Before concluding an agreement with an unknown company, or making the first deal (financial transaction), it is advisable, as we all understand, to conduct a preliminary audit of the company. To begin with, it is worthwhile to establish at least the very fact of the existence of such an organization, that is, whether it passed state registration. In addition, information on the financial status of the company will be important: whether it is under penalties, whether it is bankrupt, etc. It will also be a good decision to monitor existing contractors on regular basis, because if your partner is expected to be under audit, in case of any violations, a tax audit or sanctions will affect your company, and it is always best to know this beforehand. As an example, the following situation can be cited: after concluding a contract with a third-party company and making a transaction, tax organizations contact your organization with a request to pay extra taxes as your partner is recognized as a dummy company. Therefore, measures to collect information about the counterparty, taken in a timely manner, will help you avoid debts receivables and unnecessary financial risks.
How to check a company in Belarus?
Some information on the company can be obtained independently and completely free of charge. There are special services on the Internet where you can check the availability of the company in the state register, find out the registration number and office address. Of course, you won’t be able to completely secure your business with these methods, but you can reduce the risk of unnecessary situations. Consider several of these services.
Website of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus. Here you can access the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs. Using the capabilities of the site, it is possible to find out the current status of the enterprise: the date of registration and the existence of state registration, whether the company is in the process of liquidation or bankruptcy.
Website of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus. On this web resource you can find announcements regarding bankruptcy cases that have been under consideration by economic courts.
You can also obtain information about the bankruptcy of a particular company from the following resources:
- The Unified State Register of Bankruptcy Information www.bankrot.gov.by.
- Website of the Ministry of Taxes and Dues of the Republic of Belarus http://www.nalog.gov.by.
- Website of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Belarus http://www.economy.gov.by/.
Also, on the website of the Ministry of Taxes and Levies you can find information on business entities that are in arrears to the budget.
The Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Belarus forms and publishes on its website a Register of Mala Fide Vendors.
All of the above methods of obtaining information about the counterparty are good, but have several significant drawbacks. Firstly, the information will not always be relevant, for example, the company changed its legal address, but did not update its data in the registration authority. Thus, you can be sending them letters, yet they will not be receiving them. Secondly, information received from open sources will not be complete. You can of course turn to paid services and order company extracts from the relevant authorities, but here the time factor comes into effect. Typically, such requests are filled no earlier than within five to ten days.
There is a simple way out of this situation: seek for professional assistance. If you are interested in the official verification of the existence of the company, as well as its status, the presence of debts/litigation, whether the company is in bankruptcy/liquidation, please contact us. We will carry out the maximum verification of your counterparty, as well as give you complete and reliable information.
