Not necessarily...first 3 quick facts:

Member = owner

Manager = manager

LLC's can be member-managed or manager-managed.

Now the transaction:

1. Lawyer forms you Anonymous LLC,the sole owner of the LLC is an irrevocable trust and you are the sole manager (the LLC is manager-managed);

2. Obtain an EIN for the LLC using the EIN of the Trust;

3. Attorney will draft you a bank letter, this informs the bank the attorney formed the LLC, is familiar with the organizational structure, and confirms you are the sole manager of the manager-managed LLC (bank letters are also usually required when opening a DE C-corp bank account outside DE)

No matter what, to get an EIN for the LLC from the IRS one owner must apply using SSN; TIN or EIN. The EIN application will be disclosed to the IRS but otherwise is not public record.

So are you when you get get the EIN, you would have to disclose your SSN. Anyway around that?

Cash based and cryptocurrency based businesses do not need a bank account and therefore don't need an EIN.

Similarly, title holding companies don't need one either.

I am a Mexican citizen. You don’t need an SSN to get an EIN. However it does take a bit longer. However, my lawyer just used his and apparently this is a common practice.

Can I have your lawyer's contact information to request him do the same for me?

I have several LLCs that do not have bank accounts. Cryptocurrency all the way.

They pass through all costs and tax deductions straight to me if I wish, their name can be on any property if I wish, and my name is not on them in the state's public databases.

And thats not even with TRYING to be anonymous. If there was a subpoena and some regulator knew who I was, thats fine.

But I also know how to form them in a way where a subpoena would yield no information either.

I'd be interested to know the situations where an LLC would and would not protect your identity.

The classic examples seem to be buying and selling things, but it's hard to imagine how this would work without banks.

Is the idea that it covers you for transactions via contracts/ownership-stakes/other illiquid-instruments-of-value?

Yeah you should only consider these services based on what you are trying to accomplish.

Think about it analogous to when you are choosing how anonymously you want to browse the internet:

Don't want your roommate seeing your browsing history? Okay then private browser.

Don't want your roommate seeing URLs you visit by monitoring the router? Okay then TOR.

Don't want a three letter agency running an exploit over TOR that reveals your clearnet IP address? Okay then use Whonix or Tails.

It is similar when deciding how anonymous you want your LLC or surrogate entity structure.

Could you recommend any further reading, regarding different structures/options?

But then the anonymous LLC can create a new company somewhere else. The anon LLC will own it and will only need a representative for the Bank.

Yeah. Not really.

All responsible banks have KYC (know your customer) rules.

They aren't just going to let some company come in and open an account without knowing anything about the people who have signatory authority over the account and funds as well as the source of the funds.

So criminals don't really use banks and anonymous accounts the way you think they do. What they do is operate semi-profitable businesses to launder the money via semi-boring companies that are small enough to not raise suspicion but profitable enough to conceal the sources of funds.

THOSE business accounts are then used to purchase "services and goods" from offshore organizations with their own accounts that are owned by alternative personas.

The idea of a truly anonymous bank account is a myth.

How is it "responsible" to give in to government regulations designed to invade everyone's financial privacy? All banks will do it - ignoring KYC laws is a good way to get shut down - but it's a disgusting thing.

What's your solution?

The issue that was faced is that banks could rightfully claim that they had no duty to verify identity and/or the legal status of funds they accepted on deposit. This led to all sorts of shenanigans like fraud, money laundering, and outright theft.

the KYC regulations are a compromise between having the government know EVERYTHING about your financial life. With KYC, it's the bank's duty to know at least a few things about you and your money to make it harder to use the financial system to conduct criminal activity.

I know a lot of folks like to believe in the libertarian paradise where no government can ever exercise power over you and each man is a sovereign unto themselves but the truth is that a true libertarian community wouldn't be someplace anyone wants to live.

The solution is to make prosecutors do their job instead of giving them an easy out, violating privacy to boot. Prosecutors could subpoena the bank and access the account's records, then continue chasing the criminals onwards.

SOOO....continue the madness that existed before we had compulsory KYC rules. The same rules that allowed the financial system to enable the exact criminal activity we'd like to prevent?

Gotcha.

It takes 3 clicks to find the owner of a llc online. No such thing exists for banks (how do i get the bank account number of xxxx llc?)

Totally incorrect. I have formed very, very many LLCs and they all use registered agents. You'd have to sue in order to find out the actual owners.

For the record, I am a practicing attorney licensed in NY State.

Sorry I can add more text.

You can go from LLC Name (Foo, LLC) to Registered Agent Name in 30 seconds. You cannot do the same with Company Name to Bank Account (or from Bank Account to Owner Name).

I also use a registered agent for all my LLCs, but you don't have to. You can totally put your own address down when doing paperwork, and then your home address is open to the world.

Not entirely true. I have an LLC in New Mexico through a registered agent which does not disclose ownership.

EDIT: Elaborated

If you are doing business in california, you need to register a california llc, though. And california is a big market.

> If you are doing business in california, you need to register a california llc

No, you can just register as a foreign LLC [1]. Notably, you do not have to disclose ownership to do business as a foreign, i.e. non-Californian, entity in California.

[1] http://bpd.cdn.sos.ca.gov/llc/forms/llc-5.pdf

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice.

Thanks for correction.

The requirement for qualifying to do business in a foreign State isn't based on whether you are doing business in said state, rather if the business has a physical presence in said State.

It's not that cut and dry. Consult your legal counsel for the correct answer to this scenario.

Unfortunately for Californians, if any managing member of an LLC resides in California the state requires the LLC to register as a foreign LLC and pay an $800 per year tax.

The bank needs to know who is the final beneficiary. It doesn't mean they publish this information for everyone to know.

Exactly, a bank protects your information by default.

A state business registry does not. Which is why you use / might want a registered agent for your business. But you don't need to do the same thing at the bank (and in fact, I don't think most banks will allow an account without a name and a SSN to tie it back to)