I bought a laptop for my business before opening the bank account

You can still deduct it. The IRS cares about whether it's a legitimate business expense, not whose name is on the receipt. Just document that it's used for business.

Look into reimbursing yourself from the business once the account is open. It's clean and shows a paper trail.

Following. I'm in the exact same situation but with a printer.

Don't overthink it. Single-member LLC is a disregarded Entity anyway, so it's basically your money either way. Record the purchase in your accounting software with a note that it was pre-account.

Who's doing your books? If you're doing it yourself, just make sure you have the receipt and maybe a paragraph in your records saying what it's for. If you hired someone, ask them.

Also, if you're using a portion for personal stuff, only deduct the business percentage.

I did this. My accountant just had me write a short note documenting when I bought it and why, and kept it with the receipt. No problem.

Also, some states have different rules for sales tax on items bought before registration. Not a big deal but worth checking if you're in a state with weird sales tax.

I wouldn't worry about saLes tax unless you're in a state that requires a permit to buy wholesale or something. You paid retail, it's fine.

Thanks for asking this, by the way. I'm learning from the replies.

One more thing: make sure the laptop isn't over the threshold where you have to depreciate it over multiple years. Otherwise you might need to spread it out. But for a typical laptop, you can usdually deduct it all.

Also keep in mind if you use your personal account to pay, the business can reimburse you. That's easy.