CRS, FATCA and CARF: choosing bank accounts for a US LLC

Understand CRS, FATCA and CARF for your US LLC: bank accounts, euros, entity classification and reinvestment, with banking coordinated by the Exentax team.

The United States does not have CRS. For a non-resident owner, that is one of the distinctions worth understanding when choosing where an LLC holds its accounts. The business decision goes further: how you collect customer payments, hold reserves, pay suppliers and access investment services.

A US LLC gives those activities a company of their own. It can use a US operating account, a separate provider for EUR collections and another institution for investments. Each relationship should have a clear purpose, with costs, currencies and documentation suited to the business.

What this guide helps you decide

CRS is the Common Reporting Standard for exchanging financial account information between participating jurisdictions. FATCA has a different scope, and CARF concerns crypto-asset information. Understanding those distinctions helps you choose accounts; none of the three defines the LLC's entire tax treatment.

Start with the entity that provides the account, the services you need and the company's classification. A brand can offer different contracts across markets, while two accounts held by the same LLC can serve different purposes. We explain what to check and how the rules fit together.

At Exentax, our team reviews your business, existing accounts and plans before recommending a setup. The aim is practical: suitable banking, clear company records and professional support as the structure develops. You can use this guide whether you are forming a first LLC or want more from one you already own.

Original CRS: what it tried to fix and where it fell short

The OECD Council approved the Common Reporting Standard on 15 July 2014, following a G20 request. For an LLC owner, the practical question is how each account fits the business: who holds it, which institution provides it and which reporting framework applies. Begin with those facts before comparing banks, payment services or investment accounts.

The standard requires every Reporting Financial Institution (banks, brokers, fintechs holding banking licences, investment funds, insurance companies with investment products) to identify each account holder whose tax residence differs from the account jurisdiction and report:

• Holder data: name, address, country of tax residence, TIN, date and place of birth.
• Entity data: name, TIN, country. For accounts held by passive NFEs, the controlling persons behind the entity must also be identified.
• Account data: number, name and identifier of the financial institution.
• Balances and yields: year-end balance, gross interest, gross dividends, and gross proceeds from sales or redemptions on custody accounts.

That data is sent every year, typically in September of the year following the reported tax year, and is cross-checked against the taxpayer's own filings in the country of residence. In Spain, Royal Decree 1021/2015 and Order HAP/1695/2016 govern Modelo 289, which is the AEAT's CRS reporting form. We unpack the residents'-side mechanics in our companion article on CRS for residents in Spain and LATAM.

When choosing services for your LLC, start with the actual relationship rather than the provider's marketing label. Ask which legal entity opens the account, who holds the funds, whether you are buying a payment service or an investment product, and which documents identify your company. Keep the agreement and account details together. This gives you a useful basis for comparing banks, EMIs and crypto platforms, including costs, currencies, withdrawal options and the role each service will play in your business.

CRS 2.0 and CARF: the OECD's new package

The OECD published two pieces in one package and they need to be read together. The first is the comprehensive overhaul of the Common Reporting Standard, informally known as CRS 2.0. The second is the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which extends the same automatic-exchange logic to the crypto universe. Both were published as a single package and have been transposed in the EU through Directive DAC8 (DAC8 amends Directive 2011/16/EU to bring CARF and the revised CRS in). We deep-dive the European piece in DAC8 and crypto-asset reporting.

The most relevant operational changes:

1. Specified electronic-money products. The revised CRS covers defined products, not every service marketed as a fintech or wallet. Check what the account actually provides.
2. CARF has its own scope. Review the provider, covered transactions, user classification and applicable jurisdiction together. For your LLC, start with the account agreement and the activities you intend to carry out.
3. Stricter due diligence on controlling persons of passive NFEs: more documentation, less interpretive room, granular self-certifications.
4. Joint-account information. The revised CRS identifies joint accounts and the number of holders. When organising your LLC's documents, keep the account holder, company members and authorised signers clearly distinguished.
5. Implementation follows each jurisdiction's timetable. Check the rules applicable to the provider and reporting period; a publication date is not an account's first reporting deadline.

