Legal topics
Privacy companies, honestly described.
Wyoming does not list members or managers in its ordinary record. That is genuinely useful, and it is not the same thing as anonymity.
What is actually on the public record
When you form a company, some information goes onto a state website that is public, permanent, indexed by search engines, and scraped by commercial data brokers within days. What exactly is exposed varies substantially by state.
In Wyoming, the ordinary entity record shows the company name, its registered agent, and a principal office address, but not the members or managers. In many other states, the annual report or statement of information requires listing officers, directors, or managers by name and address, and that becomes permanently searchable.
For someone forming a company from home, the practical consequence is usually that a home address becomes a public business record.
What privacy structuring actually does
The three levers
- Jurisdiction. Forming where members and managers are not disclosed in the ordinary record.
- Address. Using a public record address service so the principal office shown is not your home.
- Layering. Having one entity own another, so a search of the operating company returns a holding company rather than a person.
Applied together, these mean a casual search, by a customer, a competitor, a contractor with a grievance, or a data broker, does not return your home address and your name. That is a real and legitimate outcome.
What it does not do, the part that matters
Read this before you buy anything marketed as anonymous
Banking. Any bank opening an account will identify beneficial owners under know-your-customer rules. There is no structure that avoids this.
Tax. Income is attributed to whoever actually owns the entity. Ownership structure does not change who reports it.
Litigation. Discovery in a lawsuit reaches ownership information. A structure that made you hard to find on a website does not make you hard to find in a deposition.
Reporting rules. Federal and state beneficial ownership reporting has changed repeatedly, see our page on the Corporate Transparency Act for where it currently stands. State-level non-disclosure and federal reporting are entirely separate questions.
Privacy from casual search is achievable and lawful. Concealment from a regulator, a bank, or a court is neither, and structures marketed on that basis create exposure rather than protection.
Why ordinary people want this
The reasons are usually mundane and entirely reasonable:
Common motivations
- Not publishing a home address on a permanently indexed government website
- Landlords and real estate investors who prefer tenants not to have their personal details
- Professionals in fields that attract unwanted attention, medicine, law enforcement, judiciary
- People with a history of harassment or domestic violence
- Business owners who do not want competitors mapping their holdings
- Reducing the volume of data-broker aggregation about a household
Where Tresp Corporate Services fits
What Tresp Corporate Services does here
Structures of this kind are built out of entities, and entities need forming, filing, and maintaining. That part is ours:
Our role
- Form the entities in Wyoming or California
- Act as registered agent in every state where an entity sits
- File the annual reports and keep each entity in good standing
- Maintain the minutes, resolutions, and records that evidence each entity is real and separate
- Provide mail forwarding and public record address service where the structure calls for it
Whether a particular privacy structure is appropriate, and how it interacts with reporting obligations, is a legal question. The design of the structure, and whether it suits you at all, is legal work performed by attorneys, not by us.
The independent firm Tresp, Day & Associates, Inc. advises on privacy structuring.
Information, not advice
This page explains a general legal concept so you can have a better-informed conversation. Tresp Corporate Services, LLC is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, and forms no attorney-client relationship with you. Nothing here is a recommendation about your circumstances or a prediction about your outcome, nobody can offer either without knowing your facts. For advice on your situation, speak with the independent firm Tresp, Day & Associates, Inc. or counsel of your own choosing.
Want your address off the state record?
We handle formation, registered agent, and compliance. For the legal question, we will point you to the firm.
Common questions
Frequently asked
What is a privacy company?
An entity structured so the owner's name does not appear in the ordinary public record, typically a Wyoming LLC because Wyoming does not list members or managers in its standard entity filing. It limits what a casual searcher or data broker can learn from a state website.
Is a Wyoming LLC anonymous?
No. Wyoming does not publish member or manager names in its ordinary entity record, which keeps your name off a public indexed website. Banks identifying beneficial owners under know-your-customer rules, the IRS, and courts with jurisdiction still require accurate ownership information.
How do I keep my home address off the public record?
Use a public record address service, which places a provider's address and suite number on your Articles and on the Secretary of State record instead of your own. Tresp Corporate Services offers this for $100 per year, and it is included in the mail forwarding packages.
Is forming a privacy company legal?
Forming an entity in a state that does not publish member names is entirely lawful, and the motivations are usually ordinary, not publishing a home address, or reducing data-broker aggregation. What is not lawful is concealing ownership from a bank, a tax authority, or a court.
Tresp Corporate Services, LLC provides corporate, registered-agent, and compliance services and does not provide legal advice. For legal matters, we work in tandem with the independent law firm Tresp, Day & Associates, Inc. This page is general information only.
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