The hardest part of starting a remote business in the US is setting up a remote bank account. Most banks in require you to visit in person and provide a social security number. If you don’t have either, your options quickly become limited.

After incorporating your company in the U.S., you can take the documents to a bank and open a business account there — even as a foreigner. However, many banks in the U.S. have a surprisingly large number of procedures — from a European perspective — that are difficult to handle or only partially accessible online. For many transactions, you’ll need to visit the bank in person. You’ll also find that, even in the 21st century, many of your customers still prefer to pay their bills by check rather than by bank transfer. This means that with a traditional bank, you’ll have to keep going to the bank to cash checks.

An alternative to a traditional bank is a neobank, which is typically a fintech company. One example is Mercury Bank in San Francisco. The major advantage of this bank is that you can open an account entirely online and can — and must — conduct all banking transactions online. Uploading scanned checks and cashing them without an in-person appointment quite straightforward. The downside of such neobanks, however, is that they often use the banking license of another established bank, meaning that your bank details — which you have to disclose, for example, in a bank letter to your customers — only list the neobank as an intermediary bank. This makes things a bit more complicated and can also pose an additional hurdle in certain situations, such as public procurement. See also the topic Public Customer in the Operations section.

I’d be happy to tell you more about banking and financial transactions if you get in touch with me!

By the way: Nothing I write here constitutes legal advice within the meaning of the German Rechtsdienstleistungsgesetzes. The content has been compiled to the best of my knowledge. I am not a lawyer (but I know a few, if necessary).