Mercury requires US Operations

[Forester]

Thanks all for you help.

You are welcome.

Maybe just accepting cheap gigs

What do you mean by this? I admit I do not understand well...

or re hiring freelancers in US will avoid this issue?

This will work, definitely; just be advised that in such a case you will be liable to US federal tax, as being ETBUS.

Or something like my reciped from Open AI, Google, Apple, and GoDaddy would be enogh? they are services that I hire for real for my production work.

Well, it might work, as discussed above. Especially – IMO – with GoDaddy as it is typically US company. At least, worth trying; if you try this, sharing your experience here would be much appreciated.

How about switching to a multi member LLC by e.g. having your spouse or family member or someone own 1% ?
Then the LLC will be a US person, and I think Mercury is much more lenient.

I am afraid this will not help; Mercury (et al.) claim clearly that they ask for US operations.

There will be different forms to file but it's still disregarded, so no US tax.

Sure but see above...

 

[cani]

How about switching to a multi member LLC by e.g. having your spouse or family member or someone own 1% ?
Then the LLC will be a US person, and I think Mercury is much more lenient. There will be different forms to file but it's still disregarded, so no US tax.

Thanks I have the LLC under two persons already, but both no US residents. It changes the equation in some way? Thanks again.

 

[Cloudbanck]

I am afraid this will not help; Mercury (et al.) claim clearly that they ask for US operations.

They ask it for a single member US LLC yes, which is not a US person. So a non-US person with no operations in the US - thats what they dont want.

But are you sure they dont accept a US person (i.e. multi member LLC) selling to outside the US? I havent checked myself, but wouldnt be suprised if they dont ask for US operations in this case.

Note that a multi member LLC files a W-9 , whereas the owner of a non-resident single member LLC files a W-8BEN. So, legally it's very different.

 

[Forester]

They ask it for a single member US LLC yes, which is not a US person. So a non-US person with no operations in the US - thats what they dont want.

Well, as @cani already has a multi member LLC and need not to bother with its establishing, it is probably worth asking Mercury about their position. It costs nothing and will yield an interesting result in every case.

But are you sure they dont accept a US person (i.e. multi member LLC) selling to outside the US? I havent checked myself, but wouldnt be suprised if they dont ask for US operations in this case.

No, I am in no way sure, as I have not tried. I am just guessing and my guess is simply complementary/opposite to yours
I am building it on the fact that from the economical point of view, the difference between the one- and multi-member LLC is negligible. Yet it is true that legally and politically it is different, as you point at below.

Note that a multi member LLC files a W-9 , whereas the owner of a non-resident single member LLC files a W-8BEN. So, legally it's very different.

 

[Why]

How about switching to a multi member LLC by e.g. having your spouse or family member or someone own 1% ?
Then the LLC will be a US person, and I think Mercury is much more lenient. There will be different forms to file but it's still disregarded, so no US tax.

Would still need a member of the LLC to be US based, which may indeed complicate the taxes as I don't know if it would be disregarded anymore

 

[robocorp]

Does any subscription to a US based supplier count as US operation? Thinking of Netflix, OpenAI, etc

For anyone else looking for this info, I asked their customer service: that won't work. They're looking for non-digital vendors/suppliers.

 

[JackAlabama]

For anyone else looking for this info, I asked their customer service: that won't work. They're looking for non-digital vendors/suppliers.

looks that era comes to an end. But no loss, there are enough substitutions around (as of now).

 

[genaris]

looks that era comes to an end. But no loss, there are enough substitutions around (as of now).

Can you mention some of them?

 

[JackAlabama]

Can you mention some of them?

theres a thread covering them here.

 

[Alexmorgan]

Just give them 1 or 2 operations a year and you will be fine

 

[Alexmorgan]

Well i got a notification that i have just 7 days with mercury to show a US operation

Is just a contract enough or should do a contract and do a transaction these days?

And does a US person owned company without an office or store considered as US business?

 

[covid]

Do you currently have U.S. operations?
1. Yes

If you select this, and you have US customers and suppliers, your non-resident US LLC still is not liable for US tax. Correct?

 

[Alexmorgan]

If you select this, and you have US customers and suppliers, your non-resident US LLC still is not liable for US tax. Correct?

No if they are suppliers

Yes if they are customers

The bank has nothing to do with IRS

Well i got a notification that i have just 7 days with mercury to show a US operation

Is just a contract enough or should do a contract and do a transaction these days?

And does a US person owned company without an office or store considered as US business?

Anyone here can help?

Is US company with US national and resident of US but the company dont have any office or store considered as US operation to Mercury?


And should i do a transactions from the bank?

 

[robocorp]

Did you find an official answer to your question? I assume Mercury asks for an invoice at the very least, but will be looking for a matching transaction to a US resident, or company. Worst case, if you have US contacts that agree to act as suppliers (up to you to determine the contract/legal aspect), I assume it should be sufficient for Mercury.

 

[aniglo22]

You can use Relay | Online Business Banking | On The Money, All The Time instead of mercury

 

[yngmind]

I just clicked that I have US customers, and they let me continue using the account without any questions.

If you need a solid solution in a real US bank - Chase.

I can help you.

 

[yngmind]

I should bump this thread.

How is everything going with your Mercury accounts, guys?

I have received a notice that they will take me down in 10 days if I don't provide us with operations documents. Even though I have sent them the invoices, they just keep refusing them.

What is the solution to this problem?

What kind of documents will be sufficient for them?

 

[slade991]

We managed to fix our mercury account.

We had proof of business operation.

For the proof of business operation if you have even one customer in the US that will do. Or you can ask another us llc to invoice that one ( a friend successfully did that).

but then they asked us for statement from the kraken account that we get most of our income from.

We told them we cannot because it is not our account.

With the deadline looming in and no answer from them on how to be able to justify that.

I just generated 500+ pages of (real) invoices for the last month ( there is no users info as we are a no kyc business) as a last try, and they accepted it.

And now everything is fine \o/

 

[Alexmorgan]

I should bump this thread.

How is everything going with your Mercury accounts, guys?

I have received a notice that they will take me down in 10 days if I don't provide us with operations documents. Even though I have sent them the invoices, they just keep refusing them.

What is the solution to this problem?

What kind of documents will be sufficient for them?

Well its all

Im getting a problem with them now

The case is that i have less time to act

 

[yngmind]

We managed to fix our mercury account.

We had proof of business operation.

For the proof of business operation if you have even one customer in the US that will do. Or you can ask another us llc to invoice that one ( a friend successfully did that).

but then they asked us for statement from the kraken account that we get most of our income from.

We told them we cannot because it is not our account.

With the deadline looming in and no answer from them on how to be able to justify that.

I just generated 500+ pages of (real) invoices for the last month ( there is no users info as we are a no kyc business) as a last try, and they accepted it.

And now everything is fine \o/

If I have customers on my Stripe account, their payments are all separate, but they ask to have this payment received in the Mercury account.