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)