Jason Zerbe

Generalist getting to yes. Splitboarder and trail mountain biker.

© Vraid Systems Limited. All rights reserved.

The Colorado LLC as a wealth management tool

Colorado, Limited Liability Company, United States tax policy, and Tax Optimization

In an economic environment where real wages have stagnated and regular employees are paying a larger proportion of national taxes than shell companies for the rich, why not play the same games until the legislation catches up? By no means do I support an unfair tax system, just trying to let the common people take advantage of the loopholes, while we try to reverse the Citizen United evils of our past.

This article focuses on the Limited Liability Company, specifically the Single Member LLC, which is the easiest to do the paperwork for and usually the best option for taking advantage of the 20% Qualified Business Income deduction:

  1. Creation is easy:
    1. $50 in Colorado to create
    2. $150-300 for an hour or two of a lawyer’s time to create a manager-managed operating agreement … or pay me for one of mine.
    3. $25 to get your operating agreement notarized
    4. (Optional) $10-12 per month for a mailbox with Anytime Mailbox or iPostal1 to shield your home address and move you into a lower sales tax and less regulated municipality (unincorporated Jefferson, Gilpin, or Weld county).
  2. You can do all the taxes with your standard income taxes:

    If a single-member LLC does not elect to be treated as a corporation, the LLC is a “disregarded entity,” and the LLC’s activities should be reflected on its owner’s federal tax return.

    https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/single-member-limited-liability-companies

    If you maintain residence in a high tax jurisdiction, you will need to get more creative here, as the taxable income from your LLC will be taxed at the rate of your home residence; more on that in my online family wealth office write up.

  3. Upkeep isn’t terrible:
    1. File a $10 annual report
    2. Apply for an EIN and maintain a bank account separate from your personal finances. I really like the Fidelity Account for Businesses, unfortunately they (and American Express) crack down on physical addresses provided by a Commercial Mail Receiving Agent … while other banks will let you use a virtual mail provider for your physical address … more on why that is important later. Be sure to check if your address will be flagged as a Commercial Mail Receiving Agent if using a bank that cares.
    3. Setup quarterly electronic estimated tax payments for the US National Goverment and your formation state if you have no other way to do income tax withholding (like through a W-2 employer).
    4. File Beneficial Ownership Information with FinCEN or hire a registered agent to.

If your taxable income is less than $157,500 for a single filer or less than $315,000 married filing jointly, and if this new business’s purposes is Investing and Lending, which this is, then the interest income coming through this LLC is Qualified Business Income; that is the interest income is properly allocable to a trade or business.

Physical address matters

The address you use for banking and business letterhead may mean the difference between paying 10% of your Qualified Business Income (QBI) or paying no tax; California vs Nevada or Oregon vs Washington.

As an Investing and Lending business with no employees, no sales, no services, and no tangible property it makes sense to use an address which means low or no income taxes; occupation, sales, and use taxes do not matter here. While everyone talks about creating Delaware (zero sales tax) business entities, Nevada (zero income tax) makes much more sense in this instance; additionally, Nevada does not charge taxes on services.

While it is true Nevada charges no income taxes, Nevada does charge significantly more for business filing fees than Colorado does for business filing fees, which at lower income levels cost as much as the 4.5% Colorado income tax rate.

Additionally, the cryptocurrency regulatory regime in Colorado is much more progressive, which is necessary for my LLC investments.

Saving on taxes now and in the future

To save on taxes, you will need to transfer ownership of accounts and assets to the LLC, known as a capital contribution. Fiduciaries generally want to see:

Depending on the tax jurisdiction and wealth, all of your startup fees could be covered by the tax savings in the first month.

Now given that there is no public market for these LLC assets, gifting membership interests to your heirs while you still are the LLC manager means hefty asset write-downs.

Going deeper

Want to learn more? Want no business license fees and no income taxes? Check out our online family wealth office write up for the inside scoop on Wyoming!