Remember that “anonymous” means that ownership information for Anonymous LLC’s is not disclosed at the state level with your LLC filing. This does not mean you are “anonymous” from the IRS, banks or certain vendors that demand or require ownership information (i.e. leases, merchant account companies, etc).
So, if your LLC does need to enter into contracts with others, what should you do to maximize anonymity? Follow these guidelines:
- Make sure your LLC, not you personally, is a named party to all contracts.
- Your name and title can be “Authorized Representative”. If your title is already “President,” then put your name down as “Authorized Representative.”
- If your business has officers or other high-level managers, their signatures can bind the LLC and can therefore be used on contracts.
- If a vendor demands your personal name or to know all the owners, make sure (i) the contract you’re signing contains a confidentiality clause binding on the third-party, and (ii) make sure the party you’re disclosing your personal information is trustworthy to verify their ability to not disclose your information.
- Avoid vendors that require disclosure. Before finalizing a relationship, make sure you have several options in your back-pocket.
- Finally, if you are a vendor to others who needs to provide a W9, avoid taxing your LLC as a disregarded entity if you want to avoid disclosing your personal name on the W9. Instead, you want to tax your entity as a S-Corp or a C-Corp. For a parent/child setup, this can create challenges for the child operating entity. Consider a tax attorney consult to help you navigate these issues if you need help.
Note that we do provide third-party signing services, through a limited power of attorney (POA). In order to use this service, your company would form an attorney-client relationship with our law firm and the company would need to sign a specific document granting us authority to sign on behalf of the company for specific transactions. We will review any contracts you want to sign, work with you, and charge for our time.
BEWARE of organizations saying that can provide Nominee or “Independent Director” or other services. Almost in all instances — unless you know you’re dealing with a licensed attorney — such services will be at best wrong and at worst illegal.
At the end of the day, anonymity is only as good as the weakest link and it’s not absolute. Therefore, be cautious about disclosing such information, especially to employees and independent contractors who are closest to you.
7 Comments
I was wondering the following,
I want to form an anonymous LLC in NM. It will be a single member LLC and will only focus on DMCA take downs of Adult Material. But, I do not want to put my name even as Authorized Representative. I do not want my name in any part of the DMCA for security reasons. What can be done?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions.
Hi, George.
You need to hire a DMCA Agent for you, learn more here.
Thank you. Larry.
Thank you for a quick reply. I have alot of websites that need to be served DMCA’s. I looked at your DMCA services and it would be costly for me. If I use your registered agent services would this include a signature for DMCA’s? If the answer is no then do you have any options that will solve my problem besides using a DMCA agent.
Thank you for your time
Hi, George.
I’m not sure what to suggest. Our pricing is yearly, so the price isn’t too outrageous. And, if you’re going to be getting served a decent number of DMCA’s, that turns into a lot of work for us.
I’m happy to negotiate something (offline) that has a reduced price in return for our charging for our time handling income requests.
Larry.
Thank you. I have sent an e-mail.
Question…I have a very small creative agency as well as a full time day job for a large company. In my FT job, I am in charge of hiring creative agencies and freelance writers. I want to hire my agency, but I know it will be seen by my employer as a conflict of interest. If I wanted to move forward with this and not sign my name to the contract, would I need the limited POA? Would that raise red flags by our internal legal team?
Hi, Jillian.
Thank you for your question, and sorry for the delay in responding.
Yes, the limited POA would accomplish what you want, although it could raise flags — and wouldn’t be a good idea because of the conflict of interest. It would always be best to disclose and seek a waiver for the conflict.
Larry.