In today's realities, no one can be trusted. This primarily applies to business. With whom do we make a deal? How many years on the market? A responsible company or often "throw" their customers and business partners.

In this article, we will analyze step-by-step instructions on how to check for the reliability of business entities - a legal entity or individual entrepreneur online, without leaving your computer, right now on the Internet.

We order an online extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities / EGRIP

An extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (Unified State Register of Legal Entities) or EGRIP (Register of Individual Entrepreneurs) is the first and perhaps the most important “litmus test”. It's completely free. It takes 1 minute.

What you need to check:

1. Go to the tax website https://egrul.nalog.ru,
2. Enter the TIN, PSRN or the name of the legal entity,
3. Enter OGRIP, TIN or full name of an individual entrepreneur,
4. Enter the verification code - captcha.

What can be learned from the information of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities / EGRIP:

1. Actual ORGN, TIN, KPP,
2. Full and abbreviated official name,
3. Official location address,
4. The date of creation of a legal entity or individual entrepreneur (the longer the firm or individual entrepreneur exists, the better),
5. status information,
6. The size of the authorized capital of a legal entity (a capital of more than 10,000 rubles should inspire more confidence),
7. name of the director,
8. Full name or name of the founder,
9. OKVEDs (main types of economic activity) - what the organization does,
10. Other information. For example, about the amendments to the constituent documents.

We check whether any documents for state registration are currently submitted, including changes

If an organization changes its name, registration address or makes any other changes at the present time and such documents are submitted to the tax office, all this can be found out.

Such information is also sometimes extremely useful and you can check it at this link - https://service.nalog.ru/uwsfind.do

Learn about liquidation, reorganization, reduction of authorized capital

Also very important information. If a legal entity has begun the liquidation process, it is obliged to publish a message about this in the state registration bulletin.

We look at whether the tax legal entity itself has been liquidated

There are cases when the tax authority itself decides on the forthcoming exclusion of an inactive legal entity from the register. For example, when there is no activity for a long time and no reporting is submitted.

Search in the register of disqualified persons

Disqualified persons are deprived of the right to engage in certain activities or hold certain positions for a period of 6 months to 3 years. The court decides on this in the administrative proceedings.

There is also a database on the verification of legal entities whose executive bodies include disqualified persons - https://service.nalog.ru/disfind.do

Computing Bulk Registration Addresses

It often happens that hundreds of firms are registered in one small building at a specific address, although physically only 3-4, for example, can actually fit there. In the eyes of the tax authorities, this is also a significant risk factor for entrepreneurs. Such addresses should be avoided. They often testify to one-day firms.

Information about persons in respect of whom the fact of the impossibility of participation (exercise of leadership) in the organization is established (confirmed) in a judicial proceeding

For verification, you need a TIN or ORGN of the organization. Information is updated daily - https://service.nalog.ru/svl.do

We check the organization's debts for taxes and unsubmitted reports for more than 1 year

Almost always, tax debt indicates problems in the organization. Failure to submit reports may indicate that the company was abandoned.

This service provides an opportunity to obtain information about legal entities that have not submitted tax returns for more than a year and / or have tax debts exceeding 1,000 rubles, which were sent for collection to a bailiff.

At the time of publication of this article, the service was working in test mode. To search, you need to specify the TIN of the taxpayer. Information is updated once a month - https://service.nalog.ru/zd.do

We find out whether the head or founder is a member of several companies

This service provides an opportunity to obtain information about individuals who are directors or founders (participants) of several legal entities.

To search, you need to select the sign of an individual - Head or Founder, indicate the TIN and full name.

Information is updated once a week - https://service.nalog.ru/mru.do

We check the organization or individual entrepreneur on the basis of bailiffs

According to the bank of enforcement proceedings, it is possible to check whether enforcement proceedings have been initiated on the basis of court decisions that have entered into force in relation to organizations and individuals (IP).

You can also find out the amount of outstanding debt in monetary terms. Naturally, if an organization has appeared here and a lot of debts hang on it, you should not mess with it.

To search for legal entities, you need to select a region and enter the name of the debtor enterprise. We are looking for individual entrepreneurs in the database of individuals.

There is also a search by the number of IP (enforcement proceedings) and by the number of ID (executive document).

We calculate whether the firm or individual entrepreneur is suing now or has sued before

Here you need to use 2 bases: SOYU (courts of general jurisdiction - "civil" and AC (arbitration courts - "commercial").

In the first case, we will identify legal disputes between the organization and citizens. In the second - disputes with other entrepreneurs and organizations.

