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Ask HN: Opening a bank account in the US remotely

2 points by ajussis ↗ HN
Hi all,

I'm planning to do the following:

- Is it possible to open a business and a bank account to the US remotely?

Details: - I'm European - Co-founders (2) are foreigners as well

After reading, I know I can easily set up a company using services such as BizFilings.

However getting the EIN for the bank account and finally opening one, is still a mystery for me.

Please help!!

4 comments

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 18.7 ms ] thread
tnicola
I was hoping someone from US might help, but I'll bite. I think that your best bet is to hire a lawyer and give them power of attorney to do it for you.

Especially if you plan on incorporating in US, I would not try to do it without consulting an attorney. There are differences in which state you start the business and these things matter.

I am Canadian, so no first hand experience in the US, but consulting a lawyer is probably the best bet. On all accounts.

Good luck.

ajussis
Ok, thanks for the answer. I had already consulted from one law office but haven't heard back yet.

The problem seems to be the EIN code.

According to this Law Office Samuel Anders one option (and apparently in my case the only one if I want to do this remotely) is to buy an existing company that already has an EIN number set.

I now contacted Mr. Anders, and principally asked about the costs.

I'll continue asking from other places too. Will be posting here the answers I get in case there are others in a similar situation.

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
ajussis
Ok. So I got an answer from one of the law firms I contacted.

They charge $2,500 dollars to:

- Delaware Corp. - 1 yr. registered agent - 1 yr. virtual office - EIN for company - all paperwork - checking account with Visa card

Ok, $2,500.00... not sure if this is a reasonable price ticket.

I now found out that I do can get an "International EIN" through services such as Incorporate / Bizfilings along with the business formation process.

After all legal paperwork the costs are at least $1,000.00 less than the first proposal of the lawyer.

But without the business bank account up and running.

So the question remains but with more hope in the air:

With an appropriate business and (International) EIN code, can I open a business bank account online to any bank?

I already contacted a few banks but haven't heard back yet...