ok guys,
this will solve all my problems....
Does anyone know how I can get a US bank account, and where do I go to get one.....I am in Australia.........

thanks again

Chase.com

is opening accounts for non US resident but with high minimum deposit
another bank is
tdwaterhouse.com

These bank open personal account only for non US resident , for business account is more difficult to get mine business account I'm paying a company 500$ to open, sending a lot documents and the bank account is for my company incoporated in U.S.

I am in the Uk and opened an account with the Bank of America. All you need is a copy of your Passport, drivers license and the initial deposit.

You should be able to open an account at any BoA branch.

Is that a UK-based BoA or US-based? How big a deposit?

Thats BoA in Florida and a $500 deposit.

You'll understand that I hesitate to introduce you to my precise contact as I don't know you from a bar of soap, but be assured the process was relatively painless.

That was pre 9/11, they may have tightened things since then.

lol, thats cool, you sound like some sort of undercover secret agent, hehe :rolleyes:

Originally posted by privatebox
You'll understand that I hesitate to introduce you to my precise contact as I don't know you from a bar of soap

I posted this earlier in some other post, so you might find it of some relevance:


Alright, I am from India and I too am in similar situation but I have been "digging" up on this for quite a while, so here it goes

1) Get a US Based company: You can go with big people like inc.com or corpamerica.com and spend like $400 on incorporation or you can get some person (whom you know) to incorporate a company for you for $20 (Oregon), from what I have seen on articles people prefer to incorporate in delaware due to several reasons.

You can either go in for Inc or a LLC based company (Search google for differences on them), I am leaning towards forming an Inc.

You will >NEED< a US postal address for this, inc.com and corpamerica.com offer registered agent and mail forwarding services where they forward all mails to your address at a hefty yearly fee, but if you have a reliable friend then you can just use his address.

2) Stuff required for a US Bank account: Firstly, to get a US bank account you will need some type of proper identification, if you opt in for Inc you will need to have an Employee Identification Number or if you go in for LLC you will need an Employee Identification Number only if you hire people. But EIN are a must from what I have seen, they are like SSN when you are looking from the corporation angle. They establish your true identification.

Now due to the recent terrorist attacks I have seen banks ask for more "identification" of some sort, to fulfill this you can get a Certificate of Good Standing from the state of incorporation that states that your corp has a clean record and "exists" in this and this state.

Now you wont want to open a bank account where you have to call from singapore to make them wire your stuff so I would recommend you choose either Chase or wells fargo both have good international banking divisions where you can perform most of the stuff from the net (Including international wires). I am thinking of going with Chase.

3) Getting a Merchant account: Now that you have a company and a us bank account you can apply for a merchant account by showing all the relevant documents to your merchant account provider, this includes:
1) Incorporation Certificates
2) Certificate of Good Standing
3) EIN Certificate
4) Bank Certification (Showing that your bank a/c exists)
5) Proposed Balance sheet (As you dont have a current one)
6) Bank statement (Showing transactions if any)

there are 95% chances that you will be accepted and most US merchant a/c providers deposit the money within 48 hours, so you can wire your money to your singapore bank whenever you want to.

Other than that you can check www.sfcommerce.com and www.worldpay.com (dont know if they support your country but mail them and ask 'em for more info)


Hope that helps :D

Regards,

Varun Shoor

Varun,
you need a EIN even if you're not hiring anyone.
It's required for local taxes, for instance...

thanks Varun,
I was actually looking for that post earlier........

I did find a place that had exactly what I wanted at:

www.valis.org

but unfortunately, their accounts currently not available........

Originally posted by cyansmoker
Varun,
you need a EIN even if you're not hiring anyone.
It's required for local taxes, for instance...


if you opt in for Inc you will need to have an Employee Identification Number or if you go in for LLC you will need an Employee Identification Number only if you hire people

I am >pretty sure< I read it somewhere that it isnt a >MUST< for LLC but it is required when you opt in for Inc whether or not you hire people.

Varun,

If the businness bank account is for only a person it's possible to open with all the requirements you mentioned, but if it's for two persons each signer must provide a social security number.
I contacted a lot of bank and all asked me the social security number for each signer including Well's Fargo.


I have incorporated with the following company

http://delawareinc.com/

Originally posted by Varun Shoor

I am >pretty sure< I read it somewhere that it isnt a >MUST< for LLC but it is required when you opt in for Inc whether or not you hire people. Yes, if you incorporate you must have an EIN. For an LLC, it depends on what classification you opt for on your Form 8832. The LLC is a constuct defined by the individual states, and the IRS doesn't really deal with it as a separate type of business.

