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Stripe Atlas for LLCs

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Re: Stripe Atlas for LLCs

#121

Post by gamblor956 »

ssijak wrote: post #94

I am not a USA resident, I live in Europe (not EU zone). What would be my tax obligations to the USA if I had LLC formed through Atlas for a purpose of software SAS business (selling software subscriptions worldwide)? I know I would be obliged to pay income taxes in my country, but I don`t know if and what would I need to pay regarding taxes to the USA.

You generally need to talk to a tax lawyer about this, but in a nutshell:

You could owe tax to the state in which you incorporate, if they tax LLC income earned out of state. (Most states don't, but you will have a "minimum franchise tax" that you must pay regardless of LLC income for the privilege of being registered in their state.)

You generally would owe US federal income tax on the income you earn from your US customers. But, in many cases you could qualify for tax treaty benefits that reduce your US tax liability to zero. You would still need to file a US tax return, but you would not actually pay US taxes. (Your tax return would explain why you don't need to pay.)

You would generally be taxed on the income in your home country. Despite common belief, almost all countries tax the worldwide income of citizens residing in their country. (Territorial taxation is generally reserved for corporations and expatriates.)

Re: Stripe Atlas for LLCs

#123

Post by evla »

patio11 wrote: post #91
scollins wrote: post #74

If I'm not a resident of US and didn't visit US in a tax year, would I have to pay US income tax for the LLC?

Owning a US LLC as a non-resident can be complicated; it depends on a variety of circumstances regarding what you do, how your business interacts with the US market, whether you are a US citizen, where you live, etc. You may wish to speak to an accountant.

Would it be easier to own a C Corp as a non-resident? Does Atlas provide that as well?

Re: Stripe Atlas for LLCs

#124

Post by BillSaysThis »

patio11 wrote: post #49
tptacek wrote: post #34

This is all very cool. But: don't operate a multi-partner company in any form, LLC or C-Corp, without formal vesting. Companies without vesting are rigged to explode if any member leaves.

Context for folks who haven't encountered vesting before: vesting is an arrangement where, instead of getting all of your ownership up front, you earn it over time. For example, you might have a fairly common arrangement in Silicon Valley where you get 1/4 of your equity after working for a year and the remaining 3/4 over the next 3 years. This pre-commits to what happens regarding ownership if someone leaves 18 mont…

Out of curiosity, if founders' shares vest who owns the stock before it vests? I'm thinking it will be the company but that doesn't feel quite right. Or does it mean that the unvested shares have no voting or other privileges?

Re: Stripe Atlas for LLCs

#125

Post by classics2 »

sheeshkebab wrote: post #13

It sounded right until $500 part... llc setup cost is $50, bank accounts, stripe accounts are all free, same goes for any “credits” from aws and elsewhere. I understand the desire to turn a profit on this, but that’s kind of overboard, IMO.

It’s unlikely you work for free and neither do the employees and lawyers at Stripe.

Re: Stripe Atlas for LLCs

#126

Post by patio11 »

BillSaysThis wrote: post #124
patio11 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Context for folks who haven't encountered vesting before: vesting is an arrangement where, instead of getting all of your ownership up front, you earn it over time. For example, you might have a fairly common arrangement in Silicon Valley where you get 1/4 of your equity after working for a year and the remaining 3/4 over the next 3 years. This pre-commits to what happens regarding ownership if someone leaves 18 mont…

Out of curiosity, if founders' shares vest who owns the stock before it vests? I'm thinking it will be the company but that doesn't feel quite right. Or does it mean that the unvested shares have no voting or other privileges?

There's a variety of ways to implement it. A common way is that you purchase your shares from the company for par value (e.g. $0.000001 per share) and the company has the right to repurchase them for par value, with the number of shares subject to repurchase declining over time as shares vest.

Re: Stripe Atlas for LLCs

#127

Post by ryanSrich »

nodesocket wrote: post #61

> Is organized in Delaware, the jurisdiction of choice for many new LLCs. Be aware that if you are "doing business" in California which means you live there you also have to file as a California foreign entity and pay the absurd anti-small business flat tax of $800 a year. This also does not include your state income tax liabilities in California. Just because the LLC is formed in Delaware does not mean you don't hav…

CA in general makes absolutely no sense to start a business in. There are zero arguments for starting a business in CA. Oregon, Washington, Texas, Colorado, etc. are all objectively better choices. Even if you're interested in raising money from SV investors you're far better off locating in Seattle, Denver, Portland, Austin, etc.

Re: Stripe Atlas for LLCs

#128

Post by patio11 »

mechwarrior wrote: post #115

I am particularly interested in the liability protection provided by an LLC (selling physical products). How much legally grounded advice is provided as a part of the service about how to avoid activities that could make the corporate veil easier to pierce in the event of a lawsuit? I've heard anecdotally about doing a good job of keeping business and personal accounts completely separate, for example. This is the ty…

We're not lawyers and we cannot licitly give legal advice, but part of the service is that we can introduce you to lawyers. We do have guides about topics including that topic specifically; you can find them at https://stripe.com/atlas/guides ; I can't remember which one addresses that issue off the top of my head.

Re: Stripe Atlas for LLCs

#129

Post by patio11 »

evla wrote: post #123
patio11 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Owning a US LLC as a non-resident can be complicated; it depends on a variety of circumstances regarding what you do, how your business interacts with the US market, whether you are a US citizen, where you live, etc. You may wish to speak to an accountant.

Would it be easier to own a C Corp as a non-resident? Does Atlas provide that as well?

We do provide C corporations. It was the first option we launched with, and a core goal of that was supporting non-US founders.
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