The money is in the company account and you want it in yours. For a single-member LLC that is simpler than founders expect — and the record-keeping around it matters more than they expect.
You are not an employee
A single-member LLC treated as a disregarded entity cannot pay its owner a salary. There is no payroll, no withholding, no W-2. The company is not a separate taxpayer from you for income tax purposes, so paying yourself a wage would be paying yourself with your own money and creating paperwork for nothing.
What you take instead is an owner's draw: a distribution of company funds to the member.
How a draw works
Mechanically it is a bank transfer from the business account to your personal account. That is the whole operation.
What makes it a draw rather than a mess is the record:
- Date and amount.
- Direction — company to member.
- A label — "owner draw", consistently.
Use the transfer reference field. "Owner draw – Sept" costs nothing to type and turns an unexplained withdrawal into a documented distribution.
How much you can take
Legally, whatever the company can afford. There is no required ratio and no minimum salary rule for a disregarded LLC.
Practically, leave enough behind for:
- Known costs for the next few months — agent, state fees, subscriptions, CPA.
- Processor reserves and potential chargebacks.
- Any tax you may owe at home on the profits.
Draining the account to zero every month is how a company misses its own renewal.
Every draw is reportable
This is the part people miss. Money moving between you and your own LLC — in or out — is a reportable transaction for Form 5472.
That includes:
- Capital you put in.
- Draws you take out.
- Loans either direction.
- Company expenses you paid personally.
You do not report each transfer individually — you report totals by category. Which is only easy if you kept the log.
Keep the line clean
The single habit that matters: money moves between the two accounts deliberately, never incidentally.
- Do not pay personal bills from the business card because it was nearer.
- Do not buy business software on your personal card without recording it as a contribution.
- Do not treat the business balance as your current account.
Commingled accounts are the first thing raised if the company's liability protection is ever contested. They also make the April filing considerably harder. Same discipline as opening the account in the first place.
If there is more than one member
A multi-member LLC is taxed as a partnership by default, which changes this materially: partnership returns, K-1s to members, and potential US withholding on amounts allocable to foreign partners. Do not apply single-member logic to a two-member company — take advice specific to it.
Does a draw trigger tax
Taking a draw is not itself a taxable event for a disregarded entity. Tax, if any, attaches to the company's income — which is treated as yours — not to the act of moving it between accounts.
Whether that income is taxable in the United States is a separate question, covered in do non-resident LLC owners owe US tax. Whether it is taxable at home is a question for a professional in your own country, and frequently the more consequential one.