Form an Anonymous LLC

$199.00

SKU: FS-ANON-LLC Category: Tags: , ,

Description

Form an Anonymous Limited Liability Company (Anonymous LLC)

Only a law firm, with certified paralegals and licensed attorneys working on your matter, can provide you the features and security you need for a properly formed and managed Anonymous LLC (also called a Private LLC or Invisible LLC). Our exclusive benefits include:

What’s Included:

  • Lawyer Defined™. This means quality, maximum liability protection, security, confidential and so much more. Lawyer Defined™ is only available at Law 4 Small Business (L4SB).
  • The Lawyer Defined™ Operating Agreement. The best Operating Agreement available (short of hiring an attorney).
  • Work With Professionals. L4SB employs certified paralegals and trained legal assistants, with immediate escalation to attorneys as necessary.
  • Same Day Service
  • Attorney-Client Confidentiality. Only a law firm like L4SB is governed by the Attorney Professional Rules of Conduct that requires client confidentiality to be treated very seriously.
  • Automatic Privacy. Ownership information remains private.
  • Articles of Organization. Used to obtain the stamped Articles or Certificate of Organization.
  • Stamped Articles / Certificate of Organization. Necessary to open a bank account, and depends on the state of formation.
  • Registered Agent Service. Free for the first year, $129/year thereafter. Helps maintain your privacy.
  • Potential Attorney-Client Privilege. Read more about this below (including important limitations). Your interactions with our attorneys are privileged, and can provide an extra layer of confidentiality, privacy and protection in some instances.
  • FEIN Acquisition Assistance
  • Tax Status Assistance. We can help setup the right tax status for your entity.
  • Name Availability Verification
  • Template Corporate/Member Resolutions
  • Tailored Instructions: How to Vote. We give you personalized, tailored instructions on how to properly conduct a vote, given the methods and options you’ve selected in your Lawyer Defined™ Operating Agreement.
  • Tailored Instructions: Taxation. We also give you personalized, tailored instructions on the tax status of your organization.
  • Tailored Instructions: Next Steps. Once your organization is formed, we give you a checklist on next steps.
  • Spousal Consent. Very important for community property states, and included in the Lawyer Defined™ Operating Agreement.
  • Compliance Assistance. Our systems will notify you of important dates and upcoming compliance tasks.
  • Personalized Dashboard. We are investing heavily in technology, and constantly adding new features to make it easy to keep informed, seek guidance, obtain assistance, and more.
  • Bank Account Anywhere. You can obtain a bank account anywhere in the US with our Anonymous LLC.
  • From Cradle to Grave. Forming a company is just your first interaction with us — we’ll be here to help you at every step, to provide legal assistance, advice, documents and much, much more (additional fees may apply).
Lawyer Defined™

A L4SB exclusive. This means guaranteed high-quality processes and documents, to maximize your security, privacy, liability and asset protection, and much more. We won’t let you do something that can jeopardize your long-term safety, like our competition. For example, when our competition says you can use their address and provide “free mail service,” doing this violates USPS rules and therefore could be used against you and your company by a plaintiff’s attorney, if you ever found yourself in a lawsuit. We will also advise you, and help you setup your organization structure properly to maximize tax benefits, minimize liability, and ensure legal compliance in all jurisdictions you may operate.

Registered Agent Services

A registered Agent is a person or company with a mailing address (not PO box) in the state your company is registered who can receive service of process and governmental notices on behalf of your company. This is not a physical address for your company. The Law 4 Small Business difference: You’re not alone — We review legal notices sent to your company, and will give you feedback / guide you, if requested.

The Lawyer Defined™ Operating Agreement for LLC’s

Did you know a good Operating Agreement is absolutely critical to minimize costly problems down the road? A good Operating Agreement is one that is written for your specific state laws, tax status, management style, voting requirements and much, much more? This means a “template Operating Agreement” is not going to cut it.

This is why L4SB wrote an expert system that generates a high-quality, highly customized Operating Agreement for you. You will only find this at L4SB. Chose from over 100+ options, and it’s smart — it guides you and makes recommendations based on what it learns from you. It’s the best Operating Agreement you can find, short of spending thousands hiring an attorney.

