Do you do business online? If so, how can you obtain financial privacy to prevent business identity theft or theft of your business by another criminal? Business identity protection is necessary to avoid identity theft of your company as such a thefft will almost always exceed a five figure dollar amount.
Perhaps you sell products or a service through a website and want to comply with all regulations and laws while still maintaining your business privacy. Is it possible to obtain an Employer Identification number privately? How does one register a URL privately in order to enhance business privacy?
This article will cover key points necessary for the privacy conscious manager to know in order to do business privately on the internet.
Private Website Registration
We prefer using the Trust Manager Principle as defined in Grant Hall’s books. Essentially, the Trust formed to “manage” the company becomes the manager or contact entity while the Limited Liability Company or other entity owns the website and URL.
In order to maintain privacy of the business on a long term basis, we recommend dealing with companies that accept money orders as payment for services associated with URL registration and other associated costs. There are only a few hosting companies which will do business this way. Most will want a credit card on file to charge or a bank debit card to debit. Both of these payment options are bad ideas from a business privacy standpoint. If you are serious about your business privacy and desire to avoid business identity theft or prevent a business theft or seizure of any kind, it will behoove you as the business manager to do your due diligence and take the extra time and spend the extra money to ensure business privacy.
Obtaining a Tax Identification Number Privately
During 2011, regulations passed required all online vendors to suppy a tax identifier in order to sell products. As this law impacted privacy advocates, the business manager desiring privacy wants to be able to comply with the law and still keep their business privacy.
First, the manager may choose to form a trust, an entity that has no registration requirements. The trust will manage the business. Many prefer using a Nevada LLC.
The company selling the products is required to obtain a tax identifer, an Employer Identification number to be furnished to the online retailer that processes payments for products sold. Certain vendors may also require an EIN when you do bussiness with them.
How can the company obtain an EIN and still keep managment anonymous? An EIN for managment-the trust formed to “manage” the company can be obtained. This foundation tax identifier for an entity, the trust manager, a non-person provides the gateway to obtain the EIN for the business entity receiving payment for the products.
Please review the Administrative Trustee as described in Privacy Crisis.
Banking Privacy
Once the EIN is obtained for the company receiving payment for the products or services sold, a bank account number will be required to receive these online payments.
Certain online companies may allow you to receive paper checks as payment though the charges are steep for doing business this way, not to mention the extra travel and expense assoicated with using a check cashing store to clear your checks. However, this is still an option for those of you who do not want an online bank account or for whatever reason cannot get one.
Thus far, you as the manager have managed to obtain an EIN privately for your business. The online vendor has recorded this number and the data base will confirm that your company name matches the name and number on file with the tax collection agency. Once this confirmation is received, you’re set to begin doing business online with a high degree of business privacy, a layer so thick that not even the most sophisticated business identity thief can pierce if he happens to target your company. Remember, only the trust manager is on record with the agency that issued the EIN.
Now, your task is to complete your business identity theft prevention plan by obtaining the highest level of bank secrecy available today.
For banking secrecy, we prefer the Ultimate Bank Secrecy Account as described in Privacy Crisis Banking. An online bank account may be set up using substitute identifiers under certain conditions. Resources are cited in the book. Managers want to make certain their true name is furnished to the institution that sets up the account as this will allow him/her to claim the money in the event a dispute ever arises. Do not defraud banks or other financial instituions-EVER. It is never necessary to break the law for the sake of banking or business privacy.
Thanks for reading.
Grant Hall, Author
James Clark King, LLC, Publisher
