Looking for USA nominee director / Stripe representative

[davodsonlib]

Hello,

I hope everyone is doing well.

I run a SaaS website, and payments are processed through Stripe using my U.S based (Wyoming) LLC.

I recently launched the platform.

About a week ago, I received a notification from Stripe requesting that I add a U.S based account representative, as my company is registered in the United States.

Does anyone have an IDEA or RECOMMENDATION on where I can get a Stripe account representative or nominee director based in the USA? Has to be legit because I don't want to ruin my company since stripe verifies the ID and address of the representative.

Thanks in advance.

 

[fgtv123]

Is the company registered w/ an EIN in the US?

A US rep isn't required for foreign owned LLCs.

 

[daniels27]

I think they really changed it recently. No wonder from how much scam LLCs there were recently. Literally anybody from Europe opened such LLCs for tax evasion and for shady businesses.

You can apply for a US visa and then handle it yourself or you travel there and get a guy on the ground.

 

[davodsonlib]

Is the company registered w/ an EIN in the US?

A US rep isn't required for foreign owned LLCs.

I have an EIN.

Stripe says I need an account representative in US.

 

[fgtv123]

I have an EIN.

I would double check you have it setup as a LLC that is treated as a corp/partnership, and not a sole prop.

 

[daniels27]

I would double check you have it setup as a LLC that is treated as a corp/partnership, and not a sole prop.

No need to check. I think @disagree had the same issue few hours ago and he knows how to set up accounts.

I already offered him to buy a cheap church for $1000 and then we can apply for E-4 visas for all the priests around the planet. Until the church falls apart.

 

[fgtv123]

To set it up properly:


Tell stripe you've elected to become an entity separate from its owner.


Single Member LLCs are by default Sole Prop Companies in stripe, so you must change it.

 

[davodsonlib]

To set it up properly:


Tell stripe you've elected to become an entity separate from its owner.


Single Member LLCs are by default Sole Prop Companies in stripe, so you must change it.

I see.

I'll inform them.

Thank you very much.

 

[davodsonlib]

To set it up properly:


Tell stripe you've elected to become an entity separate from its owner.


Single Member LLCs are by default Sole Prop Companies in stripe, so you must change it.

Hello, sorry I had to quote multiple times.

I just checked and I am already on a Single-member LLC, do you mean I should tell stripe to change from that to sole proprietor?

Though, I can actually change it myself.

 

[fgtv123]

already on a Single-member LLC

a single-member LLC that has elected to be treated as a corporation for tax purposes is a "private corporation", no longer a single mmbr llc.


Changing it there should be fine

 

[EliasIT]

That's how it works, did they approve your business ?

 

[davodsonlib]

That's how it works, did they approve your business ?

Yes my business is approved on stripe, but unfortunately, stripe still asks for account representative even after following the procedures given in the thread.

 

[CEOz]

Private business virtual address doesn't work in this case? LLC agent address as well?

 

[davodsonlib]

Private business virtual address doesn't work in this case? LLC agent address as well?

No, virtual/agent won't work because they need the representative to be verified using their ID and address

 

[fgtv123]

Yes my business is approved on stripe, but unfortunately, stripe still asks for account representative even after following the procedures given in the thread.

Could you share exactly what they are saying?

Just went through the new account process w/ foreign owned & they accepted it just fine.

They should still require a representative, but as long as you upload a passport it can be anyone, not just US.

 

[Xshore]

I would double check you have it setup as a LLC that is treated as a corp/partnership, and not a sole prop.

However this is a big decision to make, a corp needs to deliver tax returns and pay taxes to the US. And still not certain that Stripe will accept it without a local person in the US.

I think they really changed it recently. No wonder from how much scam LLCs there were recently. Literally anybody from Europe opened such LLCs for tax evasion and for shady businesses.

You can apply for a US visa and then handle it yourself or you travel there and get a guy on the ground.

Same thing happened to me 5-6 years ago, it worked for a few weeks then I got the message that they required: "At least one employee or account/business owner physically based in the US".

 

[daniels27]

However this is a big decision to make, a corp needs to deliver tax returns and pay taxes to the US. And still not certain that Stripe will accept it without a local person in the US.

I would advise against changing anyting just because some payment service "wants" it.

Same thing happened to me 5-6 years ago, it worked for a few weeks then I got the message that they required: "At least one employee or account/business owner physically based in the US".

Thanks. I think we are still waiting for @davodsonlib to tell us what it says and then also what it requires. Like this the whole discussion here is utterly pointless and just unnecessary noise in the sense of scaring people with ungrounded scares. Please bring actual facts on the table!

 

[disagree]

Hi guys. Just some quick points about the LLC + Stripe situation.

- I never had such issue with Stripe, nor the people I work with that have a foreign owned US LLC (we're talking hundreds of people).

- An issue I'm seeing a lot lately is that some Stripe accounts get approved, and then after 2 weeks/1 month they just get an automated email saying "after further analysis for your risk profile, we decided we can't support you" -> generic and looks super automated. If you appeal, your account gets reinstated. Sometimes they revert this on the first attempt, sometimes you need to work harder, getting in touch multiple times with the support team.

- You getting this request from Stripe is completely unusual. They support foreign owned US LLCs. This looks like a mistake in your stripe application and/or company formation. They clearly offer the payment processing services, and asking for a US representative means that maybe you requested to access some service that they are a middle man for, that they offer ONLY to companies that are managed from the US soil or something like that.

It would be good to know if you did something specific that triggered this request.

 

[davodsonlib]

Hi guys. Just some quick points about the LLC + Stripe situation.

- I never had such issue with Stripe, nor the people I work with that have a foreign owned US LLC (we're talking hundreds of people).

- An issue I'm seeing a lot lately is that some Stripe accounts get approved, and then after 2 weeks/1 month they just get an automated email saying "after further analysis for your risk profile, we decided we can't support you" -> generic and looks super automated. If you appeal, your account gets reinstated. Sometimes they revert this on the first attempt, sometimes you need to work harder, getting in touch multiple times with the support team.

- You getting this request from Stripe is completely unusual. They support foreign owned US LLCs. This looks like a mistake in your stripe application and/or company formation. They clearly offer the payment processing services, and asking for a US representative means that maybe you requested to access some service that they are a middle man for, that they offer ONLY to companies that are managed from the US soil or something like that.

It would be good to know if you did something specific that triggered this request.

Yes, I’m still quite new to this company setup and to stripe. I believe I triggered this while exploring stripe's dashboard, specifically when I looked into the "Global Payout" option.

I did find a workaround, although I'm not sure how long this will last.

I used myself as the representative and verified my identity (they accept identity verifications from outside the US) but used my company’s address as my address (they won't accept another address other than a US address).

 

[disagree]

Yes, I’m still quite new to this company setup and to stripe. I believe I triggered this while exploring stripe's dashboard, specifically when I looked into the "Global Payout" option.

I did find a workaround, although I'm not sure how long this will last.

I used myself as the representative and verified my identity (they accept identity verifications from outside the US) but used my company’s address as my address (they won't accept another address other than a US address).

Yes this is how you should have set this up since the beginning. But it's not a workaround. It's just how it should be.