Crazy? Or sensible? Guess we'll find out...

I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.
With the LLC thing, I was once told that you must have some partners or employees to be considered a proper legal shield. I recommend consulting with a lawyer and to be very open about the (very real) problems you're trying to solve. Godspeed, OP.

- Thanks for sharing my meme!
  
  Of course!
  I would have attributed it if I remembered it was yours :)
  
  Your meme?
  steals
  My meme.

Any reason you're thinking of? Writing off server costs?
- Mostly for an additional degree or 2 of separation from me and maybe some liability protections. The US treats business better than humans after all lol any tax benefits would be a plus if it happens though
  
  i wouldn't join any instance based in the US fwiw
- It’s in the name: liability. If the instance gets sued, only the LLC’s assets can be claimed.
  There may be other reasons that OP has in mind, but that’s the most obvious benefit I see.

are you guys getting paid?
- Yes, I get paid a very respectable number of memes for my monthly salary.
  
  i wish I got paid in memes.
- Lol I wish
  
  don't worry - our soros checks are in the mail
  
  If you're not trying to make money, wouldn't it make more sense to start a non-profit foundation?

For real tho anyone know a good guide to hosting an instance?
- You have to understand the tech because lemmy is not end user ready. The best "guide" is the one on lemmy github.

Good luck with the IRS.
- It actually shouldn't be all that problematic, money I put into its business account, from say my paycheck, is not seen as revenue. As long as the maths maths (e.g. I put 1000$ into it for the year from my paycheck, spent 800$ in infrastructure and still have 200$ in the account = all good (hopefully))
  
  You will need to document those Owner / Capital Contributions very clearly so if an audit happens you can prove how that money got into the LLCs account.
  Speaking of that account; your Contribution may not be considered Revenue but any interest earned from it sitting in a bank account almost certainly will be and unless you record offsetting expenses then you suddenly have profit...which is subject to taxation.
  If that isn't enough then there's State, County, and sometimes even local regulations to consider. For instance you lived in Denver, Colorado you may be on the hook for "Occupational Privilege Tax" which is $4 per month per employee. Is the owner of a single member LLC considered an "employee"? I dunno but you should know that this stuff exists and find out before it bites your ass off.
  For the most part LLCs are cheap and easy, right up until somebody from the Government decides to poke their nose in, which is how so many people get in trouble with them.
  So Good Luck with this and let me know when your instance goes live. :)
  
  Don't you have to turn a profit like 1 out of 5 years?
- Idk how it is with the IRS but in my country you could easily do it unless they can show you're trying to avoid taxes on non-business expenses. Putting in your post-tax income is already a sign you're likely not trying to game the system. Setting up some potential income stream would be even better. Doesn't have to turn a profit but you might be able to show you're TRYING to be profitable. Then you could use company income on it.
  If your lemmy instance is actually community outreach for some other part of your business, you could run it from pretax income and get reimbursed VAT without having to show it as an attempt at making money.
  You can set up an LLC in Estonia without ever visiting the country for under 300 euros. It's pretty nifty. But if you try to do any hardcore tax optimization, they will catch you. You can optimize away small things, but overall if you're making a bunch of money and only have lots of business expenses and pay no salary, they'll start investigating you.
- Do the still exist in Trump's America?
  
  They will never go away for regular people, only the Rich.