Four Requirements for a Business Checking Account

A business checking account isn't like a personal one. You will get your business name in print on those checks. You will be taken seriously as a legit company. You will have people who know that you are serious enough about the business since you have a business checking account. Here are four requirements for a business checking account.

Employer Identification Number or Social Security Number

You will have to supply the bank with a Employer Identification Number or Social Security Number. You obtain a Employer Identification Number over the Internet quite easy. One advantage that the EIN has is that you can open bank accounts easier than you can with a personal social security number. Your personal social security number on things goes off of your credit report. A EIN helps the company build their own little credit report which doesn't affect you.

Business License

You will be asked to show the business license. You may want to change the address on checks printed. One reason because for safety reasons so you don't end up with a creepy guy showing up to your house if your work out of home. Another reason is because you don't want people to know that you work at home so try to put a mailing address on the printed checks to protect you.

Tax Forms

You will be asked to show your tax forms. These are the tax forms that you get from the State. You will need to show these tax forms to indicate what type of company that you are. You can become just yourself. You can be a LLC or Incorporation. You can become a S corp. The Inc. and LLC protect you from personal lawsuits in some cases. The LLC or Inc. protects your credit report and some lawsuits.

Your Personal Information

The bank will need to know your personal information. This is standard procedure. You need to make the decision whether to put your business partner on there or not. Only put your business partner on there if he or she is someone that you can trust and isn't a spender. You will need to decide on how many checkbooks that you wish to have too.

One thing to be aware about some banks charge you each month a small fee for a business checking account. Some places don't charge a small fee if you choose to have a small business checking account.

My source is my personal experience at U.S. Bank and Sunfirst Bank
Another source is common knowledge