1. Search by cases and judicial acts — https://sudrf.ru/index.php?id=300#sp
2. Search for judicial acts - https://bsr1.sudrf.ru/bigs/portal.html
3. BRAS (Bank of decisions of arbitration courts) - http://ras.arbitr.ru
4. KAD (Card file of arbitration cases - current court cases) - http://kad.arbitr.ru

When searching, you should not set too narrow limits. You can start simply with the name of the organization and region.

In arbitration cases, interesting information may emerge. For example, that the company began to go bankrupt.

Search by courts should be given special attention. As for the AU, the information is more clearly structured there, but in the SOY the base is not complete and there are often many errors. But even with these tools, you can learn a lot.

Kommersant and the Unified Federal Register of Bankruptcy Information

These resources also provide information about the bankruptcy of an organization.

The Kommersant newspaper is the official publication source for such information.

1. Businessman - https://www.kommersant.ru/bankruptcy
2. Unified federal register of bankruptcy information - http://bankrot.fedresurs.ru

The last resource has a very good functionality - the ability to subscribe to monitoring the bankruptcy of a particular organization. Thus, you will not miss a single news and a single message from the arbitration manager on the company you are interested in.

Decisions to Suspend Account Operations

This is a tax service. You can find out:

• Are there any claims from the tax
• Risks of non-collection of funds in case of non-fulfillment of obligations.

Register of unscrupulous contractors and performers

This is official information posted on the website of the Unified Information System in the field of procurement. A kind of state "black list" of bad organizations. There is not much information - more than 10,000. But who knows, maybe here you will find what you were looking for - http://zakupki.gov.ru/epz/dishonestsupplier/quicksearch/search.html

Before concluding a contract, each businessman must check his subscriber by TIN. This is an extremely important procedure by which it is possible to foresee the further outcome of events, especially if it is necessary to transfer money to someone's account in an especially large amount.

TIN is an individual taxpayer number. It consists of twelve digits, the so-called peculiar cipher, knowing which it is possible to audit any individual and legal entity. A TIN is used in every government organization, and a private person can get it after the age of fourteen.

To obtain this document, you must complete and submit an application to the tax office of your city. Individual entrepreneurs who have not issued a TIN receive it automatically when registering their business. This code enables the state to control the process of paying the necessary taxes and deductions, as well as to carry out verification, etc.

For individuals, a TIN number is needed in such cases as:

1. Passport processing;
2. When applying for an official job;
3. Opening of IP, etc.

For legal entities:

1. Getting a loan from a bank;
2. Submission of reporting documents to the tax office;
3. When drawing up contracts, etc.

How to check if an organization exists by TIN?

To check if this or that organization exists, you only need to know the TIN. The taxpayer identification number gives you the opportunity to find out absolutely all the information: full name, address, type of activity, liquid or prosperous enterprise, etc.

To obtain the data, you need to contact the tax service, but you can also check this on our website online. Having at your disposal information about the company from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities from the site on the date of registration of your transaction, you already significantly increase your chances of success.

Would you start working with companies if you knew that they would soon or already be bankrupt? In order to warn yourself and save yourself from getting into such situations, it is best to check your counterparty for TIN and extracts from the tax service at the initial stage of work.

Today, the main source of information about the financial and economic activities of the organization is financial statements. At the same time, the financial statements package includes the so-called “Statement of Financial Results” or Form No. 2 (according to RAS standards).

It is this report that contains information on the company's revenue, as well as other important financial performance indicators. Revenue can be seen on the line under the code "2110". In this report, information is presented for the reporting and previous periods of the organization's activities. In more detail about how and where revenue with and without VAT is reflected in the income statement, we tell in.

Reference! According to IFRS, this document is also called the Profit and Loss Statement.

Read how revenue received from customers under IFRS is taken into account.

Who has the right to request information?

It should immediately be noted that financial statements are public records and do not constitute trade secrets(p. 11). In this regard, any interested person has the right to request information about the company.

The statement of financial results, as well as other forms included in the general package of financial statements, must be compiled by each organization without fail.

So, In general, the list of persons entitled to request information on the company's revenue includes:

• state bodies;
• investors;
• business partners;
• suppliers;
• creditors, etc.

Why might this be necessary?

The purposes for which this information may be needed may differ depending on the category of persons requesting it.

So let's take a closer look, Why do you need information about the company's revenue:

How to check the organization's earnings: step by step instructions

Currently, there are several ways to obtain information about the company's revenue figure. You can get information directly from the accounting department of the company or find out the necessary data on the Internet. So let's take a closer look at both methods.

In the Internet

In the age of technology, there are more and more opportunities to obtain information of interest regarding any counterparty in a short period of time.

So, today there are many information sites where financial statements of various business entities are published for wide use (For example, spark-interfax.ru, zachestnyibiznes.ru, unirate24.ru, etc.). With the help of Internet resources, you can quickly see the revenue of any company.

