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Joe, your client has NO right to require you to form an LLC to get paid. If they owe you money, they must pay. You need to sever ties with this client after getting paid. Remind them that you have performed a service, and they owe you a payment. If they don’t pay, it’s lawsuit time. There are plenty of other clients out there, so ditch these guys.

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Brian, just pay your utilities with money orders. Yes it can be inconvenient and a little more expensive, but privacy comes with a cost. In my mind, there is no point in going through the effort of signing up for a utility or service in an alternate name, only to give yourself away through your method of payment. Accounts receivable clerks can be bribed to look up payment information through lockbox images or other databases. There is a local liquor store near me that sells Western Union money orders for $1.50/each. I struck a deal with them to lower the price to $0.50/each by purchasing only 20 of them per month (I pay EVERYTHING with money orders).

She also said that it takes photos from angles so for instance if a deck was under a tree it would more than likely show up. When a new building permit is added to the system it adds the information so it will automatically show up if the tax parcel comes into question in the system. She stated that the system was expensive but that they are missing out on sometimes up to $3,000.00 in permit fees and that the county felt like catching non compliant dwellings etc. would pay for it.

They have photos taken every 6 months and images show up better in the winter as all of the leaves have fallen. I did a Google search to check this out for myself.

Submitted Link #1: http://www.calcoastnews.com/news.php?viewStory=140...

Assuming cable TV and telephone service (as an example) is hooked up at a residence in an alias name, how much vulnerability exists if payments for this account are made from a bank account held in the renter's real name? I'm assuming the alias name will be disseminated to the public record. And anyone with access to the cable company records would learn of the real name and bank account paying for the service at said residence. But would the person be off the radar for the most part--meaning absent a Government search warrant or a PI with a big expense account who's willing to break a few rules, would such a person be difficult to locate? Or does paying via bank account bring the whole house down so to speak.

I've heard of teachers being caught by immigration and having their bank account sucked dry and fined large sums. I just want to be able to provide people with the service that they want, help educate them, earn some money, and not be caught by immigration authorities.

... Chingu, please contact me by e-mail.

First, I recently read in the news about an incident where a Walmart employee reported to the authorities that a couple was trying to print photos containing child pornography at one of their photo printing kiosks. The children in the pictures were the couple's, and the photos were taken during bath time. The authorities eventually found no wrongdoing, yet the children were taken from their parents and put in protective custody for over a month (see the linked article). Neither Warmart nor the authorities ever apologized, and the couple is now suing.

While I think they didn't use their best judgement in trying to print those types of pictures at a Walmart, I didn't think much about it beyond that.

My wife and I occasionally get our photos printed at Costco, as the price is unbeatable and the quality is excellent. We recently had a child and a couple months back got a large batch of pictures of him printed at a Costco.

Today something scary happened. A friend of my wife called her and swore that she saw an enlarged picture of our son being used at a local Costco to advertise their canvas prints. I immediately thought "THEY USED ONE OF THE PICTURES WE PRINTED". I jumped in my car and raced to the store in question. It's turns out that it wasn't our kid, but was VERY similar looking.

The moral of the story? Please be careful of "do it yourself" photo printing kiosks and other storefront/online printing services. Read the fine print. There may be something there along the lines of "by using our services we reserve the right to use your photographs any way we choose". Invest in a good photo printer and just print them at home.

Submitted Link #1: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/arizona-couple-suing-bat...

If privacy is your goal, do not attempt to transact directly with automobile dealers. It will almost certainly not work. They will insist upon an excessive amount of information on you or your LLC--neither of which you will want to provide.

If you find a vehicle you want at a dealership or desire to order a new one, do what I did: use a nominee. Your nominee provides all the personal information (name, address, copy of driver license, proof of insurance, etc.). You provide the funds, preferably in the form of a cashier's check, when it comes time to perform the transaction.

The vehicle is titled and registered under the nominee's name. (Choose your nominee carefully.) Once your nominee receives the title from the state agency (usually within a month or so from when the dealer submits the paperwork), he or she sells the vehicle to your LLC. Then you take care of titling and registering the vehicle under your LLC just as you would if the vehicle had been originally purchased from a private party.

For those who are having difficulty with the last step (titling a vehicle under an LLC), I'd suggest using a nominee to do it, acting as a buyer for the business (your LLC) titling the vehicle. The main purpose of this post is to assist those who are having difficulty with the first step (buying from a dealer).

The catch with using a nominee for a purchase from a dealer is in the double-titling and -registration: you can be stung twice for the sales tax. There are ways to avoid this, however. The easiest is to use a nominee who is a resident of a state without a sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, or Oregon. Regardless of where a dealer is located, it cannot charge sales tax to someone with a valid state ID from one of these states.

