S-corp vs LLC privacy question

[pizzafari]

I'm not sure which forum is best, but after searching it seems most of the LLC/S-corp questions are here, so,

If someone knows the name of my LLC or S-corp, can they find out via the web, or a phone call to a state agency my:

1. address given
2. date of incorporation

Does anyone have any advice as to whether an LLC or S-corp, which one might be better for protecting those?



(I'm actually more interested in hiding the date of incorporation. Don't ask why )

 

[zorba]

Any kind of corporation, including an LLC, has its corporate charter available as a matter of public record. Depending on the state you live in, it may or may not be available on the web, but a call or visit to the Secretary of State's office for your state will turn up your UBI number, date of incorporation, and registered agent's name, address, phone, and other contact info (and the registered agent is probably you.) It will also list the names of all the corporate officers (once again, probably all you.)

If you want to hide the address, you need to register the corporation with an address that isn't yours (e.g. a paid private mailbox -- not a PO box -- since those have reasonable-looking street addresses.) If you want to hide the date of incorporation, your best bet is to contact an attorney and look into buying a defunct corporation with the date you want, and then changing its name and such. And if you want to hide your name, you're going to have to have someone else be the corporate officers, and for that you're going to need to talk to an attorney and not a forum on the web.

 

[miketpowell]

^^ LLC can be completely private in AZ.

OP the questions you asked are all state specific.

 

[KC-Coop]

Yeah all of the questions are pretty state specific. Who are you trying to hide from? General consumers?

 

[jlknauff]

If you neeed absolute privacy, hire a lawyer to set your LLC or S-Corp up in a trust, with the lawer as the trustee. You still run the company and have all control over it, but it is hidden by the trust. On top of that, because of attorney-client privilege, unless someone has a warrent, even the court can't get the info. You can protect things even more, but that should be more than enough unless you're breaking some major laws.