the state fee in the amount of 160 rubles.

Attention! Reconciliation with the pension fund is not required at this time. The Federal Tax Service and the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation will carry out the reconciliation independently as part of an interdepartmental exchange.

Step 4. Submit documents

After the entire package of documents has been collected - application form p26001, as well as a payment slip for payment of the duty, it must be submitted to the tax office.

This can be done using several transfer options at once:

• Through the Internet. To do this, you can use the Internet resource “Submission of electronic documents for state registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs” on the Federal Tax Service website. However, for this procedure you must have a valid qualified electronic digital signature.
• Take it personally to the Federal Tax Service, which previously carried out the registration. You must have a passport or other document with you that can confirm your identity. Having accepted the documents, the inspector issues a receipt confirming their receipt.
• Hand over into the hands of the inspector through a proxy using a notarized power of attorney;
• Send by post or courier service.

Important! When submitting forms through a representative or by mail, the application must be certified by a notary. Submitting an application through the State Services portal or by contacting the MFC is impossible.

Step 5. Receive documents

The law allows five days for consideration of the submitted package of documents. After this time (on the 6th day), the applicant must go to the tax office with his passport, and there receive an extract from the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs, which will include information about the completion of work as an entrepreneur.

Attention! If the Federal Tax Service for any reason refuses to deregister an entrepreneur, then they must issue a document containing the reasons for this refusal.

Step 6. Submit reports

The following reports must be completed and submitted:

• If the individual entrepreneur worked with hired employees, the calculation of insurance premiums must be completed and submitted after the dismissal of all employees;
• If an individual entrepreneur uses it, it must be sent before the 25th of the month, after the month of closure;
• Individual entrepreneurs cannot be rented out until the 20th of the month, after the quarterly closure.

Important! A tax return for the simplified tax system must be submitted even if there has been no recent activity. In this situation, the form will contain zeros. But for UTII there is no zero declaration - the calculated amount of tax will have to be paid in any case, and this amount must be shown on the form.

Step 7. Pay taxes and fees

When closing a business, the entrepreneur must transfer all necessary taxes and payments:

• If there are employees, contributions for them. They must be transferred within 15 days from the date of submission of the final calculation;
• - within 15 days from the date of receipt of notification of the closure of the individual entrepreneur. Contribution amounts are calculated in proportion to the number of days of work in a given year. It is recommended to do this after the actual closing, and not before, because at that moment the exact date will not yet be known, and both underpayment and overpayment may occur.
• Contribution of 1% to the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation on income over 300 thousand rubles. – are calculated in the usual manner, they must also be paid within 15 days from the fact of closure.
• If the entrepreneur is on the simplified tax system, the obligatory payment must be transferred to the budget before the 25th day of the month after the month of closure;
• If the individual entrepreneur is on UTII, the payment must be transferred to the budget before the 25th day of the month following the closing quarter.

What if the individual entrepreneur still has debts?

Running a business involves financial risks. These include the formation of debts to suppliers, the budget and social funds. The law allows for the closure of an individual entrepreneur with existing debts, but they will not be written off, but will be transferred to the individual.

Debts to counterparties

The law does not oblige an entrepreneur to pay off all his debts to suppliers upon completion of his activities. In fact, the tax office will not know to whom and how much the individual entrepreneur still owes. However, debts will not be written off upon closure, which means that any company can sue to repay the debt owed to it, as well as pay interest and compensation.

If an entrepreneur sees that he cannot fully repay all debts, he can do the following:

• Conclude an agreement of intent with your creditors, which specifies the timing and volume of repayment of obligations to them;
• Or start bankruptcy proceedings. Then the debtor will have his existing valuable property (real estate, vehicles, art, etc.) confiscated, which will be sold through an auction. However, debts that cannot be covered will be written off as determined by the court.

Debts on taxes and contributions

Previously, it was impossible to close a business if the individual entrepreneur still had a debt on payments to the Pension Fund. At that time, the tax office required the provision of a certificate from the Pension Fund confirming the absence of debts.

