Check whether the company exists by its tax identification number. Checking the LLC name for uniqueness

First of all, you need to make sure that the company is registered in the prescribed manner and is operating. This can be done in different 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 transaction.

It is very easy to check this, since the Taxpayer Identification Number has its own algorithm, and a fake number most likely will not correspond to it. You can recognize an error in the TIN in any program for preparing information on the income of individuals by entering the number in the “Employer TIN” 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 affiliation with a particular company on the Federal Tax Service website or using the counterparty verification service.

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

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

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 Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs, 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/Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs

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 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 Federal Tax Service service.

Balance allows you to do several things at once important conclusions About company:

• Firstly, it confirms that the company submits reports.
• Secondly, it allows you to establish whether the organization conducted economic activities.
• Thirdly, from accounting records 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 trade loan. The company's turnover that is too low compared to the amount of the proposed transaction may also indicate that the supplier is hiding part of the income. In this case, it is better to refuse the deal.

Based on financial statements data, it is easy to create the financial analysis, which will show the dynamics of the company’s activities and allow you to assess 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 key points in accounting forms without the need to study a large and complex financial report for the company.

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

Additional Analytics

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

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

• personal contacts of management in the counterparty company when discussing delivery terms and when signing contracts;
• documentary confirmation of the authority of the head of the counterparty company, copies of his identity document;
• information about the actual location of the counterparty, as well as the location of warehouse, production, and retail space;
• information on 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 about 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 works issued 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 fly-by-night companies. At the end of 2017, the Ministry of Finance issued a warning that if there is confirmed information about the unreliability of the information submitted about the address of a legal entity, the registration authority has the right to refuse registration. According to the document, the inclusion of information about the mass registration address is the basis for checking the accuracy of the 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 tightening control over mass addresses concerns not only new businesses, but also 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 from the tax authorities: if the address is not confirmed, the submitted documents do not correspond to reliability, then an entry about incorrect information about the address is made in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, which may lead to the exclusion of the organization from the register, according to. Concluding agreements with counterparties registered at mass addresses is all the more dangerous.

How to check the “mass” of an address? Firstly, a service is available on the Federal Tax Service website 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 or service the user is interested in. In some cases, such “neighborhood,” even if we are not talking about mass registration, may turn out to be significant.

Actual location of the counterparty

The discrepancy between the actual and legal addresses in itself 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 intended partner. This will allow you not only to clarify whether the counterparty’s office is actually located there, but also to look at the premises, production or retail space, talk with employees and neighbors office building. Such a visit can be especially productive if it is made incognito, under the guise of a buyer or potential partner.

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

Enforceability of the terms of the contract for the counterparty

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

Violations of tax laws

The taxpayer has the right to request from the tax authorities information about the payment of taxes by counterparties. It does not matter whether the inspection responds to the company’s request. The Code does not establish the obligation of tax authorities to provide taxpayers, upon their requests, with information about the fulfillment by counterparties of the obligations provided for by the legislation on taxes and fees, or about their violations of the law ().

As arbitration practice shows, the company’s due diligence is evidenced by the very fact of contacting the tax office with a request to assist in verifying the integrity of counterparties.

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

Arbitration cases

“Black list” on the Federal Tax Service website

We are talking about a register of disqualified persons. Disqualification is an administrative penalty that consists of deprivation individual certain rights, in particular the right to occupy leadership positions in executive body management of a legal entity, join the board of directors (supervisory board), carry out entrepreneurial activity on the management of a legal entity.

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

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

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 the taxpayer organization and exercise due diligence.

If you enter information about the TIN, OGRN or company name into the search, the following information will appear:

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

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 documents

When checking counterparties, the Ministry of Finance recommends obtaining documentary evidence of the authority of the manager (his representative). If the documents are signed by a company representative, you must obtain a power of attorney or other document from the counterparty authorizing a person to sign documents on behalf of the company.

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 out this on the FMS website.

Transaction information

Confirmation of personal contacts when concluding a transaction

A lack of personal contact when concluding a transaction may indicate that the taxpayer did not exercise due diligence. The collected data on the circumstances of concluding an agreement with the counterparty (who participated in the negotiations, who sold the goods, etc.) will help prove the opposite.

Verification of transaction documents

This procedure allows you to avoid not only claims from tax authorities, but also possible legal disputes.