So, we present the general algorithm of actions:

Summing up, it should be noted that at present, almost any counterparty, without much effort, has the opportunity to find out in a short time the amount of revenue of a particular organization received for a certain period of time.

At the same time, the traditional paper version of data presentation is increasingly fading into the background, since any information can be obtained in a few minutes via the Internet.

First of all, you need to make sure that the company is registered in the prescribed manner and operates. This can be done in many ways.

Check TIN

Make sure that the supplier's TIN is not a random set of numbers, but a real digital code that belongs to the company offering the deal.

It is very easy to check this, since the TIN has its own algorithm, and a fake number, most likely, will not match it. You can recognize an error in the TIN in any program for preparing information about the income of individuals by entering the number in the "TIN of the employer" field. If the number does not satisfy the algorithm, an error message will appear.

At the same time, you can establish the authenticity of the TIN and its belonging to a particular company on the website of the Federal Tax Service or using the counterparty verification service.

Request a copy of the state registration certificate (or an entry sheet in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities)

The state registration certificate confirms that the counterparty exists as a legal entity and is registered as a taxpayer. From January 1, 2017, when registering legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, instead of a certificate of state registration, a record sheet of the required register is issued - ERGUL or EGRIP. Thus, the entry sheet is a document confirming the fact of making an entry in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities or EGRIP.

In accordance with clause 13 of the Rules for Maintaining the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the entry sheet of the state register is included in the registration file of a legal entity. In accordance with clause 19 of the Rules for Maintaining the USRIP, the entry sheet of the state register is included in the registration file of an individual entrepreneur.

Get an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities / EGRIP

A fresh extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities confirms that the counterparty is registered and has not been deregistered at the time of its receipt. In addition, according to the extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, you can check the details specified by counterparties in contracts and other documents.

An extract can be requested directly from a potential partner or using the FTS service.

The balance sheet allows you to draw several important conclusions about the company at once:

• First, he confirms that the company is reporting.
• Secondly, it allows you to establish whether the organization conducted economic activities.
• Thirdly, from accounting you can learn about the "portfolio" of funds that the company has. If a company has practically zero asset value, significant debt obligations and an authorized capital of 10,000 rubles, this is a reason to think about whether it is worth giving such a company, for example, a commodity loan. Turnovers that are too low compared to the amount of the proposed transaction may also indicate that the supplier hides part of the income. In this case, it is better to refuse the transaction.

On the basis of financial statements, it is easy to draw up a financial analysis that will show the dynamics of the company's activities and allow assessing its financial stability. In the service on the company card, you can find links to financial statements and mini-financial analysis, which will allow you to immediately see the key points in the accounting forms without having to study a large and complex financial statement for the company.

Information about legal entities that have tax arrears and / or have not submitted tax returns for more than a year can also be obtained on the website of the Federal Tax Service.

Additional analytics

It is necessary to verify the integrity of the counterparty and collect evidence that you have carried out the necessary verification. Why is it important? In the event of a lawsuit, this will confirm that your company has shown .

From the point of view of the tax authorities (), the company has not shown due diligence if it does not have:

• personal contacts of the management in the counterparty company when discussing the terms of supply and when signing contracts;
• documentary confirmation of the authority of the head of the counterparty company, copies of a document proving his identity;
• information about the actual location of the counterparty, as well as the location of warehouse, production, retail space;
• information about the method of obtaining information about the counterparty (advertising, recommendations of partners, official website, etc.);
• information on the state registration of the counterparty in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities;
• information on whether the counterparty has the necessary license (if the transaction is concluded within the framework of a licensed activity), a certificate of admission to a certain type of work issued by a self-regulatory organization;
• information about other market participants of similar goods, works, services, including those who offer lower prices.

Company information

Bulk registration address

A mass address is one of the signs of one-day firms. At the end of 2017, the Ministry of Finance issued a warning that if there is confirmed information about the inaccuracy of the information provided about the address of the legal entity, the registering authority has the right to refuse registration. According to the document, the facts of including information about the mass registration address are the basis for verifying the reliability of data in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. Thus, by registering companies at a mass address, a legal entity or individual entrepreneur risks being denied registration.

But the tightening of control over mass addresses applies not only to new businesses, but also to already registered companies: the tax office sends letters to companies that need to provide reliable information about their address to the registration authority. It will not be possible to ignore the notification of the tax authorities: if the address is not confirmed, the documents submitted do not correspond to reliability, then an entry is made in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities about incorrect information about the address, which may lead to the exclusion of the organization from the register, according to. It is all the more dangerous to enter into contracts with counterparties registered at mass addresses.

