121–130 of 200 posts
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You still have to pay a minimum of $800 a year to the franchise tax board for operating a non-Californian business.
As a non-US citizen, California taxes and fees seem ridiculous.
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As a European who also worked a year in the US, it's starling how utterly _byzantine_ everything related to operating a business in the US is. Why in the everloving world would I need a lawyer that should be an extremly simple process? Forming an equivalent to a LLC in the majority of EU is a 5-10 step web form signed online, followed by some waiting and a sub 100€ one-time-fee. Furthermore, financial literacy also s…
That’s not even true. Aside from the U.K. and Estonia, I can’t think of an European country where 1) it costs less than $1K to incorporate 2) you can do it online 3) You can DIY Italy, Germany and SwitzerlanD just to pick 3 I’m familiar with, are nothing like U.K./Estonia On the other hand incorporating a C Corp in Delaware costs between $89 and $399 and you can do it online by yourself
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a European who also worked a year in the US, it's starling how utterly _byzantine_ everything related to operating a business in the US is. Why in the everloving world would I need a lawyer that should be an extremly simple process? Forming an equivalent to a LLC in the majority of EU is a 5-10 step web form signed online, followed by some waiting and a sub 100€ one-time-fee. Furthermore, financial literacy also s…
That’s not even true. Aside from the U.K. and Estonia, I can’t think of an European country where 1) it costs less than $1K to incorporate 2) you can do it online 3) You can DIY Italy, Germany and SwitzerlanD just to pick 3 I’m familiar with, are nothing like U.K./Estonia On the other hand incorporating a C Corp in Delaware costs between $89 and $399 and you can do it online by yourself
- Online (with a citizen ID card reader)
- A fully registered Ltd company within an hour (that's the gov marketing slogan)
- Costs ~ 360 EUR
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As a European who also worked a year in the US, it's starling how utterly _byzantine_ everything related to operating a business in the US is. Why in the everloving world would I need a lawyer that should be an extremly simple process? Forming an equivalent to a LLC in the majority of EU is a 5-10 step web form signed online, followed by some waiting and a sub 100€ one-time-fee. Furthermore, financial literacy also s…
That’s not even true. Aside from the U.K. and Estonia, I can’t think of an European country where 1) it costs less than $1K to incorporate 2) you can do it online 3) You can DIY Italy, Germany and SwitzerlanD just to pick 3 I’m familiar with, are nothing like U.K./Estonia On the other hand incorporating a C Corp in Delaware costs between $89 and $399 and you can do it online by yourself
The Danish government values entrepreneurs, especially ones that keep 40,000 DKK in their company bank account.
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I think this is interesting in that I don't know many people who view LLC's protections this way. The classic example is that if your rental property is in an LLC, then your tenants can't win a suit and get to your own personal house. These examples of piercing the veil are from the other direction - a personal suit getting access to the LLC assets... Which sort of makes sense - the alternative would be the court ord…
The rental property investors I’ve known usually form an LP with an LLC as the general partner. Both entities will be solely devoted to a single piece of property. The limited partners are often involved in multiple investments. The LP will often contract a sister LLC for services like property management...so the rent checks get written to an LLC that can screw up without putting the real property asset at direct ri…
Your example is what most people think of - LLC's shielding each other and the owners.
I'm mostly pointing out that the parent comment's link is a bit of a boogeyman in that you could have a perfectly structured LLC system, and if you are personally criminally negligent and liable to pay, then the courts will still get your stakes in the LLC's.
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A single member LLC in California is treated exactly like a sole proprietorship for tax purposes, except it costs you $800 per year. Unless you know you need it, you probably don’t need it. It won’t protect you from lawsuits, you’ll still have to provide personal guarantees on loans, etc. Source: had single member CA LLC and wasted $800/year for a few years on it.
Just for the record, California is way off the curve here. Most states have an LLC fee of $50/yr or less (and 9 have none) making it a more reasonable proposition in those places. I'm not sure I'd pay that much for the benefits of an LLC in California, but I'd certainly pay $8 in NY or $0 in Texas.
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...
I live in SC, and you don't even have to inform the state that you formed an LLC. If you do want to, its about $100 and takes another online form.
The idea that you would need a lawyer is absurd.
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I am not a lawyer, but I've been in business long enough and have been through enough legal issues to know that forming an LLC isn't sufficient to keep you from getting sued personally or having the corporate veil pierced if someone wants to come after you. In this regard, the parent posters are correct - there may be good reasons for you to form an LLC, but legal protection is a grey area.
> having the corporate veil pierced if someone wants to come after you. The creditor wanting to pierce the veil is, unsurprisingly, not a sufficient legal condition for piercing the corporate veil, otherwise corporations and LLCs (not just California and not just single-member) would be worthless. Of course, a sloppily-run LLC is more likely to result in piercing the veil, and a single member LLC that the owner views…
And unless you happen into some money tree-esque line of work it is going to be damn near impossible for a one person LLC to not do things that will get the veil pierced, especially in a business unfriendly regulatory environment where the small businesses are already spread thing by other requirements. The plumber who is unwilling to use his van as a personal vehicle and use his personal checking account as his slush fund is going to get out competed by the plumber who is. The vast majority of single person LLCs simply do not have the luxury of having enough cash on hand to separate things to the extent necessary to be protected.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a European who also worked a year in the US, it's starling how utterly _byzantine_ everything related to operating a business in the US is. Why in the everloving world would I need a lawyer that should be an extremly simple process? Forming an equivalent to a LLC in the majority of EU is a 5-10 step web form signed online, followed by some waiting and a sub 100€ one-time-fee. Furthermore, financial literacy also s…
That’s not even true. Aside from the U.K. and Estonia, I can’t think of an European country where 1) it costs less than $1K to incorporate 2) you can do it online 3) You can DIY Italy, Germany and SwitzerlanD just to pick 3 I’m familiar with, are nothing like U.K./Estonia On the other hand incorporating a C Corp in Delaware costs between $89 and $399 and you can do it online by yourself