• check the address indicated in the counterparty’s documents, 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 employee signatures on documents in order to eliminate the situation when different signatures are placed on behalf of one person (it is better to exclude such documents so that the Federal Tax Service does not declare them fictitious).

The given list of “filters” is incomplete. There are other ways to exercise caution in choosing a counterparty and obtain the most complete information about him.

In this material, I have combined many ways to check the organizations with which you are going to cooperate. Checking a company is actually quite simple: just follow the steps according to the checklist below. Almost all of the above methods for checking companies are free.

Has to be one of the most useful services. It is not for nothing that disputes continue to rage about whether the list of information provided constitutes a disclosure of tax secrets.

In the future, the service should become an effective tool for identifying ephemeral scams.

However, as of August 1, 2018 (when its full version should be launched), the service is “knocked out.” There is no time frame for restoring functionality.

One of the main services for verifying legal entities. You can search by TIN or by organization name. The service is located on the tax office website and can be used for free. The result of the company search is current information from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities in the form of an extract.

The most important thing that allows you to check the service (and what is very often ignored when concluding a deal! - which is simply a paradox) is the reality of the organization’s existence.

In the statement you can see the following information:

• about the director;
• about the founders;
• date of creation of the legal entity;
• information about reorganization, liquidation, etc.;
• size of the authorized capital;
• OKVED codes and other information.

An extract from the “Check yourself and your counterparty” service can also be used to join a claim in the event of a legal dispute in arbitration courts.

You can check both individual entrepreneurs and legal entities.

The service allows you to “break through” the company’s debts that have already reached the point of forced collection before service bailiffs.

Allows you to evaluate:

• the presence and total amount of debts of the organization (and, accordingly, its relations with other companies);
• presence of claims from the tax inspectorate, Pension Fund, etc.;
• the likelihood of bankruptcy of a legal entity.

Through this database You can also find the debts of the director of the organization and its founders. This can also reveal a lot about them, and in some cases may have direct consequences for you (for example, challenging transactions).

Also very important files reflecting disputes in arbitration courts throughout Russia.

On the one hand, the presence of disputes in the courts is an indicator of the real activity of the company and this gives some confidence that you are not dealing with a fly-by-night company.

However, for a deeper analysis, it is better to study the most typical court decisions for a given legal entity and especially pay attention to whether there are court decisions related to its bankruptcy. Also look at how regularly your potential counterparty pays off with its partners and how demanding it is in its relations with them.

Information on the bankruptcy of legal entities is officially published in Kommersant. There you can find information not only about the fact of declaring bankruptcy, but also other information provided for by bankruptcy legislation (for example, about meetings).

Also useful in this regard is the “Unified Federal Register of Bankruptcy Information” bankrot.fedresurs.ru.

A non-state service is an aggregator of court decisions of arbitration courts and courts of general jurisdiction. Possibility of searching by judges, by regions, by specific representatives.

The greatest usefulness is when searching for decisions of courts of general jurisdiction in relation to the director and founders of a legal entity.

The check is useful because:

• allows you to find out whether the organization is a small or medium-sized business (in some cases this matters);
• shows that the organization submitted reports in the last reporting period, since it is on the basis of this data that the status is assigned.

Direct usefulness, of course, for state and municipal organizations.

However, if your potential counterparty is on this “black list,” this is a reason to think about his honesty.

Despite the fact that at the top there is the inscription “Prosecutor General’s Office...”, the service also shows planned and completed inspections of other regulatory and supervisory authorities (for example, the labor inspectorate). Of course, such inspections may result in administrative suspension of activities, large fines and other penalties if violations are detected. Therefore, the service is very useful.

Useful, for example, in the case of purchasing equipment with identification numbers or cars for your organization. The information in the register is of an official nature.

In case of purchasing real estate (buildings, offices, structures), checking these registers is mandatory!

Currently, there are two essentially independent registers - the cadastre and the Unified State Register. Information about the object must be requested from both registers.

You can use both the official website and websites that are partners of Rosreestr. Through partner sites, statements can be received in no more than a few hours, through the official service - in a week.

Example of a quick statement website: vrosreestre.ru

The extracts contain information about the owners, encumbrances, legal claims, as well as real (legally significant) characteristics of the object.

