(I'm a fairly new small business owner so I apologize if my discussion post is a bit confusing. For those who respond, I will try my best to provide more context in the comments just in case anything was unclear.)
I have yet to have my first client so I'm not familiar with any type of forms yet, but I wanted to go on here and seek for advice because this entire ordeal has been so anxiety-inducing. I already invested a lot in preparing to open up my business so unfortunately I cannot afford to hire and speak to a tax professional or lawyer at this moment 😓
Here's my backstory and main source of anxiety: Since my freelance business is what I'll be committing too 100%, I was advised to NOT start out as a sole proprietor. So for liability protection, I officially established my LLC within my state of residence, went to the bank and opened up a business checking and savings account under my LLC's EIN. BUT because I'm a single member LLC, for tax purposes, I'm supposed to include my personal SSN. I'm not sure if it's set in stone, but looking back at my bank documents, the financial rep that helped me checked the Limited Liability Company instead of the individual/sole proprietor/single member LLC option on Part I of the W-9 and marked my business as an S-corp. I'm not sure if those documents are just an example to look at when I actually file my taxes, or if him making that mistake because then I might have to cancel my bank accounts and create another one which is migraine inducing all on it's own.
My question is:
1. Will I be penalized for opening up my bank account with my EIN instead of my SSN? I opened up a Stripe (payment processor) account, and it clearly said that for tax purposes as a single member LLC, you should include your SSN and not your LLC's EIN, so I followed those instructions. However, my business bank account that's connected to my Stripe/payment processor account is connected to my business' EIN and not my personal SSN. Does the IRS know who's SSN is connected to the EIN?!
I'm just worried about my payments potentially not going through because my clients will be paying my business' bank account which is linked to my business' EIN and not my personal SSN. So once tax season comes around, will the money I earn from my business be invalid somehow because it's connected to my business' EIN and not my personal SSN? Hopefully that makes sense.
Thank you to anyone who took the time to read my post, I truly appreciate your help and any the feedback I can get.