For an LLC owner, the useful outcome is a clear banking plan: which account receives customer payments, which holds reserves and which supports investments. At Exentax, we review those needs alongside the company's classification and documentation. You can then choose services for their actual benefits instead of assuming that every provider with the same commercial label works in the same way.

CRS 2.0, CARF and DAC8 calendar: the dates that actually matter

It is worth keeping the official dates in plain sight so you do not confuse press headlines with the regulatory calendar. The OECD approved the CRS 2.0 + CARF package in June 2023 and published the reference document International Standards for Automatic Exchange of Information in Tax Matters — Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework and (2023) update to the Common Reporting Standard. The European Union has transposed it through Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (DAC8), adopted on 17 October 2023, which amends Directive 2011/16/EU to bring in the revised CRS and the scope of CARF. For DAC8 crypto-asset reporting, collection starts on 1 January 2026. Information for 2026 is exchanged between EU tax authorities by 30 September 2027, not on a fixed date in January. Providers file with their national authority under the applicable domestic deadline.

Outside the EU, the CARF timetable depends on each jurisdiction's implementation and activated exchange agreements. A commitment to CARF is not, by itself, a reporting start date for every provider.

The three layers that coexist today fit on a single table:

A practical note to avoid a recurring confusion: the OECD does not publish any standard officially called "CRS 3.0". The label circulates informally in news pieces, videos and explainer content as a shorthand for the OECD package adopted in June 2023 (CRS 2.0 plus CARF). When you read or hear "CRS 3.0", the correct regulatory reading is "CRS June 2023 revision + CARF", applied in the EU through DAC8. There is no OECD text titled "CRS 3.0" to point to: there is the integrated document of June 2023 and Directive (EU) 2023/2226 that brings it into EU law.

The US, CRS and FATCA: three separate questions

The United States does not have CRS. For an LLC using US banking, this gives a clear starting point: the bank does not send information through CRS merely because a member lives abroad. Revising the CRS standard does not itself bring the US into that framework.

First, identify the account institution. Establish which legal entity maintains the account and where. An international brand may offer several contracts. A routing number, currency or app is not enough to establish the reporting jurisdiction.

Second, identify any bilateral arrangements. FATCA focuses on accounts held abroad by US persons, while some intergovernmental agreements provide reciprocal exchanges. The US-Spain agreement also provides automatic exchange within its defined scope. Its account definitions, data fields and recipients must be checked rather than treated as CRS under a different name or applied indiscriminately to every corporate account.

Third, distinguish the company from its tax treatment. A foreign-owned LLC can conduct business, invest and hold its own treasury. Its legal identity, federal tax classification and account classification answer different questions. Bank documents and tax forms should reflect the actual arrangement.

This approach makes US banking useful for concrete reasons: financial infrastructure, domestic payment access, business ownership and a banking relationship governed by US rules. A sound recommendation follows today's framework and your business needs, not a prediction about what a future administration will do.

US banking privacy: procedure, not opacity

US financial privacy is real, but it must be described accurately. It is not absolute secrecy, anonymous banking or a promise that tax authorities can never obtain records. US banks run KYC, KYB, AML, restricted-party screening, suspicious-activity controls and tax reporting where applicable.

The important difference is the automatic channel. A US bank account does not operate under the European CRS model that sends a yearly package of account holder, balance and financial income to the customer's residence country by default. Access to detailed records normally moves through legal process, regulatory channels, treaties or formal cooperation. That makes privacy procedural, jurisdictional and document-driven.

For a US LLC, that difference matters. If the company has a real file, a business reason, bankable documentation and no careless personal distributions, the conversation is not "hidden or not hidden". The conversation is whether the structure can be explained with tax residence, banking, invoices, contracts, source of funds, Form 5472/1120 and a clean operating record.