Of course, if a transaction is concluded for the supply of office supplies, this check is not necessary.

But it is useful if you hire a specialist to perform certain work or services (for example, a lawyer or an auditor). Allows you to verify the qualifications of the specialist.

The only problem is that the Rosobrnadzor website barely works. But maybe you'll get lucky.

This database does not yet contain all documents, but it is being updated.

Can a company saddled with large debts or involved in complex legal proceedings, to be a reliable counterparty? Hardly. Sooner or later, such a partner will definitely set you up. Willingly or unwittingly. There are many ways to check a potential counterparty. Large companies can afford the services of professionals and order due diligence on the side. Small and medium-sized businesses have to independently search for information in open sources. However, if you approach the matter responsibly and use all available tools, in most cases this will be enough.

First of all, go to the Federal Service website tax service“Information on state registration of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, peasant (farm) farms”. All data entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE) is presented here. The most important thing for you is the date of registration of the enterprise, its authorized capital, information about current state(or about termination of activity).

The “Date of OGRN assignment” section helps to identify fly-by-night companies - it is better not to cooperate with recently created companies.

A modest authorized capital does not directly indicate the unreliability of a legal entity. Even big companies often form it in minimum size provided by law (for LLC - 10,000 rubles). But the significant size of the authorized capital shows that the counterparty is absolutely reliable - if you have property claims, you will be able to compensate for them at the expense of the authorized capital.

Pay special attention to the sections “Information about the status of the legal entity” and “Information about termination of activities” - in order to avoid cooperation with a company that is at the stage of liquidation or has already been closed. Be sure to clarify who the Unified State Register of Legal Entities calls general director companies. This will protect you from concluding an agreement with a “false director” - a person who does not have the authority to do so.

The next step is to check the future counterparty through the Federal Tax Service service “Addresses indicated during state registration as the location of several legal entities.” Make sure that the registration address of the future partner is not in the database of mass registration addresses - those where dozens or hundreds of companies are simultaneously registered. If you meet a counterparty on this black list, with a high degree of probability you are dealing either with a not very conscientious company or even with a fly-by-night company.

Another useful service of the Federal Tax Service is “Information about legal entities with tax arrears.” If a company has stained itself with non-payment of taxes or failed to submit tax reports on time, expect financial problems from cooperation with it.

You can also check a company for tax claims at information system Federal Bailiff Service "Data Bank of Enforcement Proceedings". Here you can find information about the company's outstanding or collected debts, as well as their size.

It would be useful to check a potential counterparty through information resource“Card index of arbitration cases”, which contains information about legal disputes involving the company. It's bad if there are a lot of them. Especially if these are mainly disputes surrounding debt collection. In addition, here you can find out whether the company has started bankruptcy proceedings. If she started, this should automatically cross her off from the list of your possible counterparties.

Finally, two more important tools for checking potential partners are the services “Search for messages published in the journal “Bulletin of State Registration”” and “Search for messages published in the newspaper “Kommersant” about insolvency (bankruptcy)”. The first allows you to find out whether a decision was made to liquidate the company, reorganize it, reduce the authorized capital, as well as other facts about which legal entities are required to publish in accordance with the law. The second service allows you to study information only about the bankruptcy of a company.

The listed services allow you to check the reliability of counterparties to the extent that it is generally possible to do on your own, without requiring financial documents from a potential partner or involving external auditors or lawyers.

Cover photo: David Madison/Getty Images

Statistics show us a not very pleasant fact: a transaction with every 20 organizations usually ends in losses only because the counterparty company did not check it for reliability. How to study the company's reputation and come to honest cooperation? Let's try to figure it out.

In what cases should counterparties be checked?

Verification of counterparties is usually carried out either experienced businessmen, or experienced lawyers. Do you know why? Because they have already understood that they need to work only with reliable companies and, moreover, only you are responsible for checking this reliability.

To ensure that there are no unpleasant situations when working with a counterparty, it is customary to “run” new partners through a whole list of checks. Moreover, there are a number of cases when such checks are mandatory:

1. If you decide to work with a new partner for the first time. Checking will help you avoid possible mistakes.
2. If you are aware that a potential counterparty is new company, which registered just recently. Of course, a new company by itself cannot bear risks, however, working with it can still do its best.
3. If you know that a potential counterparty is not very flatteringly spoken about. Of course, no one has canceled the evil language of competition, but still the old proverb says “trust, but verify.”
4. If a potential counterparty works exclusively on prepayment. By checking the company for reliability, you can protect yourself from under-delivery of goods or from providing low-quality services.