Now you can choose at what time to repay the existing debt - immediately, when the procedure is completed, or after the actual liquidation of the individual entrepreneur.

However, even if you choose the second option, you should not be mistaken that the fund will eventually forget about the existing debt. From time to time he will remind you of the need to repay it, and if this does not happen, he will transfer the case to court and the bailiffs will deal with the collection of the debt.

You can do the same with debts to social insurance - you can choose to repay them immediately or pay by receipt after closing. But this will also have to be done without fail.

It will not be possible to close a business with tax debt. Before completing the procedure, this body will require the payment of all existing tax debts, as well as accrued fines and penalties. Submitting a tax return is also mandatory.

Attention! If an entrepreneur does not have his own funds at the time of closure to pay tax debts, then the Federal Tax Service may begin a forced bankruptcy procedure with the seizure of his property and its sale through an auction.

Actions after closing an individual entrepreneur

When the process of liquidating an individual entrepreneur is completely completed, the former entrepreneur needs to complete a few more steps to completely close his business:

• Drive up to the pension fund and social security, where you need to notify them of the end of your business. You also need to pay off all debts on mandatory contributions. To do this, the funds will provide receipts with the required amount due. The transfer will need to be made within 15 days.
• Go to your bank, where you can apply to close a current account for business purposes;
• If you bought them, you need to deregister them with the Federal Tax Service. You can also terminate the maintenance contract with the technical center, if one was concluded.
• Terminate all contracts for services that were concluded for the entrepreneur - Internet, telephony, garbage collection, etc.

Important! After closing, you must retain all documentation, accounting documents and reports for another four years.

Is it possible to open an individual entrepreneur after closing?

Sometimes a situation may arise when an entrepreneur, after having already closed his own business, wants to try his hand at business again. The law does not prohibit it after closure, but in this case it is very important how exactly the business was closed.

• The business may be closed according to a court decision, since the individual entrepreneur was no longer able to make payments to the budget or to his partners. In this situation, since the individual entrepreneur has been liquidated, it will be possible to open a business again only after 12 months - this is the period during which the ban on business activities is in effect.
• If the individual entrepreneur decided to open it voluntarily, then you can register again at any time, even the next day. This step is very convenient if you need to change the tax regime to a new one, change the nature and form of organization of activities, etc. However, this can only be done if the entrepreneur has no debts to third parties, the budget, employees, etc. .

Attention! When registration occurs again, the entire process must be completed in full. There is no simplified procedure due to the fact that the citizen was already an individual entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur who decides to close his business faces questions about how to do this, in what order to proceed, what documents are needed, and how to close an individual entrepreneur on his own. Step-by-step instructions for 2017 are given in this article.

The procedure for closing an individual entrepreneur in 2017

This procedure is simple and consists of the following steps:

1. Repayment of debts - settlements with counterparties, employees, budget, funds.
2. Submitting documents to the tax office.
3. Receiving documents on deregistration.

We will tell you in more detail about each of them, including what is needed to close an individual entrepreneur.

Step 1 - Pay off debts

If an entrepreneur has decided to cease his activities due to the unprofitability of the business, he may be interested in whether it is possible to close an individual entrepreneur with debts. Such an entrepreneur most likely has debts to contractors, wage debts to employees, and arrears on mandatory insurance contributions and taxes.

The legislation regulating the closure of individual entrepreneurs in 2017 does not prohibit the closure of individual entrepreneurs with debts. The tax office's demand for debt repayment will be illegal. Inspectorate employees are required to accept documents to terminate business activities, even if there is information about the applicant’s unfulfilled obligations.

However, the closure of an individual entrepreneur with debts, in the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, for example, does not relieve an individual from the obligation to pay insurance premiums for the period of activity as an individual entrepreneur, if they have not been paid. The exception is insurance premiums for the years preceding the three-year period before the closure of the individual entrepreneur. In respect of debts for these periods, it is possible to claim that the statute of limitations has expired. Otherwise, if you closed your individual entrepreneur and the court awarded you a penalty, do not be surprised, this is legal, and you will still have to pay off the debt.

