Opening an LLC which operates online

[ketanco]

Hello,
I will start an LLC which will be an online business. No physical work, and no physical office and no employees. I will be the single owner and will get a street address from UPS store for the state I want to open it. I am currently living outside of the US, so I will just choose a state such as a no income tax state.

I know how to start the LLC and register with the state. But what about county and city level? Do we need registration for the county and city level too? Or those registrations apply only if we have a real physical office?

What I will do is, I will run some websites that will have google ads, I will accept royalty payments for books that I wrote, may sell digital versions of my books, I will do some remote consulting work, in a subject which does not require a special license. I will not sell any physical goods online yet.

Would your answer be different if I started selling goods online, such as making arrangement with a shipping company or a manufacturer who will ship?

[vangogh]

I don't think there are any country regulations, but some cities will require you pay city income taxes. I don't think you'll have to register with the city, but depending on which one you chose there could be city taxes involved. It probably won't be an issue, but it depends on the specific location of your address.

You really need to choose a state and then follow the requirements of that state as some will have different rules than others.

[Harold Mansfield]

Seems like an awful lot of trouble just to sell books online. If you don't live in the U.S. why do you need to incorporate here? Why not incorporate where you live and pay taxes? There's no tax scheme where you don't pay any taxes. If you incorporate and list a U.S. address as your company address, you will be responsible for taxes. Whether it's sales tax or federal income tax.

States without personal income generally make it up on things like sales tax. They don't shelter you from federal taxes. I live in one and I still pay federal income taxes.

[ketanco]

Seems like an awful lot of trouble just to sell books online. If you don't live in the U.S. why do you need to incorporate here? Why not incorporate where you live and pay taxes? There's no tax scheme where you don't pay any taxes. If you incorporate and list a U.S. address as your company address, you will be responsible for taxes. Whether it's sales tax or federal income tax.

States without personal income generally make it up on things like sales tax. They don't shelter you from federal taxes. I live in one and I still pay federal income taxes.

This is not as you described. First of all, as I stated I will be doing more than just selling books online. Second, I may add even more to the things I listed, as far as what I will do. Third, I am US citizen and still do my federal taxes anyway, of course these will all be included in my federal taxes.

I still want to do business in the US, it will be much more effective business, for all the activities I counted and not just selling books online. Since I live outside of the US now, which state my LLC business is registered doesnt matter for me, so why not choose a no income tax state and avoid doing a state tax return each year. If I did all this from abroad, - which would be way less efficient, and bring less money for my remote consulting stuff and website address where people will see a foreign company - as far as my US taxes things would be much more complicated as I do my federal taxes anyway and these will be all in there as a schedule C through my LLC.

All I wanted to know now was, if I must do any county and city level registrations, as a general rule, because what I use will be the mail address that I obtain from UPS. I called a UPS office and they said the city may inspect it but it doesnt matter for them, if i register with county and show their office as address. But I want to be exactly sure. I mean registering with a county or city is no big deal but what if there are other things in play once you do it, so I do not want unnecesary compllicated paperwork, and if possible setup my LLC at a location where you do not need to do this at county and city level. I am sure, there must be many many people with online business like me, where they do nothing physical and no physical office. what do they do... I am sure my question is very common or may be I am thinking extra and nobody even thinks about this?

[Harold Mansfield]

You didn't make it clear that you were a U.S. citizen.

Whether or not you have to do any state or city level registrations depends on the state or the city. You'll have to first pick one, and then do some homework about what their requirements are.

I found this with a basic Go0gle search. Hopefully it will start to point you in the right direction.
https://www.quora.com/If-I-own-an-LLC-registered-in-the-United-States-but-I-live-abroad-am-I-able-to-arrange-contracts-with-a-company-based-in-another-country-for-production-design-work-Can-I-file-the-income-earned-under-the-Foreign-Earned-Income-Exclusionb

You're asking specific questions about your specific situation that you can't afford to get wrong. Unless any of us have the exact same scenario, the advice is going to be general and not necessarily accurate for your situation.

You will not get any better advice than just going to the IRS website. They have information on every kind of situation and can guide you clearly on the best way to proceed. You can also call them and they are VERY helpful in steering you in the right direction.

[Business Attorney]

As Harold said, the answer depends on the location. A significant percentage of counties and cities have some type of business registration requirements, but the registration requirements often cover only specific types of businesses. A business that has no physical location and engages in no activities in the city or county is probably outside the scope of many business registration ordinances, but you can't assume that in any particular case.