How to check a counterparty: an overview of services. Checking counterparties for reliability: specialized services and self-checking How to check the counterparty rating of all possible ways

One-day counterparties can harm both the state in the event of tax evasion and the taxpayer, who will have to prove the validity of the tax benefit received when refunding VAT or when accounting for expenses for tax purposes of profits as a result of interaction with such unscrupulous counterparties.

The inspections are guided by the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of October 12, 2006 No. 53 "", which fixed the main signs of bad faith taxpayer and rules for their determination.

Taxpayers, on the other hand, may contact Public criteria
self-assessment of risks for taxpayers used by tax authorities in the process of selecting objects for conducting field tax audits (approved by order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia dated May 30, 2007 No. MM-3-06 / [email protected]""), as well as clarifications of the financial authorities about in which case the taxpayer is considered to have fulfilled the obligation to check the counterparty.

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

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

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

7. Get acquainted with the annual accounting statements of the counterparty... In accordance with clause 89 of the Regulations for the management accounting and accounting statements v Russian Federation(approved by the Ministry of Finance of Russia dated July 29, 1998 No. 34n), the organization's annual financial statements are open to interested users(banks, investors, lenders, buyers, suppliers, etc.), who can familiarize themselves with it and receive copies of it with reimbursement of copying costs, and the organization should provide an opportunity for interested users to familiarize themselves with the accounting statements.

In addition, Rosstat is obliged to provide information on the annual financial statements of organizations free of charge (Regulation 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 Administrative Regulations provided by the Federal State Statistics Service public service"Providing interested users with accounting (financial) reporting data legal entities operating on the territory of the Russian Federation ").

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

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

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

And of course, the courts state 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(The Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation of 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, testify to the receipt of an unjustified tax benefit if, prior to the conclusion of the disputed 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, you should pay attention to the following:

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

10. Make a request to the tax office at the place of registration of the counterparty... The courts emphasize that this is also regarded as a manifestation of the prudence of the taxpayer (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, the Third Arbitration Court of Appeal dated October 11, 2013 in case No. A74-5445 / 2012, the Eleventh Arbitration Court of Appeal dated September 5, 2012 in case No. A55-1742 / 2012 ).

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

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

True, sometimes 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(FAS SZO dated July 31, 2013 in case No. A13-8751 / 2012).

But even if the tax office refuses to respond to the request, the fact of his direction will indicate that the taxpayer wished to protect himself when choosing a counterparty and can serve as proof of due diligence in the future. In this case, it is important that the request is submitted personally to the office. tax office(a copy of the request with a mark of acceptance should remain on hand) or by mail with a receipt acknowledgment and a list of attachments (in this case, one copy of the inventory and the returned notice remain).

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

So, they point out that the tax inspectorate has not proved the lack of due diligence of the taxpayer - on the contrary, when making controversial transactions, they were asked for notarized copies required documents... At the same time, the courts emphasize that in the field of tax relations there are presumption of good faith, and law enforcement agencies cannot interpret the concept of "good faith taxpayers" as imposing on taxpayers additional responsibilities not provided for by law (resolution of the FAS MO 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 is often referred to by taxpayers when substantiating their position. In particular, the Court emphasized that the taxpayer cannot be held responsible for the actions of all organizations participating in the multi-stage process of paying and transferring taxes to the budget.

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

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

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

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

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

Check counterparty by TIN for free

Find out everything about the counterparty

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

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

State contracts and licenses of all companies are available in our card index. For example, if you buy alcohol, find out if the supplier has a license.

Another important option - you can find out if the company is being checked: tax, labor, etc.

Subscription cost

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

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

The FTS announced on its website that it had flagged 800,000 companies as unreliable, and it became dangerous to work with them. These tags are in our service. Therefore, you can check all partners and put them under control in one click.

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

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

When making a payment (prepayment) for goods or services, it is necessary to clearly understand that the Supplier will fulfill all his obligations, deliver the goods or provide the service clearly and on time.