Potential Attorney-Client Privilege

Attorney-client privilege is a very complicated topic and is never absolute in all circumstances. It typically applies to communications between lawyers and their clients, and if it applies, it’s easy to lose if you’re not careful. To maximize the potential for attorney-client privilege with us, you are encouraged to include an attorney consult and to refrain from sharing your communications with us with any other party, except attorneys who are representing you. Please note that the assertion of attorney-client privilege is your responsibility, not ours. For example, if we are subpoenaed by a court of competent jurisdiction, any assertion of attorney-client privilege in such a circumstance will need to be made by your local counsel or by us if you hire us to represent you in such matter. We will not assert our privilege in any matter, unless we are being paid to represent you and have entered into an Engagement Agreement to do so.

This is a Filing Service, not a Legal Service

Legal services are governed by each state’s Professional Rules of Conduct, which convey numerous duties and obligations on attorneys that you may not normally expect. For example, when performing legal services, it’s critical an attorney does not create a conflict of interest with the client, as well as inform the client of any conflicts of interest. In this instance (for our Anonymous LLC filing service), we do not view nor treat this service as a legal service and therefore do not perform conflicts checking.

Client understands and acknowledges that purchasing the services herein are subject to the following:

General Terms and Conditions

  • This service includes our preparation, processing and handling (valued at $150) of your formation, and the submission of your application (remainder of fees). Our services are completed once your entity is formed, and we’ve completed any additional options or professional assistance you ordered.
  • We cannot guarantee that your desired company name is available, nor that it can be filed exactly as you’ve requested. For example, some states (and especially the IRS) have legal requirements on names (i.e. cannot use profane language or perpetuate a fraud) and some agencies have limitations on spacing, punctuation and capitalization.
  • You will be billed $129/year after the first year, for Registered Agent services. If your Registered Agent services is terminated, it is your responsibility to change it with the state where your company is filed. If you do not, L4SB may resign and that may cause your company to be put into “not good standing” status with the State. Or, if you don’t change the Registered Agent yourself, we may still receive legal notices on behalf of your company – but these notices will not be forwarded to you because you no longer have the service with us. This could expose you to default judgements.
  • When the “expedited” option is chosen, the timing show is approximated. Law 4 Small Business will usually begin to process your order on the same or next business day it is received, but we are dependent on a few factors which include, your response rate as well as the response rate of relevant state agencies and when necessary, the US Postal Service.

Refund and Cancellation Policy

  • You may request a refund, and provided that we have not completed any services on your behalf may receive a full refund. There is NO REFUND for completed services. Please note that our services do INCLUDE the preparation, processing and handling (valued at $150) of the order that was placed.  This is true even if the entity formation is NOT submitted to the state (for whatever reason). If we have spent time on your behalf in the preparation, processing or handling of your order, we reserve the right to deduct $150 from any refund you request. *Preparation, processing and handling includes trying to contact you (email or phone) to verify and approve our work, even if you fail to respond to us.
  • Some of the additional options (RUSH fees, FEIN Acquistion, digital certificates, etc.) are NOT refundable
  • We will cancel your order, at our discretion, if you are unresponsive or otherwise fail to answer our questions to our satisfaction. If your order is cancelled, you may request a refund.  If a refund is deemed appropriate, it will be less $150 for our services related to the preparation, processing and handling of your order, and less any other services we have provided (i.e. if you ordered a document, and we sent you that document, we will deduct the cost for that document from your refund). Typically, we will not cancel your order, unless we have been unable to move your order forward for four (4) months or more.
  • If a refund is deemed appropriate and necessary following the details above, we will issue you a refund using the same payment method you used to pay for your order. If that fails (i.e. because we’re beyond the deadline to do this — typically six (6) months for credit cards), we will issue and mail a check to the name and address used on the payment (billing) method (i.e. if Joe ordered from us, but used Jane’s credit card, we will issue the refund to Jane).

Important Anonymous LLC Disclaimers

  • Anonymity means ownership information is not published by the appropriate State department where LLCs are registered and is subject to the laws of the state in which the LLC is filed.
  • Local authorities, other state entities (i.e. taxation department) and the federal government (i.e. the IRS) may require disclosure of ownership information, although you should check to verify such disclosure is confidential.
  • You may be legally required to register your Anonymous LLC in your home state or in other states where you do business. Please consult with your CPA or a relevant business lawyer in the jurisdictions where you live and/or where you are doing business.
  • L4SB makes no representation as to whether you are “transacting business” in your home state, or any other state. If you decide you’re transacting business in state other than the state where your LLC is formed, talk to L4SB to learn about options to preserve your anonymity.
  • If we are subpoenaed by a court of competent jurisdiction, any assertion of attorney-client privilege in such a circumstance will need to be made by your local counsel or by us if you hire us to represent you in such matter. We will not assert our privilege in any matter, unless we are being paid to represent you and have entered into an Engagement Agreement to do so.