Checking a company is a separate service that many organizations provide, however, with the proper skill and free time, you can do it yourself.

The relevance of checking the company's reliability for different areas business should not be questioned. Even in such a seemingly undeniably reliable activity as leasing, there are not entirely honest “players”.

What information can you get about a potential partner?

So, let's look at what information you can get about a company using simple Internet access. The easiest way is to go to the tax service website and use a search to find all the necessary information there, or use the services of third-party resources, which, by the way, are sometimes paid.

Checking the TIN

The first thing that characterizes a company as a company that really works and works honestly is the TIN. If you have an organization’s TIN, then you can easily check how real it is. TIN, or individual tax number, is a code built using a special algorithm. If the company took it out of its head, then checking this number through any service convenient for you will not give any result.

The easiest way to check your TIN is to use the verification service on the tax service website (more details on this at the end of the article).

We request a certificate of state registration

Requesting a certificate of registration is the right way find out how realistic the activities of a potential counterparty are. This way we will find out whether the company actually exists, that is, whether it is registered with the Federal Tax Service as a taxpayer.

Of course, the presence of a certificate does not yet tell us that the company is very reliable. Maybe she has just ceased her activities, or maybe she does not submit reports, or is generally a tax debtor.

You can request a copy of the state registration certificate directly from the company, or again use the services of third-party resources.

We receive an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities/Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs

If you can get a fresh extract for the counterparty from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities/Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs, this means that the organization is still afloat. Moreover, the extract contains all the necessary information to verify the integrity of the organization: its owner, place of registration, licenses and other data.

The extract can be downloaded from the official website of the Russian Tax Service (which is much easier) or requested from a potential partner. If you need a certified extract from the register, you can apply for it at any branch of the Russian Tax Service.

We analyze financial statements

An excellent tool for analyzing an organization is the analysis of its financial statements. Request a balance sheet from the counterparty, or use third-party services.

Using your balance, you can check several types of data at once:

• the company successfully closes quarters and submits reports;
• the company conducts business activities;
• What assets does the company own?

The assets of a company are, first of all, its authorized and other types of capital and liabilities. If a company has practically no assets, then this is a reason for you to think about whether it is worth connecting your business with it.

Also, if you know that you are planning a major transaction with a company, and its assets or turnover are very small compared to the amount of the transaction, then this is also a reason to think: most likely it is hiding part of the income, which also does not show it on the positive side.

Based on the balance sheet, you can make a full-fledged financial analysis, which can not only demonstrate the company’s development vector, but also understand how stable it is on its feet. If you need a reliable partner, then this is one of the main indicators.

Checking the registration address for “mass”

What do you know about mass registration address? Most likely nothing. However, this is one of the most basic signs of so-called fly-by-night companies. If you are afraid that your counterparty may be just such a company, then just check their address.

This can be done on the tax service website at service.nalog.ru/addrfind.do.

Most companies are registered at one address, but are actually located at a completely different address. We also advise you to check the actual address of the company’s location - whether the partner’s office actually exists and what it is. If you have not previously worked with this partner and the amount of the planned transaction is high, then such a check will not be superfluous.

Checking tax arrears and reporting

If you doubt that your counterparty is playing honestly, then, just in case, ask the Federal Tax Service for information about the payment of taxes by this company.

What is it for? It's simple. If the case between you and your counterparty reaches arbitration, then your contact with the Federal Tax Service for additional information will be a huge plus. In order to record the fact of the application, the request must be submitted in person, and the Federal Tax Service office must mark the receipt of the request (or send the request by registered mail with notification).

Knowing his TIN, you can conduct such a check of the counterparty on the tax service website - service.nalog.ru/zd.do.

Taking into account the fact that this online service operates in test mode, you need to understand that the information received cannot be considered 100% reliable.

Government contracts

Government contracts are a great way to verify all the data about a prospective partner. Executing companies for such transactions are selected very strictly. So, for example, the executor cannot be a company that has debts. If a company sometimes enters into government contracts, this is an indicator of its reliability and stable position in the market.