How the US wins by hosting non-residents' LLC

At first glance, the model looks counter-intuitive. If a foreign-owned single-member LLC under default disregarded-entity treatment has no substantive US federal income tax because the facts produce neither ECI nor a US trade or business, what does the US gain by hosting hundreds of thousands of these LLCs in its registries? The answer has three layers:

• State formation and maintenance fees, recurring and highly efficient. Delaware, for instance, collects an Annual Franchise Tax from every LLC formed there; multiplied by hundreds of thousands of active entities, this is one of the state's first non-tax revenue lines. Wyoming, New Mexico, Florida and Nevada compete on different formats of recurring fees (annual report, registered agent, business licence) that fund significant portions of their budgets. We unpack the comparison in New Mexico vs Wyoming vs Delaware.
• Capturing foreign capital into the financial system. American neobanks (Mercury, Relay), large commercial banks and retail brokers live partly off non-resident deposits and operations channelled through LLC that vehicle digital businesses and investment portfolios. That capital stays inside the US system, generates margin for the institutions, and multiplies liquidity for the broader economy.
• Structured information reporting through IRS Forms 5472 + 1120. Even when that foreign-owned disregarded entity has no substantive federal income tax, it must still file Form 5472 with a pro-forma Form 1120 when the filing rules apply (Treas. Reg. §1.6038A-2). The IRS therefore receives a structured record of reportable transactions between the LLC and its foreign owner. We explain the mechanics in Form 5472, what it is and how to file it.

The practical value for a business owner is access to an established legal and financial environment: a company that can contract, hold accounts and organise investment. State fees, registered-agent services and federal reporting have separate purposes. None of them proves that future US policy is fixed. We select the LLC and banking arrangement for the business under the rules that apply now.

What this all means for your LLC and your structure

Bringing the above down to actual decisions we take with Exentax clients every week, the operational picture in priority order:

• Your LLC remains a valid and declarable tool. The fact that the US does not operate on the CRS rail does not turn your LLC into an "opaque structure" from your home tax authority's perspective. You have your own filing duties (Spain: IRPF + Modelo 720 + Modelo 721 if applicable; LATAM: equivalent regimes; UK: Self Assessment + Worldwide Disclosure; etc.) that do not depend on CRS. What changes is the automatic flow, not your obligation.
• Crypto changes regime under CARF. If you hold meaningful balances on exchanges based in Europe or in any participating jurisdiction, assume your tax authority will receive that information automatically in the near term. Pre-CARF and post-CARF planning is not the same. We go through the detail in DAC8 and crypto.
• The state of formation matters for non-tax reasons but operational ones. Wyoming and New Mexico keep winning for freelancer and services profiles; Delaware keeps winning for SaaS aimed at raising capital or for holdings; Florida fits cases with US physical nexus. None of these decisions hinges on CRS — all of them hinge on how your activity and your banking match the jurisdiction. We cover this in self-employed vs LLC.
• Tax residence of the owner is the master variable. Residence follows the facts: days of physical presence, centre of economic interests and family ties. A professional design records those facts first and then aligns the LLC, accounts, distributions and local reporting around them. Exentax keeps the same position readable for the client, the bank and the adviser.

Keep the banking arrangement aligned with the business

An LLC may use more than one institution, with a different job for each: a US operating account for customer receipts, a multi-currency provider for supplier payments and an investment account for longer-term reserves. This is a business decision, not a requirement to use one provider for everything.

For each relationship, we record the contracting entity, account holder, institution's jurisdiction, supported payment routes and tax classification. The same LLC can therefore have accounts with different reporting treatment. The currency shown on a screen does not decide that treatment.

Review is especially useful when a provider changes its contracting entity, the owner moves, a member joins, or the LLC adds investment activity. A business classified as Active NFE does not become permanently active simply because that box was selected at opening. Its income, assets and applicable criteria still matter.

The practical outcome is a banking arrangement you can explain and use: customers know where to pay, suppliers receive the right currency, reserves are separated from daily spending and the team has the documents needed for each institution. We review changes in the applicable framework alongside those business facts, without treating either a headline or an old onboarding form as the final answer.

Review your structure with Exentax

A practical account review before you apply

Consider a consulting LLC with customers paying in euros and suppliers invoicing in dollars. Its first question is not how many accounts it can open, but which payment arrangements make those contracts easier to fulfil. List the expected monthly receipts, typical payment size, destination countries and currencies before comparing institutions.