Terms for Registered Agent

  • L4SB reserves the right to resign as the Registered Agent with the state the company is registered in, if your renewal orders are not paid, or L4SB determines the information it has on file is false, or L4SB is unable to forward correspondence sent to the Registered Agent due to inaccurate information on file, all without notice to you. The term “resign” as used by L4SB in these Terms and Conditions and all correspondence with you means “terminate services”, which shall be interpreted to mean L4SB will no longer function as a Registered Agent, even if L4SB or its vendor is identified as your company’s Registered Agent. You understand and agree L4SB’s use of the word “resign” can mean to stop acting as a Registered Agent, even if it does not formally resign from the appropriate state agency, although L4SB may also send a resignation notice (in its sole and absolute discretion) to the relevant state agency.
  • You agree L4SB may communicate and forward scans of legal notices and other correspondence sent to the Registered Agent in email. Any legal requirement to forward legal notices to your “address” shall be interpreted to mean “email address”. You represent and warrant to not hold L4SB liable for any legal notices or other correspondence not delivered to you in hardcopy. L4SB is not liable or responsible for email failures, including but not limited to “mailbox full” bounces. You MUST keep a current, accurate and up-to-date email address with L4SB, and it is your responsibility to maintain the health and performance of your email. For example, if you have a lapse in email service, L4SB’s attempt to send you a legal notice or other correspondence sent to the Registered Agent in email may fail. You understand and agree that L4SB sends such Registered Agent correspondence in an automated fashion, and may not be able to recognize a failure in email and may not attempt to resend.
  • L4SB’s ability to forward correspondence sent to the Registered Agent is dependent upon the accuracy of the information on file, and you are required to keep that information up to date and notify us if it changes. If your contact information changes, you must notify L4SB in writing to [email protected].  Failure to notify us of any changes may delay receipt of important correspondence.
  • L4SB reserves the right to immediately terminate service (without notice to you) if it determines, in its sole discretion, that its services are being used for illegal purposes or to commit fraud.
  • The L4SB Registered Agent service is a yearly subscription.  Your payment method on file will be charged the amount indicated yearly.
  • You may terminate your Registered Agent service with us at any time.  Please notify us in writing at [email protected] if you wish to cancel this service.
  • Any renewal orders that process before a cancellation request is submitted are non-refundable.
  • If your Registered Agent services are cancelled by you or terminated by L4SB for any reason, you agree and understand it is solely your responsibility to appoint a new Registered Agent with the state where your company is filed. L4SB reserves the right, in its sole and absolute judgement, to determine whether it formally resigns as your Registered Agent in the state where it is identified as such. If L4SB does not formally resign at the appropriate state agency, L4SB may still receive legal notices although L4SB will not send you such legal notices. If L4SB does formally resign resign at the appropriate state agency, your company could be administratively dissolved, which means company liabilities could attach to you personally, and tax filings assuming a corporate structure can be invalid and create significant tax obligations that fall to you personally. By accepting Registered Agent services by L4SB, you represent, agree and understand L4SB’s obligation to forward legal notices sent to the Registered Agent only exist when you are a client in good standing with L4SB, and this obligation terminates when you fail to maintain your subscription with L4SB. L4SB may terminate services with no notice to you — it is your responsibility to determine whether your account is in good standing with L4SB.
  • If you don’t keep accurate and up-to-date Registered Agent for your company at the relevant state agency, L4SB may still receive legal notices on behalf of your company – but such legal notices will not be forwarded because your service was terminated. This could expose you to default judgements and/or personal liability. L4SB shall not be liable to you for any damages to you or your company that may occur under such circumstances.
  • Note that our services INCLUDE evaluation, preparation, processing, and handling, even if we end up not submitting your filing to the state.
  • L4SB reserves the right to withhold a cancellation fee if this order is cancelled for whatever reason.
  • L4SB uses Registered Agents, Inc., as a third third party vendor in states L4SB is not located in for third-party Registered Agent services. In such states, “Registered Agents, Inc” or their affiliates may be listed as the Registered Agent for your company, although Registered Agents, Inc., will directly communicate with L4SB and not you. You agree L4SB is solely responsible for Registered Agent Services, even when L4SB utilizes Registered Agents, Inc.

