Youtube is full of videos telling how important is to open a virtual business address in order to hide your home address from the public records, and file your LLC with the virtual address as your primary address. I followed the recommendation and open virtual address with the real street (not PO box), but now:
-
I can’t get business license with the city since they do not accept virtual address
-
Banks do not want to open business account on the address, saying they “do not accept C/O address”
I wonder what I might have missed, or why all the hype is about, if all you can do with the virtual address is to file with the state, but not city and not even open a business bank account
You must log in or register to comment.
A workaround for this is to use an ups store P.O. Box which is receives mail as a suite instead of a box/po box. My state also doesn’t allow usps P.O. Boxes, or any P.O. Box, but ups store “suite” box works fine. Another alternative is to use what is called a registered agent service. The reason some states require this is for legal notices / getting served in the event of a lawsuit.
The 2 examples you gave have legitimate reasons to not allow the virtual address. Your business license is issued based on your location (home, for example), but you can use a different mailing address (virtual address) for communications and billing. Banks have Know Your Customer laws that require your real address as the business owner, but you can use your virtual address for mailing statements. Pretty much everywhere else, websites, businesses cards, mailing addresses with vendors, etc, you can use your virtual address. Anytime you give out an address, it can be your virtual address.
main motivation declared in those videos is to hide your home address, and bank asks for your “primary business address” being real, not virtual, and your primary business address is one exposed and visible publicly, so I can’t hide it, unless I rent an office
But you generally are not hiding it from the bank, you are hiding it from the public. The bank doesn’t make your address public, putting it on a website, business card, mailings does. I have done both virtual and rented office space and never had any business mail come to my home address. You can still use the virtual address for your mailing address with the bank.
When you open business bank account, for example, Chase business checking account, they ask you to fill in your “primary business address” which they could very well check with what you have in the Secretary of State records. Same can do my city business unit, not sure it’s good idea having totally different addresses in those systems, they all call it “primary business address”, so I bet they mean the same thing, so specifying your home address while having different address on file in Secretary of State is kind of lying
-
If the city doesn’t accept virtual addresses how do they handle mobile businesses? Do they require everyone to have a premise? Is there even any space available for lease? I would present as much information to your licensing department as possible and then get ready to lawyer up if they are going to be unreasonable.
-
Most banks don’t want to open any small business bank accounts anyway. Keep trying different vendors.
I can’t say for other cities, but in Pleasant Hill Ca, rules are: 1) every business ought to get a business license, regardless of its type, including mobile 2) the business should have physical address with space where you can work, either real office or your home
-
Another reason not to trust rando youtube videos.
Honestly you can’t trust anything online, especially legal related. The amount of poor legal advice on Reddit is shocking. Reddit business advice in some subreddits is horrifically bad. The best thing any business owner can have is a really good independent general business attorney that has experience in the industry you’re in