Single-member LLC: Should I pay taxes from business account or personal account?

This is actually a pretty common question for new LLC owners! Since a single-member LLC is a "disregarded entity" for federal tax purposes, the IRS doesn't distinguish between your business and you personally - all income passes through to your personal tax return (Schedule C). From a tax perspective, it doesn't matter which account you pay from. The IRS simply wants their money and doesn't care which account it comes from. Using your business account is perfectly fine and many people do this to keep cleaner accounting records. Some people prefer to transfer the money to their personal account first because it helps them mentally separate "business money" from "personal money" that's allocated for taxes. Others prefer paying directly from the business account to keep a clear record of business expenses. Just make sure you're consistent with your bookkeeping and can show the flow of money if needed.

I was in this exact situation last year with my single-member LLC. Tax stuff was driving me crazy until I found https://taxr.ai - it analyzed all my business docs and gave me a clear answer about this exact question. The tool showed me that for a pass-through entity like our single-member LLCs, it doesn't actually matter which account you pay from, but it helped me set up the right accounting categorization so I wasn't accidentally counting tax payments as business expenses. The AI explained that some people prefer business account payments for record-keeping, while others use personal accounts to mentally separate the money. What really helped was getting personalized guidance based on my specific business structure instead of generic advice that might not apply to my situation.

Just wanted to follow up - I tried taxr.ai after posting that question and wow, it was exactly what I needed! I uploaded my LLC formation docs and last year's Schedule C, and it gave me a complete breakdown of the tax account question plus helped me fix my quarterly payment calculations. Found out I was actually overpaying my estimated taxes by about $1,200 per quarter because I wasn't accounting for some deductions properly. The tool explained how to handle paying from either account and helped me set up the right tracking system in QuickBooks. Honestly wish I'd found this before spending hours on confusing IRS publications!

If you're having trouble reaching the IRS to get clarification on this (and who isn't these days), I'd recommend trying https://claimyr.com - it's a service that gets you through to an actual IRS agent quickly. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was stuck on this exact LLC tax payment question and couldn't get through to the IRS for weeks. Used Claimyr and got connected to an agent in about 20 minutes who confirmed that for a single-member LLC, payments can come from either account and explained exactly how to document it properly. Saved me tons of stress since my accountant was out of town and I needed to make my quarterly payment.

Ok I need to admit I was totally wrong about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical comment, I decided to try it because I was desperate to talk to someone about my LLC tax situation. It actually worked exactly as advertised. I got a text when they started calling, then another one when I was about 5 minutes from being connected. Talked to an IRS agent who confirmed that for a single-member LLC it doesn't matter which account I pay from, but they recommended keeping good records of transfers between accounts. Total time from signing up to talking to an agent was about 35 minutes (compared to the 3+ hours I wasted last week trying to get through). I'm usually the first to call out services that seem sketchy, but this one delivered. Just wanted to follow up since I was so publicly doubtful.

i've been running my single member llc for 3 years now and i've always transfered money to my personal account first before paying taxes. my reasoning was to keep a clear separation between business + personal stuff. i figure it's easier to show "this was a business expense, this was me paying myself, these were distributions" etc. but honestly its probably overthinking it since the irs considers it a pass-through anyway. do whatever makes your bookkeeping easier and more consistent!

Something to consider that nobody's mentioned yet - some banks charge fees for writing too many checks from a business account, while personal accounts might have unlimited check writing. Might save you a few bucks to transfer to personal first!

As someone who just went through this exact same confusion with my single-member LLC, I can confirm what others have said - the IRS truly doesn't care which account you pay from since it's a pass-through entity. What I ended up doing was creating a simple system: I pay estimated quarterly taxes directly from my business account (easier for record keeping), but I categorize them as "owner distributions" in my bookkeeping software, NOT as business expenses. This keeps my profit calculations accurate while maintaining clean records. One tip that really helped me - I set up a separate savings account just for tax money and automatically transfer my tax percentage there each month. Then when quarterly payments are due, I just move that money to whichever account I'm paying from. Takes the guesswork out of whether I have enough set aside. The key is consistency - pick one method and stick with it so your records are clean come tax time!

This is such a relief to read! I've been stressing about this exact same thing with my single-member LLC. I started paying from my business account but then second-guessed myself and switched to transferring to personal first. Sounds like I was overthinking it completely. The key takeaway I'm getting is that consistency matters more than which specific account you use. I think I'll go back to paying directly from the business account since it's simpler and keeps everything in one place for my records. Just need to make sure I'm categorizing the payments correctly as distributions rather than expenses. Thanks everyone for the detailed explanations - this community is so helpful for navigating these confusing tax situations!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm in a similar situation with my single-member LLC and was completely confused about the tax payment process. Reading everyone's experiences has really clarified things for me. What I'm taking away is that the IRS doesn't distinguish between business and personal accounts for single-member LLCs since they're pass-through entities. The most important thing seems to be proper categorization in your bookkeeping - treating tax payments as owner distributions rather than business expenses to avoid artificially reducing your profit. I think I'll follow the approach several people mentioned of paying directly from my business account for simplicity, but making sure to categorize everything correctly. The separate tax savings account idea also sounds brilliant - I'm definitely going to set that up to automate the process and avoid the quarterly scramble to figure out if I have enough set aside. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and solutions!