Fast Florida LLC Formations

Those desiring additional protections may consider establishing a holding companies with subsidiaries. Such structures are common for real estate and other risk prone industries, or for those with significant personal assets who are interested in protecting them. A holding company separates valuable assets from operating liabilities. This graphics shows how the structure works:

Florida leads the US in corporate disclosure laws and transparency. The Public Records Law and Government in the Sunshine Law each dictate what each company must disclose and that such disclosures be permanently available for anyone who wants them. Given this, many incorrectly assume it is not possible to form an anonymous LLC in Florida.

A Florida LLC is required to list its owner on the formation documents. The easiest solution is to form an anonymous LLC in another state and list it as the owner. For example, New Mexico offers an anonymous LLC that has no annual report. Setting up such an LLC and listing it as the owner leads anyone who wants to find your identity into a dead end. There many legitimate motives for desiring anonymity - especially during the digital age. Public documents were previously hard to hunt down. Involving faxing and mailing things across the country. The records were piles of documents in a county building somewhere. Today, though, corporate records are easy to search for online.

We generally advise forming an LLC because they're easier to manage and have more tax flexibility than a Corporation. However, there are some circumstances where a traditional Corporation is the best choice. For example, if a board of directors is desired, or split share classes, then a Corp can provide an easier template to work with. While Florida does have a corporate tax rate of 5.5%, in addition to the federal rate, S-Corp taxation is available. Learn more here about Florida corporations.