LLC bank account questions

General Real Estate Investing
1

My LLC is using my agents office address as the registered address, since I don’t have an office, and didn’t want to use my home address…for liability reasons.

  1. Which address should I use for my LLC bank accounts?

  2. Is it possible to use a PO Box?

  3. Can I use a PO Box as the address that appears on the checks?

  4. When I start the account, I have seen it mentioned that I should give a capital contribution to start the account with. Does this get paid back to me by the LLC?

  5. Can I just loan the LLC money and use it to open the account…or do I have to give a capital contribution first to open the account, then loan it money after?

Thanks for any help with this.

2
  1. assuming that you registered in your home state, it doesn’t matter.
  2. yes
  3. yes
  4. no
  5. the capital contribution is considered “funding” the LLC and is important to “complete” its formation. $100 will do. Anything else can be a loan, properly documented promissory note with interest and repayment schedule.
3

How would the capital contribution be documented…and can it be paid in cash, or should it be paid by a check in my name to the LLC…or does it matter?

Thanks…and thanks for answering the previous questions.

4

write a check. keep it after it clears.

5

When you say use a PO BOX for your LLC address, do you mean mailing address or physical address for the bank? Most banks will not let you use a PO BOX for your physical address because of the patriot act, actually I would assume that ALL banks would need a physical address not a PO BOX because it should apply at all institutions. I work at Wells Fargo and we don’t allow anyone business or individual to use a PO BOX for their physical address, but they can use a PO BOX for their mailing address.

6

I don’t care about the bank having a physical address for me, as long as they use my post office box for all mail and correspondence, and also on my checks. I do not want my physical address anywhere, but the bank can have it in their files.

Next question…is there a problem using my home address as a physical address with regards to the physical address I give to the bank? My LLC is registered in my state using my agents address, but I don’t want any mail from the bank going there. I also wonder if using my home address as the physical address could cause any liability issues, since my home address is not the address my LLC is registered under. I want to keep it completely at arms length…and I am wondering if this is any problem.

To recap, I want to use my post office box for mailing purposes, and on my checks. I want to use my home address as a physical address, but only if it won’t cause any problems listed above, or any other problems that I haven’t considered. Thanks for any help with this.

7

Are there any liability issues, or any issues regarding keeping you an arms length from your LLC, using a home address as a physical address for a bank account, if the home address is not the legal address of the LLC?

Thanks in advance, Tony.

8

For all legal documents, I would use the same physical address you used to establish the LLC – isn’t that the address of the registered agent? The address of your registered agent is where you will receive service of process. Keep that same address consistent through all your LLC documents.

For correspondence, use your PO Box if that is your wish. You can have anything you wish printed on your checks, even no address at all.

9

Mark,
And, say, there is a bank acocunt opened in the name of the LLC which is the beneficiary of a land trust which effectively holds the property.
The LCC has a nominee director and the land trust has trustees who are all out of the country.
Now, how would the shareholder (the ulitmate owner !) be receiving any financial benefits from the LLC without compromsiing his/her identity? Say, the property mgmt company in NY pays an LLC incorporated in NV the monthly rents collected?
Then what? How to pay for the monthly expenses and then distribute the (hopefully!) positive remainder?
Thank you,
PT

10

the llc writes checks for the expenses.

so, you want to make income without anyone knowing? If you find a way, it’s probably illegal.

The LLC will either pay it’s own taxes as a corp, in which case distributions to stockholders must be reported, or

the LLC will report income via K-1 to partners or members if taxed as S-corp or partnership. Either way, the K-1 identifies the recipient.

Regardless of what others may say, you simply cannot achieve complete anonymity (well, and make any money…the IRS will see to that). However, the only record of the transaction will be in the tax records.

The point of this post, though, is to have a different address to avoid the perception of the LLC as an “alter ego” of the individual, which would aid in busting the LLC. Not to achieve anonymity.