Therefore, if we talk about how to properly close an individual entrepreneur in 2017, we should advise you to take care in advance of fulfilling all obligations related to the status of an individual entrepreneur, or to pay off the debt as soon as possible after deregistration. For example, the Pension Fund of Russia has the following procedure. If the individual entrepreneur had employees, he is obligated to submit to the Pension Fund a calculation of insurance premiums no later than 12 days from the date of closure of the individual entrepreneur and to pay the debt, if any, within 15 days.

Before liquidating an individual entrepreneur, employees should also be notified of upcoming layoffs at least two months in advance. Former employees are entitled to severance pay.

Step 2 - submitting documents to the tax office

The current procedure for closing an individual entrepreneur 2017 involves submitting the following documents to the tax office with which the individual entrepreneur was registered:

• statements on form P26001, approved. By Order of the Federal Tax Service dated January 25, 2012 No. ММВ-7-6/25@;
• a receipt confirming the fact of payment of the state duty (in 2017 - 160 rubles).

If desired, the entrepreneur can submit a certificate of debt to the Pension Fund, but the tax office has no right to demand it.

An entrepreneur can use various methods of submitting documents:

• directly to the tax office in person or through a representative;
• send documents by mail with the declared value of the letter and a description of the attachment (the signature in the application must be certified by a notary);
• submit documents electronically through a special service on the website of the Federal Tax Service of Russia (for this you need to have a certified electronic signature key);
• contact the multifunctional center (MFC, “My Documents”) in person or through a representative.

5 working days are allotted for consideration of documents if the documents are submitted directly to the tax office, and 8 if the application was accepted by the MFC.

Step 3 - receiving deregistration documents

When filling out the application, the applicant can choose the method of receiving notification of the closure of the individual entrepreneur:

• personally;
• representative;
• by mail.

From the moment of registration, an individual ceases to be an individual entrepreneur, and all debts of the individual entrepreneur, if any, are transferred to him. In case of failure to fulfill obligations and collection of arrears in court, an individual will be liable with the property belonging to him.

As you can see, it is not difficult to close an individual entrepreneur on your own, and it is absolutely not necessary to resort to the services of any organizations or specialists. If it is necessary to close an individual entrepreneur, the step-by-step instructions in 2017 given in this article will help you understand the order of performing all the necessary actions.

​Liquidation of individual entrepreneurs, as a concept, does not exist in legislative acts. An individual entrepreneur is an individual, which means it is simply not possible to liquidate him. In this case, the term “closure” may be used. At the same time, many regard an individual entrepreneur as a legal entity and apply the concept of “liquidation” to it. Regardless of which definition is used, you should know the main points regarding the termination of the activities of an individual entrepreneur.

Basic moments

Before you begin to consider the procedure for closing an individual entrepreneur, you should find out the reasons that may contribute to this:

• Personal decision of an entrepreneur to close his business.
• Financial instability.
• By decision of the judicial authority, the individual entrepreneur was declared bankrupt.
• Other cases encountered in practice.

In any case, compliance with the basic rules and requirements of the law in this part is required.

Liquidation of an individual entrepreneur is carried out within five working days from the date of submission of the relevant documents. An individual entrepreneur will be considered closed after making an entry in the register of individual entrepreneurs.

It is worth noting that if The individual entrepreneur has debt obligations, then it can be closed, but the individual himself will still have obligations to creditors, counterparties and extra-budgetary funds.

Termination of the status of an individual entrepreneur does not relieve one from liability for obligations that were assumed during the period of actual business activity. The entrepreneur will be liable with all his property for existing debts. At the same time, it is important to know how to terminate an individual entrepreneur with debts and what actions will need to be taken to do this.

Liquidation of individual entrepreneurs with debts

When closing an individual entrepreneur, you may be interested in the question of whether How to carry out the procedure if there are debts to the Pension Fund, the tax service and the bank?

