Relay for an LLC: account requirements, USD payments and non-US owners

Prepare your LLC's Relay application and put each account to work: USD collections, cards, payment links and the right access for your team.

Relay is most useful to a non-resident-owned LLC when the business needs an operating treasury rather than one undifferentiated bank balance. Separate checking accounts, account-level access, controlled cards and accounting feeds can make collections, reserves and day-to-day spending much easier to manage. None of those tools, however, replaces a well-prepared application or a clear explanation of how the LLC operates.

Relay holds balances in US dollars and reviews every applicant against its current eligibility policy. A US formation certificate and EIN are only the starting point. The entity, its owners, physical operating address, source of funds and expected transactions must form a coherent business profile.

What Relay provides to a US LLC

Relay is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Thread Bank, Member FDIC, provides the underlying banking services and holds deposits, while Relay supplies the operating interface used to manage accounts, cards, payments, invoices, users and integrations.

That distinction should be understood before an LLC moves material cash. The account agreement identifies the bank, the applicable terms and the conditions for deposit insurance. Relay's software then turns the banking relationship into a practical treasury environment.

For an international LLC, the strongest uses are usually:

• collecting and holding operating cash in USD;
• assigning a purpose to cash without opening a separate legal entity;
• delegating bookkeeping or payment tasks without sharing the owner's password;
• linking bank activity to records that can be reconciled every month;
• issuing controlled cards to the people who actually need to spend.

More accounts do not automatically create better control. A good setup gives every account an owner, a permitted use and a reconciliation rule.

Can a non-US owner apply for Relay?

Relay states that US-registered businesses can apply when one or more owners are non-US citizens or non-US residents. International ownership is therefore not, by itself, a disqualifying fact. The business must still meet Relay's operating-presence, address, industry and verification requirements, and approval remains subject to review.

The business profile

An LLC application is expected to identify the entity type, EIN, legal name, physical US business address, phone number, industry, business description, source of funds, countries of operation, expected monthly volume and intended account use.

A registered agent address is not necessarily an operating address. Where the legal address belongs to the registered agent, Relay may require a second address showing where the business activity takes place. PO boxes and virtual mail services are not accepted as substitutes for the physical address required by the provider. Supporting evidence may be requested.

The practical question is not whether an online business is allowed to serve customers internationally. It is whether the applicant can explain where the company is formed, where management occurs, what US operating connection exists, who its customers are and how money reaches the account. Contracts, customers, suppliers, platforms, inventory, staff or other infrastructure may support that account, but the provider decides what evidence is sufficient.

Beneficial owners and the control person

Relay asks for people who own at least 25% of the business, directly or indirectly, and may also require the individual with significant management responsibility. When several owners meet the threshold, each must take part in the onboarding process.

Non-US applicants use a valid passport for government identification. They must provide a real residential address and may be asked for address evidence. Relay also asks international owners about the income that started the business, whether the company is new or established, annual personal income and the countries where the business operates.

This is where a clean ownership record matters. Membership percentages, managers, signers and the control person should match the Operating Agreement and any banking resolutions used by the LLC.

A bank-ready document pack

Exentax would assemble the file before the application begins:

The objective is not to upload the largest possible bundle. It is to remove contradictions. A website, invoice, contract and bank application should describe the same company in language that a reviewer can verify.

Building a useful account structure

Relay supports multiple checking accounts and up to two savings accounts per business. At the August 2026 review date, most plans supported up to 20 checking accounts, while the highest tier supported up to 50. Product limits and pricing can change, so an LLC should design a treasury model that remains sensible even if the subscription catalogue changes.

A five-account model is sufficient for many businesses:

Collections and processor settlements

Use one account for client receipts and net settlements from payment processors. It becomes the first reconciliation point between the gross sale, processing fees, refunds and the amount that ultimately reaches the bank.

Relay's Quick Requests let you send a customer a USD payment link with an amount, due date and reference. Enabled methods can include cards, customer-initiated ACH or domestic wire, and Pay by bank through an authorized ACH debit. You choose the destination account and accepted methods before sharing the request.

This is useful for collecting a service or project fee without building an online store. Each link is for one contact; separate customers need separate requests. Keep the invoice, gross charge, fees and resulting deposit linked in your records.

Operating expenses

Pay recurring software, contractors, professional services and ordinary vendor costs from a defined operating balance. This makes the company's working budget visible and prevents routine spending from consuming reserves.

Tax and annual-maintenance reserve

Set aside cash for tax preparation, registered agent fees, state annual reports, annual tax and other known renewals. The reserve is not a final tax calculation. It is a liquidity decision that keeps known dates from competing with ordinary spending.

Team and card spending

Fund the cards and expense categories that have been approved. A dedicated balance, clear card limits and a receipt workflow create much better records than issuing broad access to the main account.

Operating reserve

Hold a deliberate buffer for refunds, timing differences, payroll or continuity. If savings accounts are used, remember that those balances have their own transaction restrictions and should not be treated as card-spend money.

Automated transfers can distribute receipts across these accounts, but the bookkeeping still needs to identify them as transfers between accounts of the same LLC. Moving USD from collections to a reserve is neither new revenue nor an expense.