If your nominee is not from one of these states and the vehicle is new (has never been titled), an alternative is buying the vehicle from a dealer located two or more states away (far enough away that the dealer won't title the vehicle in your state) and (a) having the vehicle shipped to your local nominee (the transaction is handled remotely, by phone, fax, e-mail, mail, etc.) or (b) driving or flying your nominee to the dealership to close the deal. You do this to avoid having your nominee title and register the vehicle. Instead, the dealer gives your nominee the vehicle's certificate of origin. You can use this instead of a title when titling the vehicle under your LLC. The problem with this approach is that you're stepping outside the dealer's comfort zone. And many dealers will refuse to sell a new vehicle without insisting on titling it as part of the process. (Some are afraid you'll export the vehicle, which could bring penalties upon the dealer or the manufacturer. And most will insist on doing the titling so they can tag on another processing fee to the overall transaction.)

Buying a vehicle from a dealer privately--indeed, with complete anonymity for you and your LLC--is possible. I did it a few months ago. However, it did take extra time and effort, the assistance of a nominee, and a couple extra hundred dollars for the double-titling and -registration.

Is an operating agreement for an LLC even necessary? So far I haven't really seen the need for one. Are there any special instances in which one is required?

... NM does not require an operating agreement and so I never use one for holding title to a vehicle or real estate.

However, if you work with other members in a business enterprise, then you do need one.

I met the seller at a DMV license plate office one afternoon. He had to show his drivers license, but I didn't. I gave the name of the LLC and an Alaska address, and showed my insurance binder in the LLC's name. They didn't even ask to see any proof of the LLC's existence.

This was in early 2008; perhaps policy has changed since then? I wonder if the other reader's problem was having a business address in NC? Perhaps my LLC's out-of-state business address kept them from asking for my NC drivers license. That's the only difference in our experiences that I can see. I did have an unpleasant experience when a cop grilled me about why my LLC was incorporated in New Mexico and had its address in Alaska ... I think if the address had been somewhere less unconventional, like NYC or Boston or something, he wouldn't have been as curious. J.J., have you or any other readers ever had a tough time explaining to a cop why the LLC was formed in New Mexico but its business address is somewhere far away?

... No, Dave, the question has never been asked. Normally, the cop is interested only in YOU (unless the car has been reported stolen). If I ever AM asked, I will say, correctly, that NM was chosen because it has a low initial fee and no annual reports. (I'd not mention the privacy angle.) This is similar to big corporations that incorporate in Delaware because of the corporate laws on the books.

Apparently you purchased from a private party, and that makes all the difference I think. It was probably the dealer that was giving him trouble. I encouraged him to turn the car back to the dealer but I think he wanted to keep it, regardless.

If there is no way around it and you must register the LLC with Montana (seems unlikely), you might be able to have the Montanta-registered LLC owned by another NM LLC in order to maintain your privacy. This "nested" LLC concept is similar to how an LLC can be a resident agent for another LLC to maintain the privacy of the registered agent.

Good luck. Keep us posted!

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I decided to test the Post Office's verification of "home" address when opening a PO box. I filled out the form, used a passport for ID, and gave a commercial address that looks like a residential address. I was told that a letter would be sent to me and that I could bring the letter back to complete the opening of the box. The letter never showed up. I tried the exact same thing at another post office and got the same result - no letter.

Looks like they do verify addresses...

"The last two times I've registered vehicles in the name of an LLC (in Georgia and Florida) it was as simple as handing over my title and a couple bucks "

... Stan,
I doubt that any elaboration is needed. I've had the same experience as Ben, every time. I just hand over the title (already filled out), pay the fee, and leave. Period.

A better thing to do is open a PMB in a neighboring town for the parent and teenager to share. If the teenager moves out their sole address should be the PMB mailing address or a ghost address as an alternate choice.

Is this teenager going to attend college? Start now! High School Students should get a ghost address in their town and when they turn 18 change over any bank accounts to that address immediately. High School students would benefit from a real ghost address in their own town before sending off college applications with a money order payment.

If a student uses a ghost address even 1 town away there may be a red flag for College Admissions as to why the town does not match the location of the high school. Once this student sends in his applications for colleges, is accepted, and then moves to the college town, setting up a CMRA should be a first thing upon arrival in town or even in advance. Any credit card marketing/promotions/credit reporting agencies selling data would go to the young adult's Ghost address or CMRA. For any ghosters whose family will be attending college in late August perhaps you want to suggest setting up a CMRA the 1st day of arrival, or else even months before as soon as a letter of acceptance is received.

The other plus is that any roommates after living in a dorm situation won't have access to the young adult's mail in an apartment situation with a shared apartment mailbox. The other benefit is year-round mail can continue even if the student is out of town for 3 months in the summer. The same address can be kept at the CMRA in the college town for a few years and would be semi-convienent near local stores. Perhaps mail forwarding can be setup for summer months or winter vacation?