Is there a way to legally hide ownership of a LLC from the general public?
Due to various reasons (career related, privacy etc) I would like to hide the fact that I am the owner of the LLC from the general public and from anyone else trying to figure out the owners of the company. Hiding the above from the Govt/IRS is not needed.
Is there a legal way to to accomplish the above?
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Not sure if it applies to your situation but if your company plans to operate a website, the registration of the domain name should also be protected. – Frenchie 12 years ago
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There is always a way, that is what good lawyer is for, but be prepared to shell out some $. Likely will need to use an agent as a front. – Apollo Sinkevicius 12 years ago
3 Answers
Delaware doesn't require reporting membership information from LLC's registered in Delaware. However, if you're having business in other states, you'll have to register your DE LLC there as well, so it will only work if you live and operate your LLC in Delaware.
There may be other ways to "obscure" ownership, but that would require a lawyer to be involved (trusts etc).
Same goes for registering a LLC with the Indiana Secretary of State, in fact you don't even need to provide a physical location address there either and is much cheaper annually than DE.
In regards to doing business in your State and what was mentioned above, you can simply for the same cost as filing for a foreign LLC in your State, form another LLC there where your DE/IN LLC is the managing member. That way your information will never become public and be seen by anyone. It will only show membership online by your DE/IN LLC and when someone goes to the SOS website in DE/IN, it won't show your info there either.
Therefore your info is hidden in DE/IN and since that LLC is the only Managing Member in your States LLC the path will lead to nowhere.
One is the Holding Company, and the other is the Subsidiary. Since they are LLC's you are not double taxed and do not need to file individual returns per LLC, it all falls through you in the end avoiding double taxation.
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Excellent comment. I see you're new, so a few bits of feedback? A link to the IN Secretary of State's website would be apropos. Spell out acronyms the first time you use them, like Secretary of State (SOS). Really, an excellent contribution. – Michael Blackburn 11 years ago
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Actually, at least in CA, the "managing" LLC will have to be registered as foreign-doing business, so you end up with exactly the same result, double the LLC fees. – Littleadv 11 years ago
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Are you sure in CA you cannot add a company in the Managing Section of the LLC application? I can't see why CA would require a business who does not conduct business in CA to register as a foreign entity. Could you please share which form it requires an entity to register as a foreign entity if it's sole purpose is to become a Manager or Member of an LLC? – Jill Sterling 11 years ago
NPR's Planet Money recently did a podcast and Adam Davidson wrote a NY Times article on registering off-shore companies. It's fairly inexpensive and can be completely anonymous.
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The taxation is a nightmare though... Is it worth it? The article specifically talks about tax evasion, which is not what the OP asked for. If you don't want to break the law, then off-shore company operating in the US is **not** the cheapest way to obscure your business ownership. – Littleadv 12 years ago
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@littleadv - the OP also didn't ask for easy and/or inexpensive. Just because tax evasion is the key point of the article, doesn't mean anonymity isn't a useful byproduct – Jeff O 12 years ago
