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How to justify income of a llc us to open a bank account in SG or CH

Mimimel

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Feb 13, 2021
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I would like to know what is the best plan of action to justify income from an LLC us for a non resident us. I have no worries for my opaque companies like HK,UK ltd since there are audited accounts and pay slip. But for the US LLC I have almost nothing except bank statements, and stripe + paypal statments.

Here ma situation :

- E-commerce activity from the past (2021-2022) all website are closed now. So the system was standard. I collect my customers with stripe/paypal on a us business bank account and then I transfer the profit on my personal account in usa.
- Personnal residency can be malta/panama/vietnam
- French passport

So what is the best way to justify this income when opening a bank account in SG or CH ? Can be enough to give business and personnal bank statment to a bank like DBS, OCBC etc... ? Has anyone had a similar experience ? What would be the best way to guarantee the opening of the account ?
 
Bank statements alone are not sufficient; you need more reliable SOF such as dividends (with a board resolution for dividend declaration), contracts, verifiable invoices, and more.

I have accounts with DBS and OCBC. In the past, you could deposit $250k into one of their investment products or pay management fees for your stock portfolio and call it a day. However, now the requirements are much more stringent, and they require additional proof alongside that investment.
 
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I would like to know what is the best plan of action to justify income from an LLC us for a non resident us. I have no worries for my opaque companies like HK,UK ltd since there are audited accounts and pay slip. But for the US LLC I have almost nothing except bank statements, and stripe + paypal statments.

Here ma situation :

- E-commerce activity from the past (2021-2022) all website are closed now. So the system was standard. I collect my customers with stripe/paypal on a us business bank account and then I transfer the profit on my personal account in usa.
- Personnal residency can be malta/panama/vietnam
- French passport

So what is the best way to justify this income when opening a bank account in SG or CH ? Can be enough to give business and personnal bank statment to a bank like DBS, OCBC etc... ? Has anyone had a similar experience ? What would be the best way to guarantee the opening of the account ?
You could make financial statements for the llc. Can be quite simple, the income and some expenses if any, showing the profit.

I've personally never been asked for any documentation proving wealth when opening bank accounts. Recently opened a UK account with HSBC, also no proof of wealth asked, they just asked for source of funds.
 
Bank statements alone are not sufficient; you need more reliable SOF such as dividends (with a board resolution for dividend declaration), contracts, verifiable invoices, and more.

I have accounts with DBS and OCBC. In the past, you could deposit $250k into one of their investment products or pay management fees for your stock portfolio and call it a day. However, now the requirements are much more stringent, and they require additional proof alongside that investment.
OK i see. What type of company did you give to the bank at SG to justify your income?

You could make financial statements for the llc. Can be quite simple, the income and some expenses if any, showing the profit.

I've personally never been asked for any documentation proving wealth when opening bank accounts. Recently opened a UK account with HSBC, also no proof of wealth asked, they just asked for source of funds.
What document did you use to justify the source of the funds ? Didn't they ask you anything about your company ? In Singapore, it goes back quite far. Are you a UK resident or not ?
 
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I would like to know what is the best plan of action to justify income from an LLC us for a non resident us. I have no worries for my opaque companies like HK,UK ltd since there are audited accounts and pay slip. But for the US LLC I have almost nothing except bank statements, and stripe + paypal statments.

Here ma situation :

- E-commerce activity from the past (2021-2022) all website are closed now. So the system was standard. I collect my customers with stripe/paypal on a us business bank account and then I transfer the profit on my personal account in usa.
- Personnal residency can be malta/panama/vietnam
- French passport

So what is the best way to justify this income when opening a bank account in SG or CH ? Can be enough to give business and personnal bank statment to a bank like DBS, OCBC etc... ? Has anyone had a similar experience ? What would be the best way to guarantee the opening of the account ?
I suggest you hire online accounting firm in the USA to do bookkeeping + auditing because you have us llc and send them all documents online since your business is online. It should not be hard because you have stripe statement, bank statement.
 
You can try what is suggested here, but as I see it, the easiest solution would be to close the company or leave it as it is and set up a new one. Then obtain PayPal and Stripe accounts for the new company and present it as a new entity to the bank.

This way, you avoid a lot of questions. These days, there really isn't any room for not having your documentation in order.
 
I suggest you hire online accounting firm in the USA to do bookkeeping + auditing because you have us llc and send them all documents online since your business is online. It should not be hard because you have stripe statement, bank statement.
Yes, I'll check with an accountant. But I don't think it can be retroactive since these are 2021/2022 revenues.

They didn't ask me for any documents (apart from adrres proof and id) for the personal account. I'm not UK resident or citizen.
Interesting, but why choose the UK ? Do you have a company in the UK ? I've never heard of the UK being interesting for personal banking.

You can try what is suggested here, but as I see it, the easiest solution would be to close the company or leave it as it is and set up a new one. Then obtain PayPal and Stripe accounts for the new company and present it as a new entity to the bank.

This way, you avoid a lot of questions. These days, there really isn't any room for not having your documentation in order.
I have already do this and moved to a opaque company like a LTD in 2023. But my problem is for my past revenus (2021/2022), During this period everything was cashed with my US LLC and I didn't do any accounting. I'm talking about official accounting with an audited account. Of course, I have my own accounting do by myself, but I think it's not very revealing for the banks.
 
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Yes, I'll check with an accountant. But I don't think it can be retroactive since these are 2021/2022 revenues.


Interesting, but why choose the UK ? Do you have a company in the UK ? I've never heard of the UK being interesting for personal banking.


I have already do this and moved to a opaque company like a LTD in 2023. But my problem is for my past revenus (2021/2022), During this period everything was cashed with my US LLC and I didn't do any accounting. I'm talking about official accounting with an audited account. Of course, I have my own accounting do by myself, but I think it's not very revealing for the banks.
I don't understand what is the problem if you do bookkeeping now since you have bank statement + stripe statement + invoices.
 
So you think HSBC UK can a better deal than HSBC SG ? both give a multicurency account. Do you have a personnal residency inside or outside the EU ? i have heard that it is very difficult to open a bank account in the UK if the residency is outside the EU
If you need to make eur and gbp transfers then UK is better than SG. Not sure about SG wire fees, but quite cheap from UK in usd also.
Not eu UK resident.
 
From my experience, in most cases a payslip from the US LLC will do it.

HSBC US has free international wires, I personally would use that one. You can also use Capital one or Bank of America to get your US money, they normally do not cause much questions and you can then shift it over to HSBC US or directly send it as international wire to your own account elsewhere.
 
HSBC US has free international wires, I personally would use that one.
Free intl wires sounds tempting. Maybe I should add HSBC US also. But weren't they supposed to shut down in the US? Or was it sold?
How easy is it to open in the US? UK was very simple.

But for OP, it appears he already has US accounts and wanted other country account, so I assume HSBC US is not of interest to him.
I personally like US banking, maybe OP has other specific reasons to have accounts elsewhere.
 
- E-commerce activity from the past (2021-2022) all website are closed now. So the system was standard. I collect my customers with stripe/paypal on a us business bank account and then I transfer the profit on my personal account in usa.
- Personnal residency can be malta/panama/vietnam
- French passport
You need to show how the money flowed and that the money came from business activity, this can e very challenging and you need really to do your home work carefully if you won't want troubles with the tax office claiming this is personal income and nt business income.

Never ever mix personal and business accounts, it is a real show stopper for your business.