Roles, approvals and least-privilege access

Relay gives every invited user an individual login. This is materially better than sharing the owner's credentials, which removes attribution and grants too much access.

Preset roles include Administrator, Manager, Bill Payer, Cardholder, Deposit Only and Read Only. Custom roles may also be available depending on the plan and enabled features. Access can be scoped by account, card and action, so a person can see or transact only where their work requires it.

An effective allocation might look like this:

Ownership and banking authority are related but not identical. An LLC's Operating Agreement, resolutions and internal authorisations should establish who may open an account, approve payments or delegate access. Relay enforces the permissions selected in the app; the company's records should support the authority behind those selections.

Design my banking structure

USD, ACH, wires and international operations

Relay holds balances in USD. ACH and checks operate in dollars; receiving international payments requires a separate activation reviewed by Nium. After approval, the LLC can use its enabled instructions for USD via SWIFT and EUR, GBP or CAD through local networks. Non-USD receipts are converted to dollars: receiving euros is not the same as holding a euro balance.

International activation also has its own ownership threshold. Nium requests details for owners with at least 10%, or the largest holding if nobody reaches that level. This is distinct from the general 25% threshold for opening the bank account. For a multi-member LLC, identifying those owners early makes the application easier to complete.

Exentax checks which payment routes are active before your customers receive banking instructions. Relay then has a defined role, with other accounts added where you need to hold currencies or offer additional payment methods.

For that reason, Relay does not replace a genuine EUR balance or a multi-currency treasury tool. An international structure can instead assign a clear role to each provider:

• Relay for ACH, bills, cards and core USD reserves;
• Slash when the LLC needs broader international payment operations, subject to the features enabled for that account;
• a business multi-currency account when the LLC needs to receive or retain EUR;
• a payment processor for cards or local customer methods;
• a second operating account for continuity and concentration control.

The accounting classification follows the transaction, not the provider label. A transfer from Relay to another account held by the same LLC is a treasury transfer. A payment to the owner may be a distribution, reimbursement, loan or another owner transaction and must be recorded accordingly.

Deposit protection and counterparty structure

Thread Bank, Member FDIC, provides Relay's banking services and holds deposits. Relay describes an insured cash sweep program through which eligible funds can receive aggregate FDIC coverage of up to USD 3 million across participating program banks.

That headline is not an unconditional guarantee for every balance. Pass-through coverage requires the relevant conditions to be satisfied, depends on account ownership and the allocation across program banks, and protects against the failure of an insured bank rather than business loss or authorised fraud. The LLC should review the current agreement and avoid placing more operational cash in one route than the business actually needs.

A disciplined onboarding sequence

A professional application and a professional launch are two separate stages:

1. Verify the entity. Legal name, state, EIN, Operating Agreement, members and managers must agree.
2. Define the business. Product, customers, countries, average ticket, volume and source of funds are expressed in concrete terms.
3. Resolve every address. Residential, registered-agent, mailing and operating addresses are not treated as interchangeable.
4. Prepare each required person. Owners and the control person have current identification, residential evidence and ownership data.
5. Design the treasury. Collections, operating spend, cards and reserves are assigned before extra accounts are opened.
6. Submit one consistent file. Follow-up questions are answered from the same evidence set rather than improvised in isolation.
7. Configure control after approval. Roles, limits, approvals, statements and accounting feeds are activated deliberately.

Relay and its banking partner retain the approval decision. Exentax prepares the LLC and the evidence, supports the onboarding and follows the application so the business presents a complete, credible operating profile. It never represents a banking approval as guaranteed.

When Relay is a strong fit

Relay is especially relevant for an LLC that operates substantially in USD, wants separate cash purposes, works with a bookkeeper or team and needs bank activity to flow cleanly into the accounts. It also provides a useful step up from running the company through one card and one balance.

It should be complemented when the LLC must hold EUR, accept local payment methods, use branch or cash services, or spread operational dependency across providers. A resilient banking structure is not the one with the most accounts. It is the one that can continue collecting, paying and reconciling when one component is unavailable or under review.

Questions about Relay for international LLC owners

Can a non-resident owner open Relay for a US LLC?

Relay accepts applications from US-registered businesses with international owners, subject to current eligibility and underwriting. The LLC must meet the operating-presence and physical-address requirements and complete ownership and control-person verification.

Is a registered agent address enough?

It should not be assumed to be enough. Relay may require a separate operating address and physical-address evidence where the legal address belongs to the registered agent. Virtual mailboxes and PO boxes do not replace the required physical location.

Is Relay a bank?

No. Relay is a financial technology company. Thread Bank, Member FDIC, supplies the banking services and holds deposits under the applicable agreement.

Can Relay hold euros?

No. Relay balances remain in USD. International wires can involve other currencies and conversion, but that is different from maintaining an EUR-denominated balance.

Put Relay to work within your LLC's banking structure

Relay becomes powerful when it is configured as a treasury system rather than treated as an isolated account. Exentax connects the LLC, ownership records, authorised users, collections, reserves and bookkeeping so the banking setup supports the business from its first transaction.