Each individual case should be considered separately:

• Available debts to the pension fund. Problems with closing an individual entrepreneur in the presence of such debts should not arise, since the entrepreneur decides for himself whether to pay the debt before starting to liquidate his business or after completing the entire procedure. In any case, the debt will have to be paid even after the closure of the individual entrepreneur. As soon as the tax service makes an entry in the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs, all information will automatically go to the pension fund. If a citizen, already acting as an individual, does not pay the debt for a long time, the fund has the right to go to court.
• The IP still has dutybefore the bank on loans. The tax service does not have the right to refuse to close an individual entrepreneur if there is this type of debt. In principle, the situation will be the same as in the case of the Pension Fund. The debt will remain with the citizen and if no action is taken on his part to repay it, the creditor can collect the required amount of debt in court.
• The situation is more complicated if there is dutybefore the tax officeservice. It is not possible to repay the debt after the closure of the individual entrepreneur; all payments must be made before the start of the procedure. Before liquidation, a sole proprietor must prepare and file a tax return for all years of its existence. The document is submitted even if in fact no activity was carried out. If an individual entrepreneur previously filed returns on time, he will also need to submit reports for the last tax period.

Thus, closing an individual entrepreneur with debt obligations is not so difficult. It’s more difficult later, after closing, to remember to pay off debts to banks and the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, so as not to bring the situation to court.

Liquidation of individual entrepreneurs with employees

If an individual entrepreneur conducted his business with the involvement of labor, then on his part he must go through a full liquidation procedure, taking into account the interests of employees and the rules established by law.

You should close an individual entrepreneur with employees as follows:

• All employees must be notified of impending liquidation two months before its expected date.
• The Employment Center is notified within the same period.
• All required contributions for employees must be paid to the Pension Fund and extra-budgetary funds. If an entrepreneur paid his own insurance premiums, he will need to deregister himself there.
• A final settlement is made to the employees, including all due compensation provided for in such cases by labor legislation.

The same procedure applies to employees who are on maternity leave at the time of liquidation. This rule is enshrined in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Documents for liquidation

If all the main organizational stages have been completed, it is time to begin preparing the required package of documents for submission to the tax service.

The general package of papers includes:

• Application on tax form P26001. If the form is submitted by the applicant himself, then the signature is not required to be notarized. When submitting papers, it will be stamped in the presence of a tax officer accepting the documents. If documents are submitted through a representative, the signature must be notarized.
• Passport and TIN of the applicant.
• Confirmation of payment of the duty. Its size is 160 rubles.

Such a small package of documents is submitted to the tax office to begin the procedure for closing an individual entrepreneur.

You can submit documents in person, through a representative or by mail.

The fastest way is to submit in person, since it saves time that can be spent on drawing up a power of attorney for a representative and certifying signatures with a notary. Sending papers by mail requires compliance with certain rules:

• All submitted documents must be notarized.
• The letter is submitted in the form of a registered letter, with a completed notification of delivery and a list of attachments.

Some entrepreneurs turn to specialized companies that provide services for the liquidation of individual entrepreneurs. Such a decision would not be entirely justified, since closing an individual entrepreneur is not a complicated procedure. Moreover, such companies charge additional fees for their services.

Which method of submitting documents to the tax service will be chosen depends on the entrepreneur himself.

Step-by-step instructions for closing an individual entrepreneur

The stages of starting the procedure for terminating business activity can be divided into preparatory and main.

The preparatory stage includes:

1. Filing reports and paying off existing debt obligations. The main thing is to pay off your tax debts.
2. Fulfillment of contractual obligations. If an individual entrepreneur has unclosed obligations to counterparties, then they should be closed before the start of the liquidation procedure. If this does not happen, then the counterparties can sue and hold the debtor liable not as an individual entrepreneur, but as an individual.
3. Removal of a cash register from registration if the activities of an individual entrepreneur were carried out with its help. To do this, you will need to visit the tax authority where the device was initially registered and submit the appropriate application.
4. Closing a current account. According to the rules, an individual entrepreneur is not required to open a current account to conduct business. But if you still have one, you will need to come to the bank that opened it and write an application to close it. At the time of closing, all transactions on the account must be completed.