Terms for Virtual Mailbox

  • To be issued a Virtual Mailbox you must submit a USPS Form 1583 to us, notarized with copies of your identification as noted on the form.
  • Up to two (2) mail recipients (additional mail recipients at a cost of $10/month each).
  • You may terminate your Virtual Mailbox at any time.  Please notify us in writing at [email protected] if you wish to cancel your mailbox. Any renewal orders that process before a cancellation request is submitted are non-refundable.
  • To terminate your Virtual Mailbox, you are responsible for changing the physical mailing address of the LLC at the State where registered. If you do not do this within thirty (30) days of cancelling, L4SB reserves the right to change it to your last known address — which may destroy the anonymity of your LLC. L4SB specifically disclaims any and all liability associated with changing your physical mailing address as permitted in this paragraph.
  • The L4SB Virtual Mailbox service is a monthly subscription.  Your payment method on file will be charged the amount indicated monthly.
  • L4SB will hold any mail delivered to your Virtual Mailbox, and forward to you in physical mail once per month for the price indicated. You have the option to request additional “sends” per month, at the rate of $10/send/month plus our expenses mailing to you. You can also request “ad hoc” sends, at the cost of $10, plus our expenses mailing to you.
  • You understand and acknowledge that our ability to send you your mail, is contingent upon keeping your contact information up to date. If you your contact information changes, you must notify L4SB in writing at [email protected] to update your contact information. L4SB will require an updated USPS Form 1583 in such circumstances.  Failure to notify us of a change, or failure to update your USPS Form 1583, will result in a delay of the forwarding of any mail received for your box.  Per USPS regulations we cannot forward any mail received without a fully executed USPS 1583 on file.
  • The L4SB Virtual Mailbox is subject to the United States Postal Services (USPS) regulations.
  • L4SB may terminate your Virtual Mailbox, if the renewal orders are not paid, or determines in its sole discretion, that its services are being used for illegal purposes or to commit fraud – subject and as permitted according to USPS regulations.
  • L4SB reserves the right to withhold a cancellation fee if this order is cancelled for whatever reason.

We define anonymity as keeping ownership information off the Internet. We cannot — and never have been able to — keep you anonymous from the IRS and banks. FinCEN is really no different. It’s not public information. It’s only available in limited circumstances to law enforcement.

Therefore, we feel reporting BOI to FinCEN does not negatively impact anonymity, although we do recognize it’s a pain to deal with FinCEN BOIR.

We do, and have a lot of ability to help you. First, if you’re wondering whether your company would be considered a “reporting company” for FinCEN reporting purposes, or you want to know who are your company’s Beneficial Owners, try out our FREE, anonymous expert system to help answer these questions. It’s available here.

We have BOIR (which stands for Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting, or BOIR) as an option. We can do it, for a nominal fee, or you can do it.

Finally, we offer outstanding, best-in-class, BOI compliance tools to help you understand when you need to submit updated reports. We’ll keep track of important deadlines, and be ready to answer your questions.

We receive this question a lot, despite our attempt to be price competitive with “the rest”. It seems every time we lower our price, the competition lowers theirs even further.

At the end of the day, we’re an actual law firm. Your questions are answered by licensed and trained professionals. We are able to extend attorney-client privilege and confidentiality to our clients. Our business/activities is/are governed by the professional rules of conduct for each state we’re licensed in, and we carry professional liability insurance. We have licensed professionals dealing with the registered agent’s office.

Regularly, we fend off private investigators, police investigators and more. Our people have the training to maximize the legal protections available to our clients.

So, we’re not the cheapest game in town. The “other guys” are trying to sell formations, we’re trying to sell relationships. There are many things we won’t do that the “other guys” will do, because we’re worried about our clients’ long-term success and we’re concerned with minimizing our clients’ long-term liability.

We can provide a range of services for our clients, where forming the anonymous LLC is just the first step. This includes contracts, switching ownership of real property, resolving disputes, trademarks, and much, much more. You can do things things with this firm, relying on our training, experience, professionalism and confidentiality.

If you’re considering a cheaper option, ask yourself the following questions first:

  • How critical is anonymity, and do I want the maximum protection available?
  • Do I want the ability to obtain sound legal advice?
  • Do I care about whether things are setup properly?
  • Is liability protection important, and do I want to minimize the ability for someone to “pierce the corporate veil” of my LLC?
  • Do I care whether the folks I hire are trained professionals?
  • Do I care whether I can hold the company accountable for misguiding, or otherwise committing errors with my LLC?
  • Will I receive a high-quality Operating Agreement, to help maximize asset protection, and minimize potential liability and long-term disputes?
  • Do the “other guys” not disclose who they actually are, making it difficult to know whether their claims are actually true or they actually have the experience they claim to have?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, you may want to think twice before hiring the “other guys”.

