6 ms·

I didn't know this until I searched for myself in the linked OpenCorporates site - was surprised to see my Delaware LLC not listed. How/why is this true? IMO

I didn't know this until I searched for myself in the linked OpenCorporates site - was surprised to see my Delaware LLC not listed. How/why is this true? IMO it should be straightforward to find the owner/director of a US based corporate entity.

sealeck 2y ago
A lot of jurisdictions do maintain a beneficial owners database (e.g. Companies House in the UK maintains a list of all companies) but often these are not public. For example the ECJ recently made these illegal in the EU (see e.g. https://www.ft.com/content/e4b31a4e-a79d-40f7-8a19-c1e451a95c4b https://www.ft.com/content/e4b31a4e-a79d-40f7-8a19-c1e451a95...).
- Animats 2y ago
  That may clash with the European Directive on Electronic Commerce for businesses which do anything online. If you just have a shell company to own your yacht, that may be entitled to privacy, but if you do transactions online within the EU, the entity has to be properly identified.[1] [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32000L0031:EN:HTML https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX...
tomrod 2y ago
Banks require additional paperwork for Delaware-registered LLCs because they can't search the company structure directly at the Secretary of State website (this was explained to me last week).
throwaway22032 2y ago
Why should it be true?
lobochrome 2y ago
Because the US, after bullying countries like Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Luxembourg to clean house, is now left as the single biggest western tax haven in the world.
- greesil 2y ago
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/14/the-great-american-tax-haven-why-the-super-rich-love-south-dakota-trust-laws https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/14/the-great-amer...
  - grugagag 2y ago
    This article is 4 years old, I wonder what are the new figures…
- roenxi 2y ago
  Starting with the fairly tame observation that taxing commercial activity results in less of it; I'd imagine the country that is the biggest tax haven has significant commercial advantages. I'd imagine if we looked back at the height of the British Empire's commercial successes we'd find London was hoovering up commercial activity from all over the place. And once a lot of finance is flowing through a country, I'd expect some sort of interplay with political influence to happen.
  - ImHereToVote 2y ago
    If you don't tax commercial activity and wealth, you end up taxing work. This kills societies.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - discreteevent 2y ago
      > If you don't tax commercial activity and wealth, you end up taxing work. This kills societies. In general this is true but if you are one of the few tax havens in the world then you have so much money going through that a very small percentage tax adds up to enough money to keep your citizens quiet. This only works locally though. Globally, other societies are getting screwed.
    - MichaelZuo 2y ago
collegeburner 2y ago
i am surprised by your opinion it is fundamentally and deeply inconsistent to support consumer privacy except for joe six pack’s LLC for his general contracting business financial privacy is hugely more important than google knowing whether i buy tide or downy
- autoexec 2y ago
  > inconsistent to support consumer privacy except for joe six pack’s LLC Those aren't the same at all. An LLC is a privilege created under state laws and it's perfectly reasonable for those states to require records that the public can access in exchange for that privilege and the benefits it offers. Having consumer privacy is good for the American public. Having access to know who owns an LLC is also good for the American public. Perfectly consistent.
  - collegeburner 2y ago
    why do you believe that knowing who owns it is good for the public in all cases? business owners are also a part of the public, you know, while megacorps like google aren’t so much
    - autoexec 2y ago
      All cases might be asking a lot, but more often a good for the public than not is enough. The vast majority of business owners are no worse off for that data being available. It's just another cost of doing business, and a fair one I think. Megacorps like google shouldn't be able to hide what they do just by creating a LLC under another name.

sealeck 2y ago

A lot of jurisdictions do maintain a beneficial owners database (e.g. Companies House in the UK maintains a list of all companies) but often these are not public. For example the ECJ recently made these illegal in the EU (see e.g. https://www.ft.com/content/e4b31a4e-a79d-40f7-8a19-c1e451a95c4b https://www.ft.com/content/e4b31a4e-a79d-40f7-8a19-c1e451a95...).

Animats 2y ago
That may clash with the European Directive on Electronic Commerce for businesses which do anything online. If you just have a shell company to own your yacht, that may be entitled to privacy, but if you do transactions online within the EU, the entity has to be properly identified.[1] [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32000L0031:EN:HTML https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX...

tomrod 2y ago

Banks require additional paperwork for Delaware-registered LLCs because they can't search the company structure directly at the Secretary of State website (this was explained to me last week).

throwaway22032 2y ago

Why should it be true?

lobochrome 2y ago

Because the US, after bullying countries like Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Luxembourg to clean house, is now left as the single biggest western tax haven in the world.

greesil 2y ago
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/14/the-great-american-tax-haven-why-the-super-rich-love-south-dakota-trust-laws https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/14/the-great-amer...
- grugagag 2y ago
  This article is 4 years old, I wonder what are the new figures…
roenxi 2y ago
Starting with the fairly tame observation that taxing commercial activity results in less of it; I'd imagine the country that is the biggest tax haven has significant commercial advantages. I'd imagine if we looked back at the height of the British Empire's commercial successes we'd find London was hoovering up commercial activity from all over the place. And once a lot of finance is flowing through a country, I'd expect some sort of interplay with political influence to happen.
- ImHereToVote 2y ago
  If you don't tax commercial activity and wealth, you end up taxing work. This kills societies.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - discreteevent 2y ago
    > If you don't tax commercial activity and wealth, you end up taxing work. This kills societies. In general this is true but if you are one of the few tax havens in the world then you have so much money going through that a very small percentage tax adds up to enough money to keep your citizens quiet. This only works locally though. Globally, other societies are getting screwed.
  - MichaelZuo 2y ago

collegeburner 2y ago

i am surprised by your opinion it is fundamentally and deeply inconsistent to support consumer privacy except for joe six pack’s LLC for his general contracting business financial privacy is hugely more important than google knowing whether i buy tide or downy

autoexec 2y ago
> inconsistent to support consumer privacy except for joe six pack’s LLC Those aren't the same at all. An LLC is a privilege created under state laws and it's perfectly reasonable for those states to require records that the public can access in exchange for that privilege and the benefits it offers. Having consumer privacy is good for the American public. Having access to know who owns an LLC is also good for the American public. Perfectly consistent.
- collegeburner 2y ago
  why do you believe that knowing who owns it is good for the public in all cases? business owners are also a part of the public, you know, while megacorps like google aren’t so much
  - autoexec 2y ago
    All cases might be asking a lot, but more often a good for the public than not is enough. The vast majority of business owners are no worse off for that data being available. It's just another cost of doing business, and a fair one I think. Megacorps like google shouldn't be able to hide what they do just by creating a LLC under another name.