Next, separate the collection service from the place where the company keeps its reserves. Ask which entity contracts with the LLC, who appears as the account holder, how funds reach the operating account and which fees apply at each step. Request the relevant terms rather than relying on a product screenshot or a description from another market.

Keep the resulting comparison short: purpose, provider, account holder, currencies, charges and documents still needed. If two providers serve the same purpose, identify the practical benefit of retaining both. This gives your adviser a useful basis for checking the account classification and gives you a banking arrangement shaped around the company's actual transactions.

Five decisions that make the structure useful

• Business ownership. LLC receipts go to relationships opened in its name. A member's personal accounts serve a different purpose.
• A role for each account. Daily operations, EUR collections, international payments and investment can sit with different providers, chosen for practical needs.
• Consistent information. Activity, residence, members and authorised signers match the contracts and current company records.
• Account-specific classification. Check the service entity, account type and self-certification. A brand name is not a substitute for that assessment.
• Proportionate follow-up. Update relevant changes and retain valid documents. The company does not need to restart its setup every year.

That is the work we coordinate with you: an arrangement you can use, with suitable financial services and clear responsibilities. The LLC is the legal centre of the business. Banks and processors are chosen to support it, whether you need a first operating account or a more complete international setup.

FAQ on CRS, CARF and US banking privacy for an LLC

Does CRS 2.0 bring the United States into CRS? No. Revising the standard does not itself make the US a CRS participant. An account maintained by a US banking institution is assessed under its own reporting framework. That distinction matters when arranging an LLC's banking, payments and investments, but it must be checked for each account rather than inferred from a brand name.

Can a US LLC hold an account in a CRS jurisdiction? Yes. The LLC retains its legal identity, while the institution applies the rules where it maintains the account. The relevant classification may be Active NFE, Passive NFE or Financial Institution. For a Passive NFE with controlling persons resident in reportable jurisdictions, the bank must consider reporting those persons. The IRS label disregarded does not replace that separate classification.

Does US banking exchange information only on request? No. Bilateral automatic exchanges also exist, with a different scope. Articles 2 and 3 of the US-Spain FATCA agreement cover identifying information and certain income for accounts meeting its reportable-account definition. The US-side list is not the CRS package of annual balance and financial income. Whether a particular LLC account is covered must be determined from the agreement and the account facts.

Does receiving euros or having an IBAN change the LLC's residence? Not by itself. EUR collection details may belong to a collection service, an e-money account or a bank account. Exentax reviews the contract, the entity maintaining the funds and the named account holder. That allows European collections and US banking to work together without confusing currency, institution location and tax residence.

What does CARF report about crypto-assets? The framework concerns reportable transactions and transfers, aggregated by crypto-asset and transaction category, alongside user information. It is not accurately described as universal year-end balance reporting for every wallet. The provider's jurisdictional connection, the reportable user and the covered activity matter. EU DAC8 collection starts in 2026, with exchange of that year's information due by 30 September 2027.

Does retaining or reinvesting funds change the tax treatment? Reinvestment funds the business and separates business reserves from personal spending. Tax timing follows the applicable classification and tax rules, not just a payment to the member. Under US federal disregarded treatment, the activity is attributed to the owner; another jurisdiction requires its own analysis. We distinguish taxable profit, available cash and distributions before recommending how to organise the structure.

How does Exentax help choose the banking arrangement? We start with what you need to do: collect customer payments, pay suppliers, hold reserves or invest. We then coordinate the LLC, ownership, accounts, processors, currencies and documentation. Different institutions can serve different purposes, with one team overseeing the arrangement and its ongoing requirements, whether you are forming a company or bringing an existing LLC.

Review your LLC with the Exentax team

Already have an LLC and want better banking? Planning your first structure? Tell us where you sell, which currencies you collect and what you need for operations or investment. We review the accounts, documents and objectives with you before recommending the next steps.

Our team coordinates the structure, bank applications and ongoing support. Different accounts can handle daily receipts, international payments, reserves and investments. We retain what works and focus on the points your business needs to improve.

Your proposal starts with your circumstances, not a standard setup for everyone. You have a team to turn to for the organisation and ongoing operation of your LLC.