The main stage includes the following activities:

1. An application is being prepared in form P26001. The document form can be downloaded from the tax service website or from our website. The document is filled out on the computer or by hand, using a pen with black ink. All required fields must be filled in; corrections and crossing-outs are not allowed.
2. The fee is paid according to the details of the tax service. Payment can be made through any bank branch, ATM or Internet.
3. The completed package of papers is submitted to the tax authority. You can also submit documents for closing through the MFC. Such centers are open in almost all major cities, which makes submitting documents easier and saves time.
4. Issuance of a certificate of termination of activity by the tax authority to which the papers were submitted.

The liquidation of an individual entrepreneur in itself is not difficult. If you approach the procedure competently and wisely, then there should be no delays.

Closing a current account

This stage includes the following actions:

1. Preparation of documents for termination of the current agreement with the bank in which the account is opened.
2. Payment of all debts to the bank and counterparties.
3. Withdrawal of funds into cash.
4. Submitting an application to close an account.
5. After official closing, receive the relevant certificate.
6. Notification of the tax service and funds about the closure of the account.

If at the time of closure an individual entrepreneur has large debts, then the best option would be to file for bankruptcy. But such a decision will require the individual entrepreneur to perform additional, more complex actions regulated by the norms of a separate law.

Closing an individual entrepreneur through the State Services portal

Another option for closing an individual entrepreneur is to submit papers through the official portal of state and municipal services. Detailed step-by-step instructions can be found on the website itself, which has accessible functionality and is easy to use.

To start working with the site, you will need to register, then fill out the required form in the required selected section and upload documents.

The documents you will need are the same as when closing an individual entrepreneur by visiting the tax authority in person.

If all actions are completed correctly, an electronic notification will be sent to the email address specified in the contact information section.

The period for closing an individual entrepreneur will be the same - 5 working days.

An important nuance is the presence of an electronic digital signature with which documents will be signed. If there is no such signature, then the application on the tax form will have to be filled out separately and submitted in person to the tax service or sent by mail, having previously been certified by a notary.

If there are no difficulties using the site, then submitting documents will not take much time, which will avoid queues and wasting time. But, in fact, this option is not entirely convenient due to the receipt of an electronic signature, since this will require you to go through additional measures, pay money and spend time waiting for its preparation.

Therefore, before choosing a method for closing an individual entrepreneur, you should weigh the pros and cons, including assessing your own capabilities.

Actions after closing an individual entrepreneur

What to do after closing an individual entrepreneur? After completing the event to close the IP, you will need to carry out a certain number of activities.

An individual entrepreneur should remember that deregistration with the tax authority does not interfere with the conduct of a tax audit of activities over the years of work of an individual as an individual entrepreneur. This means that at any time the tax service can request the documents of an individual entrepreneur for analysis.

Therefore, a person who has closed his business should keep working documents for a long time:

• Primary papers must be stored for 4 years.
• For the calculation and payment of insurance premiums - 6 years.

Don’t forget about paying debts to the Pension Fund, creditors and former employees.

There is no need to notify the pension fund yourself; the tax service will provide all the necessary information. Receipts that will need to be paid are usually sent by mail or can be requested by contacting the fund in person. After paying all debt obligations, you will be deregistered with the Pension Fund as an individual entrepreneur. The measures should be carried out within 15 days, starting from the date when the individual entrepreneur was officially recognized as closed by the tax service.

There is no need to delay settlements with creditors and former employees. If debts are not paid, they can sue. In this case, you will have to pay more, since a penalty will be charged on the amount of the principal debt, and employees will have to make additional compensation.

Thus, the closure of an individual entrepreneur is a rather serious step that requires the manifestation of responsibility, both at the closure stage and after it.