There are no limitations on where you can or cannot open a bank account, no matter where the LLC is formed. Please note, at a legal level, there really is no such thing as an “Anonymous LLC.” These are normal LLC’s, but filed carefully in a state that doesn’t require disclosure of ownership information. When seeking a bank account, simply request a commercial bank account for a LLC.

Make sure the bank account is owned by the LLC, and that you are simply a signatory.

The bank will want to know who you are — there’s really no getting around this — but the banks are supposed to keep signatory information confidential.

“Member Managed” means the LLC is simply managed by the Members. All Members have similar powers to run day-to-day operations of the business, and the Operating Agreement will specify what powers the Members have that do and do not require a vote.

“Manager Managed” means the day-to-day operations of the LLC is managed by a Manager. The Manager has certain powers, as specified in the Operating Agreement, that do not need the approval of the Members. Note that Members will always have some powers reserved to a vote, such as assigning a new Manager, or dissolving, or bringing on new Members. A Manager does not need to be a Member, but one or more Members can certainly be the Manager.

Typically, I advise clients that it’s often best to go with a “Member Managed” LLC unless one of two things is present:

  • One or more Members will run day-to-day operations, and other Members will not (i.e. silent investors, for example). It’s often convenient to make as Managers the day-to-day operating Members, so they can run the business without having to always call a vote.
  • One Member is really the “one in charge.” This Member can be assigned as the Manager, and have additional powers assigned to him or her.

This is often a very complicated subject that is often ignored. If you have questions, please contact us.

Tax status is very confusing for LLC’s. Take for example, when an accountant says “S-Corp”. This means “tax status”, and both a LLC and a Corporation can be taxed “like a S-Corp.”

LLC’s can be taxed as either disregarded, partnership, S-Corp or C-Corp. Each have their advantages and disadvantages (so you should consult with a tax professional at some point).

It is NOT necessary you know what tax status you want, when you form a LLC. Furthermore, we do not need to know the tax status when forming your LLC, and the tax status is really not relevant to forming a LLC. But, if you do know, we can help you if you select the appropriate option in your order.

However, tax status is critical for the Operating Agreement, and we do provide you with an Operating Agreement — by giving you access to our Expert System (we call it the “Lawyer Defined™ Operating Agreement”) that builds you a high-quality, highly customizable Operating Agreement.

It’s possible to obtain an Operating Agreement from us, without knowing what tax status you want. That’s okay, because our Lawyer Defined™ Operating Agreement will make assumptions, although those assumptions could end up being wrong down the road if you decide you want a tax status that is different from what our Expert System assumes. If that turns out to be the case, you can always come back to us and request further access to our Lawyer Defined™ Operating Agreement, so you can obtain the appropriate Operating Agreement for your tax status.

A quick word on the assumptions our Lawyer Defined™ Operating Agreement system makes: Our assumptions are the same as what the IRS makes. For example, if you’re a sole member LLC, we’re going to assume disregarded tax status (that is the same as what the IRS does). If you’re a multimember LLC, we’re going to assume partnership tax status (again, that is what the IRS does).

No. The Registered Agent is a specific person or entity, available at a specific address, where service of process and legal notices can be sent (think sheriff showing up with a summons).

This means you want a Registered Agent who:

  1. has a valid office that is staffed during normal business hours (i.e. be careful with those “cheap registered agents” you find on the Internet),
  2. knows something about the law, and knows how to properly accept service (i.e. again, be careful with registered agents who are not attorneys), and
  3. can convey some level of attorney-client privilege and confidentiality. This means the staff will be properly trained not to give out sensitive information, thereby better protecting your anonymity.

A Registered Agent can simply scan in your material, and email it to you when received.

This is different from a “Physical Mailing Address.” Such an address would can receive actual mail, perhaps checks, credit cards and more. These things cannot be scanned. They must be physically handled and relayed. They don’t have to be staffed the same way a Registered Agent’s address needs to be staffed. Such addresses also have an impact with Google and other search engines, which are becoming ever increasingly smart and will “flag” addresses that are shared by too many businesses.