How to check the "mass character" of the address? Firstly, a service is available on the website of the Federal Tax Service that checks the address entered by the user with a list of mass addresses. Secondly, it shows which companies are registered at the same address as the counterparty of interest to the user, service. In a number of cases, such a “neighborhood”, even if we are not talking about mass registration, may turn out to be significant.

The actual location of the counterparty

In itself, the discrepancy between the actual and legal address does not characterize the counterparty in any way. According to the Federal Tax Service, almost 80% of Russian companies are not located at the legal address specified during registration. But the tax office recommends checking the actual location of the counterparty along with other data.

Such information can be obtained by visiting the legal or actual address of the prospective partner. This will allow not only to clarify whether the counterparty's office is actually located there, but also to look at the premises, production or retail space, and talk with employees and neighbors in the office building. Such a visit can be especially productive if it is done incognito, under the guise of a buyer or potential partner.

In Contour.Focus, you can view the panorama of buildings and surroundings for the specified legal entity in one click. This option is called .

The feasibility of the terms of the contract for the counterparty

It is necessary to have clear evidence that the counterparty has a real ability to fulfill the terms of the contract. First of all, the time spent on the delivery or production of goods, the performance of work or the provision of services is taken into account.

Violations of tax laws

The taxpayer has the right to request from the tax authorities information on the payment of taxes by counterparties. At the same time, it does not matter whether the inspection will respond to the company's request. The Code does not establish the obligation of tax authorities to provide taxpayers, at their request, with information on the fulfillment by counterparties of the obligations stipulated by the legislation on taxes and fees, or on their violations of the law ().

As arbitration practice shows, the very fact of applying to the tax office with a request to assist in checking the integrity of counterparties testifies to the company's due diligence.

In order for the fact of contacting the inspectorate to be recorded, the request should be sent by registered mail with a return receipt (you have one copy of the inventory and the returned notification) or submit a request personally to the office of the tax inspectorate (in this case, a copy of the request with a mark of acceptance remains on hand) .

Arbitration cases

"Black list" on the website of the Federal Tax Service

This is a register of disqualified persons. Disqualification is an administrative punishment that consists in depriving an individual of certain rights, in particular, the right to hold senior positions in the executive management body of a legal entity, to be a member of the board of directors (supervisory board), to carry out entrepreneurial activities to manage a legal entity.

The grounds for disqualification may be intentional or fictitious bankruptcy, concealment of property or property obligations, falsification of accounting and other accounting documents, etc.

To avoid cooperation with companies whose head was disqualified, it is enough to check a potential partner through a special service on the website of the Federal Tax Service. The search is carried out by the name of the legal entity and PSRN.

By the end of 2018, the Federal Tax Service launched the Transparent Business service in test mode, which can be used to collect comprehensive information about a taxpayer - an organization and exercise due diligence.

If you enter data about the TIN, PSRN or company name in the search, the following information will appear:

• the date of state registration and the main state registration number of the legal entity, the method of formation of the legal entity and the name of the registering authority;
• information about the registration of the organization in the tax authority;
• state of the legal entity;
• address of the legal entity and information about the address of mass registration;
• OKVED;
• the size of the authorized capital;
• inaccurate data about the head of the company, the management of the activities of many other legal entities;
• category of the subject of small and medium business.

You should pay attention to the triangle sign, which may appear in the section as a warning. This means that the information requires special attention.

Powers of the person signing the documents

The Ministry of Finance recommends that when checking counterparties, obtain documentary evidence of the authority of the head (his representative). If the documents are signed by a representative of the company, a power of attorney or other document authorizing this or that person to sign documents on behalf of the company must be obtained from the counterparty.

The Ministry of Finance also recommends that taxpayers request identification documents from the head of the counterparty company. This will confirm that the documents are signed by the person who has the authority to do so. In addition, there may be cases when the counterparty is registered on a lost or stolen passport. You can find this out on the FMS website.

Transaction Information

Confirmation of personal contacts when concluding a transaction

The lack of personal contacts during the conclusion of the transaction may indicate that the taxpayer did not exercise due diligence. The collected data on the circumstances of the conclusion of the contract with the counterparty (who participated in the negotiations, who released the goods, etc.) will help to prove the opposite.

Verification of transaction documents

This procedure avoids not only the claims of the tax authorities, but also possible litigation.

• check the address indicated in the documents of the counterparty, in particular, in invoices;
• make sure that the supplier's documents do not contain logical contradictions and comply with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and other laws;
• compare the signatures of employees on documents in order to exclude the situation when different signatures are put on behalf of one person (it is better to exclude such documents so that the Federal Tax Service does not claim that they are fictitious).

This list of "filters" is not exhaustive. There are other ways to be careful in choosing a counterparty and get the most complete information about it.