I've been trying to research this and am coming up with confusing results, so I'm just going to ask. I do NOT want my legal name and address to be revealed to every person who decides to send me a dollar, and it seems the only way to hide them is to register with a business account. I do actually run a business - I am self-employed - but my trade license does not grant me a company or brand name (it only lets me do business under my legal name).
I am perfectly willing to register a business if that's what it takes to hide my personal information and prevent myself from being doxxed, but I'm not sure what the actual requirements are.
- Is it possible to register a business account just using my trade license but enter my "doing business as" name (the name I use but which is not formally registered anywhere) and have that appear when people send payments?
- If not, is there a simple way to legally register a business name which would allow me to operate a business account and hide my legal name? I know nothing about business law, I've just been running my business as a self-employed person for years. What type of company is the simplest to set up?
- Can someone point me to resources on what the differences are between different types of companies and how to go about registering them? I'm in the EU so European resources would be preferred. I've been trying to do my own research but it all just seems so complicated, I'm hoping there's a simple explanation somewhere that I can refer to.
Thanks so much to anyone who can offer some help. I really appreciate it.
EDIT: I've investigated what it would take to start a company in my country and it's absolutely not feasible. It's very expensive and complicated and not accessible to someone just taking occasional payments. There MUST be a way to protect my personal information from someone who might want to doxx me that isn't beyond my means. As it stands, all someone who wants to doxx me needs to do is send me $1. I don't even have to approve it, they just automatically get my full legal name and address. Someone please tell me there's SOME way to either hide my name (even just part of my name) and address from any random harasser who might have it out for me online. There MUST be a way to do this, or to start a business account with a "doing business as" name that isn't officially registered with the government. If not, I absolutely cannot use PayPal. I'm a member of a heavily targeted minority and having my real name and address accessible is a very real danger for me.