You can check a company for participation in government procurement on the website zakupki.gov.ru, or on other electronic trading platforms.

People data

What kind of people are we talking about in this case? First of all, about the management and founders. So, along with mass registration, there is also such a thing as “mass leadership”. If a person is a director in several companies at once, then you have every reason to believe that the potential counterparty is a fly-by-night.

In addition to the fact that you will see how many companies a person manages, you will also have access to data about all the companies that he previously led. If you find out that many of the companies that a person led went bankrupt, then this is a reason to think: most likely, you are dealing with an unscrupulous company, which may not exist tomorrow.

It would be a good idea to check whether the manager is listed in the register of disqualified persons. This can be done on the tax service website - service.nalog.ru/disqualified.do.

Checking an organization by TIN on the website of the Tax Service of Russia

Let's try to figure out how to find and check a counterparty using the TIN on the tax service website. To do this, follow the link egrul.nalog.ru, or open home page resource and in the “Electronic Services” section, select “Business risks: check yourself and your counterparty.”

You already know by what parameters you can check a company through the resource of the tax service of the Russian Federation, so now we will look at the most common of the necessary checks - checking by TIN.

For example, we will check the TIN of PJSC GAZPROM. Don’t forget that in addition to checking legal entities, checking of individual entrepreneurs is also available there.

As you can see, everything is extremely simple. We enter the individual tax number in the required window and enter the captcha to confirm that we are not a robot.

The result is pleasing: the tax office immediately provides the company’s location address, its OGRN, INN, KPP, as well as the date of assignment of the OGRN:

conclusions

To avoid misunderstandings when working with a new counterparty, it is necessary to check its reliability. Such a check can easily be carried out on the official website of the Russian Tax Service or use other services.

Based on the results of the check, you can draw conclusions - whether you should start cooperation with a new company, or whether you need to cut off all ties right now.

Video - why it is important to check counterparties before concluding a deal:

You begin negotiations with a potential partner, but something about him arouses suspicion. What if he is no longer a legal entity, but a fraudster? In the end, this often happens: the company no longer officially exists (went bankrupt or closed for any other reason), and its former manager trying to conclude good deal with a decent entrepreneur. How can you find out if a company has been liquidated?

Extract - at any cost!

Let us remind you that information about everyone Russian companies are contained in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities - the unified state register of legal entities. The data in this registry is updated almost in real time. Displayed in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities full information about a particular company - its legal form, name, registration information and, what is especially important for us, status.

None of the other official or unofficial acts contain absolutely reliable information about the status of the company. You can only find out whether a company is operating or has already died from the registry. There are two ways to view the register.

We use the online service of the Federal Tax Service

The easiest way to get to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities is through the official website of the Federal Tax Service (http://egrul.nalog.ru/). Here you can get information about legal entities, private entrepreneurs and peasant (farm) enterprises. You can find out whether an organization has been liquidated by using the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) - just enter the number in the appropriate box. If you don’t know the TIN, it doesn’t matter – you can get by with the full name of the company. True, if the name is common (“Elena”, “Aurora”, some kind of “Romashka”, etc.), there is a risk of running into a dozen similar companies. As a result, you will have to calculate the required one using logic and intuition, which is quite tedious.

The statement itself is presented in the form of a PDF file, which can be downloaded directly from the website. Previously, the online version of the extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities was “shortened” - in electronic version Only basic information was displayed. Now electronic and paper version are equivalent in terms of information content.

Online access to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities is not limited and is provided to all users. By the way, you won’t have to pay a state fee – the service is absolutely free. Another advantage is that the “electronic” statement is not inferior to the paper one in legal force. If, for example, you need to use it in court as evidence, you can print the downloaded report on a regular printer and then put your signature on each sheet. The law allows you to attach this printout to the statement of claim and use it during the trial.

The described method has many advantages and not a single flaw. Simple, fast, convenient and free.

We receive an extract from the Federal Tax Service office

If the previous option does not suit you for some reason, you can go the traditional route. The traditional path leads straight to the Federal Tax Service inspection department, where you will need to submit a request to receive information from the unified register. You can come to the branch either at your place of residence or at the location of the “suspicious” company. The whole procedure takes place in the following order.