So if your LLC elects to be classified as a corporation, you need an EIN whether you have employees or not. If your LLC is classified as a sole proprietorship or a partnership, you only need and EIN if you pay employees. We're speaking here of whether you need it when you form the business, you might need to get one later if you make certain changes in your business structure or the relationship between partners.

By the way, it's an "Employer" Identification Number, not "Employee" as it's called in a couple of earlier posts.

Can anyone tell me what the benefit of having say a US account is ? Surely if you have a merchant account you can handle transactions in foreign currencies. If you are non US based business should you be offering check payments or credit to people you don't know ?

Any feedback good and bad appreciated.

A benefit of a bank account it's you can use alternative payment service like Paypal, without an U.S. bank account if you are from some countries You can withdraw money, a bank account let you accept wire transfer cheaper for your U.S. customers, plus you can use some U.S. payment gateway that accept company with only u.S. bank account.

Hii there,

Just read thru' the site delawareinc.com...
Rick bell and his company seems to be a Interesting option..!

Anyone have experiences with them...?? care to share those experiences with us??...They do have the lowest charges for incorporating...! inc.com and corpamerica.com looks costlier...or do they include more in their packages compared to delawareinc.com???...Please do share that with us...!!

I am from India and also interested in registering my company in US...and need a bank account(Business)....!

Also if anyone have opened a new biz acount after sept.11th...could you please tell us...how easy it is to do so....that would be very helpful of you...

Thanks in advance..
:)

ideavirus as you probably know I have incorporated one of my company Dackom L.L.C. with Delawareinc the company was incorporated 2 weeks after the 11 september.
The only problem I found with Delawareinc was with some questions I asked about the EIN, but all services I asked was very fast and provided with most services required from my company.
Some look a bit expensive for example asked me 500$ to open a bank account + 200 $ for deposit but probably I will go with this option.
I incorporated with delawareinc because was the only company that answered all my questions, instead most famous companies told me to see the faq on the site or replying you can found all on our site.
My advice is not to look at the price only, incorporation require trust on the company you will go,running a company is not safe, you can go in legal problems in future, contact all companies you find interesting, see response time, services that can offer in future, filling documents,taxes and so on.
If you are not planning to move in the U.S. you need to rely on a third party company that can handle all your needs, and for non resident is not easy found alternative if you need change.

Contacting an iRS offices is another required step

http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/where_file/international.html

If you are interested in incorporating in delaware look

http://www.state.de.us/revenue/obt/obtmain.htm

I believe that you can also find a list of banks at www.fdic.gov. This might help you in your search.

thanks damon,
useful!!

Hii simone,

Thanks for the links..
I understand...being a non-resident US guy..i'll have to dig into it much more...before...i initiate incorporating...

Okay...are you a US resident or non-US resident....??

hey, the IRS link u provided...gives me 404 error...is THIS (http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/businesses/international/display/0,,i1%3D2%26i2%3D16%26genericId%3D15021,00.html) the one you meant...Pls let me know...??

As a non-resident US guy...what other things..i shud take care...while incorporating.....??

Also...How about my company paying taxes in India...is it that, if i incorporate and Internet leveraged company in US...but basically do business in other country...is it same in all other countries...that i need not pay taxes in my country...anyone have any idea here..??..Hey..I am also digging into my country's taxing laws and stuff like that..! :)

Thanks for ur time..

Hii again,

if i go ahead with delawareinc.com...
Simone...which plan do u suggest an International applicat..

mini service
standard service
first class service

and which one did u choose...??

thanks
:)

Ideavirus Sorry for late reply,
I'm a non-US resident, actually in italy.
For the irs in link the problem was that site was updated after my post
the new link is
http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/contact/display/0,,i1%3D45%26genericId%3D16550,00.html

hope this time the link is working.

In the next 3 days I will go on the IRS office to ask some questions so I can post some more info.

About the plan I used the STANDARD SERVICE to get the advantage of dhl shipping.

For tax you need to talk with your local tax accountant,
every country have different law.

Some other thing you need check before incorporate are the following:
State of your business office location in U.S
State of your business bank account

Personal Accounts for Foreigners offers Valis
somebody uses it?http://www.valisinternational.org

Hiii,

Thanks simone for the correct link ( its working fine )...and the other advice...

State of your business office location in U.S

You mean to say...having an postal address in US is very essential apart from the Regisration agents address...but what i will be offering is online services...no products with physical entity...???
Which state do you prefer...I am thinking of Delaware...!...


State of your business bank account

What do you suggest...have a Busines bank account in the same state of incorporation or a different state...if i get one in a different state....what extra taxes...can i expect....if any...??...

Also which bank do you suggest to get one account....better service at a reasonable cost...???