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

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

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

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

For free check Counterparty by INN / PSRN / Full name / Name, use the search box:

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

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

Brief Counterparty Verification Algorithm (how to identify a reliable Counterparty using HONESTBUSINESS.RF):

1. The organization must exist, its status must be Active.
2. The company must not be located in special registries tax service (FTS), otherwise a red inscription will appear on the card under the name of the company. For example:
   There is no connection with a legal entity by legal entity. address (according to the Federal Tax Service).
3. Companies that have been operating for less than a year have increased risks (determined by the date of registration). According to statistics, every third company ceases to operate within the first year.
4. The company must be located at the registration address. The company does not have to have a mass registration address. How many companies are still registered at this address is indicated on the card under the address. Bulk addresses are often used by unscrupulous companies or fly-by-night companies.
5. The activities of the company must coincide in meaning with the real activities of the company.
6. The head (director) of the company. If you know who is the head of the company, check this data. There are cases when companies are registered as nominee managers, i.e. persons not taking part in the activity. This is one of the main signs of unscrupulous companies.
7. Check the number of employees. A company that does not have its own employees and material and technical base may not fulfill its obligations.
8. Check for registration with extrabudgetary funds. Without registration, for example, with the Pension Fund, a company cannot transfer funds to the Pension Fund.
9. The authorized capital of the company. The minimum in the Russian Federation is 10,000 rubles. The larger the authorized capital, the lower the risks when working with the Counterparty.
10. It is also worth paying attention to Financial performance(does not apply to companies that have existed for less than a year). Pay attention to the articles: “Net profit (loss)” - a loss-making company may have financial difficulties... The item “Fixed assets” shows the presence of the Property in the ownership of the company.
11. Special attention should be paid to the data of the Arbitration Court (a separate tab in the card of a Legal entity or an Individual Entrepreneur on the HONESTBUSINESS portal). The presence of court cases on default and claims for collection Money to the audited Organization, speaks of the unreliability of the Counterparty.
12. Check FSSP data. The presence of enforcement proceedings indicates the compulsory collection of funds from the audited company.

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

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

In practice, most entrepreneurs, especially beginners, have many questions regarding the process of searching and checking counterparties: what tools should be used, are there free opportunities for this, what information should be analyzed, etc. Moreover, there are no standard rules and criteria for such verification ... All actions that need to be taken are usually developed by companies in the analysis process independently, based on a risk assessment.

According to Andrey Khrykin, the head of the Focus.Forum project, the process of checking counterparties rests on three pillars:

• trustworthiness - the intentions of the company and its relationship with the state and other business partners;
• evaluation - identifying the main evaluation criteria and objective information;
• knowledge - understanding what information should be taken into account and what not.

Why search and check contractors?

Checking a counterparty is a complex and not one-time, as many might think, work. But it is necessary, because the money and the reputation of the company are at stake. It is not for nothing that the tax authorities warn that the responsibility for choosing a counterparty lies entirely with the company. Therefore, she should be interested in assessing the risks and tax consequences that may arise as a result of cooperation with questionable counterparties. If the tax office has claims against one of your counterparties, it is likely that you will unwittingly find yourself involved in trouble.

The verification of new counterparties is also necessary taking into account such a concept as “unreasonable tax benefit”, which is supposed to be received by those entrepreneurs who minimize taxation by evading taxes.

Why the service is convenient:

• The search for a company or individual entrepreneur is carried out by name, address, full name, TIN and other parameters. The relevance and reliability of information is guaranteed through access to official government open sources.
• In addition to fresh extracts from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the user receives data from the Card file of the Supreme Arbitration Court, Federal Service bailiffs, Base of state contracts of the Federal Treasury, United federal register information on bankruptcy, Base of financial statements of organizations of Rosstat.
• The company card, in addition to all other necessary information, includes a selection of links with references to the company on the Internet, which makes it possible to speed up the process of collecting facts by aggregating information from the media, from forums with reviews, from the website of the company itself and the websites of its partners, suppliers and customers, from the issuer's information disclosure page, from news resources.
• The user of the service can put 1000 companies under observation. Upon learning about changes in the data, Contour.Focus will notify the user about them by e-mail.
• The service is able to analyze organizations according to the criteria preset by the user.

Offline check of the counterparty, identification of suspicious signs

Armed with all sorts of free online verification tools, don't forget about offline investigation as well.

What needs to be done?

• Make sure of the actual location of the company at the address indicated in the documents.

This is especially necessary in those cases when you are negotiating, for example, with a manufacturing company, whose activities involve the presence of warehouses and premises for production. Unscrupulous counterparties may indicate non-existent addresses.

• Get to know personally the management of the company when discussing the terms of cooperation and concluding transactions.
• Ensure that the firm intends to comply with the terms of the transaction.

This can only be understood in the course of negotiations, observing the behavior of the leadership. You should be on your guard if the counterparty is in a hurry to conclude a deal and wants to quickly agree on payment, while luring low prices and unrealistic conditions.

• Make sure that the conditions stipulated in the contract are feasible for the counterparty.

Does the counterparty have real opportunities to fulfill the terms of the contract? Will he be able to meet the production or delivery time of the product? Will it violate deadlines when performing work?