LLC filed, EIN done, business bank account open, after four months of stalling

Luis Mendoza· Licensed electrician going out on my own after nine years with a contractor· Registered, Trades & Contractors·Aug 1

Licensed electrician, nine years working under someone else's license, and as of last Thursday I have an LLC, an EIN and a business checking account with $2,000 in it that is not mine to spend.

The stupid part is how long I sat on it. The filing in my state was $125 and took about twenty minutes online. The EIN was free from the IRS and took maybe ten more, and I want to say that loudly, because for two months I assumed it cost money and was complicated, since three different websites were very happy to sell one to me. It's free. Go to the IRS site.

The bank was the part that took two tries. The first branch wanted the stamped formation document plus the EIN letter plus a utility bill, and I turned up with two of the three like an idiot.

What actually unstuck me was doing the Form phase in order across three evenings instead of treating it as one big scary task. Filing, EIN, bank. Now I'm getting general liability quoted before I take any side work that isn't under my boss's license.

Still employed. Still nights and Saturdays. But there's an account with my business name on it and that did something to my head I wasn't expecting.

3 replies

Miguel Alvarez· Registered·Aug 1

The EIN thing should be on a billboard. I paid $79 to a site that filled in the same form I could have filled in myself, and I only found out when my accountant asked why there was a charge for something the government gives away free.

Congratulations on the account. One thing nobody told me: open a business savings at the same time, while you're already sitting there with the folder of documents. I put fifteen percent of every job into mine for taxes and it's the only reason last April wasn't a catastrophe. Doing it later means another trip and another folder.

Cheryl Dunn· Open·Aug 2

Bookkeeper's addendum: from today, nothing personal goes through that account and nothing business goes on your personal card. Not mostly. The clients whose first year costs them the most in my fees are always the ones who were fifty-fifty about it for six months and then handed me a shoebox in March.

Also connect whatever accounting software you're going to use to that account now, while there are eleven transactions in it, rather than in October when there are nine hundred. I don't much care which one you pick. The categorising is an afternoon today and a lost weekend later.

Your state charging $125 is nice. Mine is considerably less nice.

Marcus Thibodeaux· Registered·Aug 3

Same week for me on the bank, different flavour of pain. The food truck means half my sales are card and half are cash, and the first bank I tried had a cash deposit limit that would have started costing me monthly once the season picks up. Worth asking about before you pick, if you ever take cash for a side job.

Congrats on the filing. Nine years under someone else's license and now it's your name on it. I did twelve years in other people's kitchens, and the day the permit application had my name on it was more emotional than I expected too.

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