Legal Shelf Company ? LLC Basics for Foreign Investors

A Limited Liability Company, or LLC, is a legal structure that provides asset protection and personal liability protection for its owners. It is available to use in all 50 states. When you hold assets in a U.S. LLC, and the LLC is sued, your personal assets held outside of the LLC are not at risk.

Holding real estate inside of an LLC is an excellent way for a foreign investor to both protect their US assets, as well as enter the US tax system easily. Having an LLC allows you to jump to the head of the line in terms of applying for your US ITIN (individual taxpayer identification number). In turn, your ITIN allows you to avoid the 30% flat tax you will otherwise pay on your US-sourced income.

You can own multiple LLCs, if you have a lot of properties, or you can own just one LLC and put multiple properties inside it. Each has their own advantages. It is certainly simpler and more economic to have just one LLC. There is no bar on where an LLC may own property, so if you have properties in two or more states, you can use the same LLC to hold your ownership.

On the other hand though, holding all of your US properties inside one LLC can have some risk, too. If someone wants to sue the LLC, as owner of a property, then everything else the LLC owns is also potentially at risk. Having multiple LLCs can be a safer bet, as something that happens inside one LLC stays there. Even if you may be the only owner of multiple LLCs, that doesn?t mean someone suing one LLC has the right to sue the rest.

Additionally, if you have multiple properties you can protect them by holding them in separate LLCs. In the case of the story told a few pages ago, if the owner had held each of his apartment buildings in a separate LLC, the risk would have been much less for his assets.

The US tax and legal system is complicated. That?s why you need a powerful and knowledgeable ally. With LegalShelfCompany.com, you don?t have to worry. We can help you through the tax, legal and other requirements to holding and operating US property from overseas. To learn more, pick up our free eBook, Buying US Real Estate: What Foreign Investors Need to Know or watch our FREE webinar at www.legalshelfcompany.com/international

Categories: Blog
Tags: foreign investor, foreign investor US taxes, foreign investor USA

Source: http://www.legalshelfcompany.com/international/blog/llc-basics-for-foreign-investors/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=llc-basics-for-foreign-investors

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