Also please do post your inquiry into the IRS thingy...!...I am sure that would be very helpful here...

Thanks again...
:)

You might want to check this out:

http://www.onecommerce.net/usp/info.htm

have you used them before?

you may want to check also http://www.aptiq.com/
I think that onecommerce.net is an aptiq reseller.

Originally posted by 311
have you used them before?

nope.

anyone tried apelles.com ?

I have my bank account opened with hsbc usa for two months now. I used Easy Corp Ltd to get this account opened and it was done within one month. Maybe it can help... this is totally free banking with HSBC.

http://www.***********************/main.php?f=banking

They also opened me a personal bank account in a private bank in New York. I got online banking, visa debit card and even a american express gold with them.

http://www.***********************/

Hmmmm.. smells like spam now

Well, you beat me to it: if I see another post about that company, I'm going to report it...

LOL, don't you saw 20 already? :D

Although most of the popular american banks have adopted new rules that are not too tight as they were when the government imposed Patriot Act they would require you to have a legal precense in United States. That means you should start incorporation procedure.

I suggest you to incorporate in US only if you plan to do business in here. Do not make such steps only to get a merchant account. The one might be closed if you do not cover for some additional requirements. So if you do not intend to pay taxes in United States then search for other options.

Best Regards
Dimitar

have a look at my post in thread 397417, i explained my experience with a swiss bank account and why i think it's a good alternative to a U.S account.

I have recently opened an etrade Bank account (through Valis and David Gendron) but was unfortunately closed with no further explanations.....I finally found an alternative with a trusted friend who opened an account in his last trip to US .What I want to ask is:
Does the IRS monitors all Bank accounts?
Are there any limits of money moving through an account?
I am not laundering money...just have a prosperous e-busineess that makes $10000/month and wonder if moving so much money would create me any problems.

Any ideas?

The IRS doesn't monitor your account, but the bank will. Check with them on the limitations. Usually you are limited to 6 transfers per statement cycle/month. Performing more than 6 transfers can be grounds for closure.

The girl called Patricia on Easy Corp LTD is a Deaf. She will scam you the money and you will get nothing, she will make any excuse to not open the account. If she does she opens a Etrade or HSCB wich you can make yourself for free. Dont trust her, all the company Easy Corp ist just her, Patricia, a real scammer.

As for Etrade, i see tons of people using it. Does it actually work or not? As far as i know the only easy way is Etrade or Fly to the US. I have a business, tax id, etc, but i dont see any bank that will open it except HSBC.

eTrade has worked well for a few of our merchants. Most banks have to satsify the YKYC (you know your customer) regulation.

Also, check with some of your local banks. They might have a partner bank in the United States and they might be able to help you open a bank account in the United States.

You can get a bank account easier flying in and setting one up. This helps to satisfy the above regulation and you do not need a social security number (unless it is interest bearing. Check out some posts on Is Charge.com reliable? Good, fast and cheap? (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=565085) that has more information and links to other threads.

(My apologies - I just noticed how old this post was.)

(My apologies - I just noticed how old this post was.)

It doesnt matter, the post is still usefull since things have not change in the past 2 years, im still looking for a bank account. I also posted the answer yesterday so its great. I will try then Etrade a few months after that i will fly to the US or wait until HSBC opens his local branch here.:o

True but after four years - there have been numerous threads on US bank accounts. I just did not want to be considered bumping a thread by one of the mods - like one posted just less than a week ago: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=565085

you can try contact Mygcard.com they are offering this kinf of services like online bank account in USA etc..

Although most of the popular american banks have adopted new rules that are not too tight as they were when the government imposed Patriot Act they would require you to have a legal precense in United States. That means you should start incorporation procedure.Actually the YKYC regulation has been around for a very long time. It was just after 9/11 that the banks started to enforce it more.

www.accentcard.com we have this card (28 cards) and using them since June 2006

Those debit cards sound nice, but for a temporarily solution, they are not visa or MC cards to make purchases, the fees are very high, if you run a business the fees will kill you. They even charge ACH reloading wich is Free if you have a bank account.

You have to file a form with the US Treasury Deptartment if you transfer more than $10,000 of US Currency to a foreign bank each year (I had to do this a few years ago so it may have changed).

For a US address, a friend in Canada uses www.usglobalmail.com (http://www.usglobalmail.com). After he had his US address and US phone (he's using www.vonage.com (http://www.vonage.com)) it was really easy to open a US bank account.

there are two ways to get US bank account
1. Virtual Money Inc, they have many agents all over the world. you can search on google with keyword "vmi card", then you will find many result

2. Accent Visa

You have to provide ID and utility bill to get these caards.