1. First you will need to pay the state fee. Its standard size is 200 rubles. If you want to receive an extract immediately (more precisely, the next day after applying), you will have to pay 400 rubles to the cashier. Details for paying the duty can be obtained either at the Federal Tax Service office or on the official website of the tax office. You have the right to make a payment both at the branch of any of the tax service partner banks and online (yes, everything on the same website).
2. The second stage is drawing up a written request. There is no unified request form, so it is written in any form. You will need to indicate the name of the company you are interested in (full or abbreviated) or its OGRN/TIN. If you need an extract urgently (and you paid a fee of 400 rubles), add the note “urgently” to your request. At the end, indicate the delivery option that is convenient for you (by hand or by mail).
3. After 5 working days (or the next day if you ordered an “urgent” statement) you will receive a report and finally find out whether the organization has been liquidated or not. An extract is issued at the same tax office. As mentioned above, you can also order “delivery by mail”, but this is not the best option– most likely, the letter will arrive only in a week, not earlier.
4. By the way, the request itself can also be sent to tax authorities by mail. This is not recommended for the same reason - you will have to wait a very long time.

This method is difficult to recommend - it’s too long and inconvenient, and you’ll also have to waste time and money. However, it also has two advantages:

1. In addition to the extract, you can order copies of documents from the tax office that relate to the company you are interested in and are contained in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (various certificates, statements, etc.). Perhaps some of them will be useful in the future. For each document you will also have to pay 200 (or 400) rubles.
2. Extracts received from the inspection still have more weight in the eyes of some government officials. This is a purely psychological moment, but if you want to play it safe, come to the tax office for information, and not to the website.

Do not forget that the standard validity period for an extract from EGRIL is 30 calendar days. After this, it is considered irrelevant and is not accepted into the state. institutions.

How to find out if a legal entity has been liquidated through bankruptcy?

One of the main reasons for the liquidation of enterprises is bankruptcy. If bankruptcy proceedings are being carried out against the company you are interested in, the matter is clearly unclean. Even if the company has not yet been liquidated, it may disappear in the very near future - just after you enter into a deal with its owner (in full accordance with Murphy's Law). Therefore, it would not be superfluous to ask whether the potential counterparty’s financial situation is too bad.

You can get this kind of information from two publications:

• “Bulletin of State Registration” (this is a magazine where notifications of all significant changes occurring with legal entities are published - liquidation, reorganization, bankruptcy proceedings, etc.);
• newspaper “Kommersant”, in which a whole section is devoted to the issues of insolvency of organizations.

Both publications are published in both printed and electronic versions. Finding information about any company on the Kommersant website is not difficult - the menu is intuitive, and there are many search options. In the Kommersant file cabinet there is a separate item “Checking counterparties”, where you can find out official information about the company and even assess the risks of interacting with it using express analysis financial activities. To obtain information, you only need an INN or OGRN.

Having received information about the company’s activities, carefully study the list of cases in which it has ever appeared. The bankruptcy cases we are interested in are marked with the letter “B”. If there are any, read them carefully - you will need to find out on which side the company is involved. If she acts as a creditor, then there is no reason to worry. But for obvious reasons, it is better not to contact the debtor.

In general, Kommersant and Vestnik are very useful resources. With their help, you can both find out about the liquidation of an organization and assess its solvency and solvency.

What's the result?

Liquidation of a company always entails the complete termination of its rights and obligations. Unfulfilled obligations are canceled, and signed contracts are not valid, since one of the parties actually does not exist. The danger of interacting with such “ghosts” is obvious.

To avoid getting into an unpleasant situation, you need to use a two-step system for verifying counterparties. Firstly, you should definitely obtain an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. Only in this register can you find up-to-date and reliable data on legal entities with 100% confidence. Secondly, you need to assess the prospects using information from the Vestnik or Kommersant database. You can complete both stages in literally 15–20 minutes.

It is worth going personally to the tax office for an extract in cases where you have already entered into an agreement with a legal entity or have drawn up business relationship in any other officially documented manner. If the case goes to court, the extract can become a serious confirmation of your claims. However, a printout of an extract from the Federal Tax Service website will be equivalent evidence. If you just want to find out whether the LLC has been liquidated, then there is no particular point in going to the tax authorities.