Stateside Journal · Articles
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Seven years of American paperwork run from a kitchen table in Lisbon, written down as it happened. Every processing time here was measured, not estimated.
2026-09-24 · 8 min
US bank for foreigners: I read the non-resident score on 10 Bank Index cards, and the only real bank near the top is in Illinois
Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo all score 4.0, each for a branch or address rule. The top 3 for non-resident owners are not banks at all. First.
2026-09-23 · 10 min
How to check MSB registration: what the FinCEN search proves, what it does not, and where a money transmitter license lives
FinCEN says it does not approve, endorse, license or vet the businesses on its register, and the only count on its search page dates from January 2012. For a.
2026-09-16 · 10 min
I told her the company has nothing to withhold when it pays its own owner, and the definition of a withholding agent does not mention ownership
A withholding agent is anybody with control or payment of a foreign person’s income, the status applies even when nothing must be withheld, and the liability.
2026-09-15 · 9 min
I argued against the 500 dollars for 6 years by comparing it with a number that does not exist
Delaware lets a business act as its own registered agent only if it is physically located in the state. From anywhere else you are buying that service either.
2026-08-31 · 15 min
I quoted 30 per cent and it was a real rate on a real page, just not the one that applied to them
A nonresident’s US income falls into 2 buckets. One is taxed on profit at graduated rates. The other is taxed on the gross at a flat 30 per cent with no.
2026-08-31 · 15 min
I flew to Miami to open the account, and the rule I was obeying names opening it remotely as an ordinary case
The federal identification programme asks for 4 items and accepts a passport number with the country of issuance for a non-US person. It also requires banks.
2026-08-24 · 11 min
Sales tax does not ask where you live, and for marketplace sales it does not ask you at all
Physical presence stopped being the test. Washington reaches you at 100 thousand dollars and California at 500 thousand, and neither cares about your.
2026-08-24 · 11 min
W-8BEN-E or W-9 for a US LLC: the form follows the owner, not the company
A Delaware LLC is on the list of United States persons. It is also disregarded, and the instruction says the owner provides the form rather than the entity.
2026-08-24 · 11 min
The 1099-K threshold moved 5 times in 5 years and finished where it started, and none of it changed what you owe
I told a seller in March that the figure was 600 dollars. It had been repealed 8 months earlier, retroactively. The test is back to 20 thousand dollars and.
2026-08-24 · 10 min
Who is the responsible party for an LLC, and why the bank asks a completely different question
The IRS wants 1 name on the EIN application. The bank wants everybody who holds 25 percent and the person who actually runs the place. I put the wrong name.
2026-08-17 · 11 min
Form 5472 for a foreign owned LLC: the filing that starts at $25,000 before any tax exists
The LLC owes no federal income tax and still owes a form. I told people the opposite for 2 years, in writing, and this letter is the correction.
2026-08-13 · 10 min
Do ITIN numbers expire, and the half of you who should do nothing about it
The number lapses after 3 consecutive years off a federal return. But the IRS says in one line that an expired number keeps working on 1099s and does not.
2026-08-04 · 11 min
Business credit cards on an LLC with an EIN: I answered the wrong question for two years
I used to send people a list of issuers said to take an ITIN. Then I pulled every federal complaint that mentions the number and found that most of the.
2026-08-03 · 10 min
Can I open a bank account without SSN or ITIN? Yes, and the file says the block is somewhere else
No law stops a US bank account for non residents. What stops it is an identity stack that cannot see you, which is a different problem with a different fix.
2026-08-03 · 11 min
How to find my LLC EIN number: the ranking changed when the IRS added a route
The IRS added a document to the list and the old ranking in this file went stale. Every route to look up an EIN number for an LLC that works from outside the.
2026-07-29 · 11 min
ITIN vs SSN vs EIN: I read 163 federal complaints and the real problem is not the bank
Everybody explains ITIN vs EIN and stops there. Two years of complaints say half of them are not about banking at all, which changes the order you should do.