US LLC for Non-Residents: Form One for $100-$500, No SSN

To form a US LLC as a non-resident, you file formation papers in one US state (usually Wyoming or Delaware), appoint a registered agent there, get an EIN from the IRS by phone, fax or mail, and open a US business account. You do not need US citizenship, a visa, an SSN or a trip to the US. The setup costs roughly $100 to $500 and takes days; the part that needs planning is the yearly Form 5472 filing and how your own country taxes the company.

This guide walks the full path in order for owners living in Canada, Australia, the UK, the EU or anywhere else outside the US. Every fee comes from the state, IRS or vendor page it is published on, checked on 28 October 2026. Fees change, so recheck the linked pages before you pay.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm with a US CPA and a tax adviser in your home country for your situation.

Step 1: LLC or C corp?

Pick the entity before the state, because it decides most of what follows.

• Single-member LLC. The usual choice for a solo founder running a services, agency, SaaS or e-commerce business that will not raise venture money soon. For US income tax it is a “disregarded entity”, but since 2017 the IRS treats a foreign-owned one as a corporation for the limited purpose of Form 5472 reporting (IRS).
• C corporation. What US venture investors expect, and the entity behind most “raise a seed round” stories. It files a full corporate return and pays US corporate tax. Our Delaware C corp vs LLC guide covers that decision.

If you are not sure, the LLC is cheaper to run and can usually be converted later. The rest of this guide assumes a single-member LLC owned by one non-resident individual.

Step 2: Choose the state

With no US office, the choice is almost always Delaware or Wyoming. Government fees as of October 2026:

Sources: Delaware fee schedule, Delaware LLC tax, Wyoming fee schedule. Checked 28 Oct 2026.

Two details matter. Delaware’s $400 has no proration: an LLC that exists at any point in a calendar year owes the full year (Delaware). Wyoming’s $60 is a floor: the tax is $60 or $0.0002 per dollar of assets located in Wyoming, whichever is greater, which for a remote owner usually means $60 (Wyoming).

Rule of thumb: Wyoming is cheaper for a plain LLC. Delaware makes sense if you form through Stripe Atlas (Delaware only) or expect to convert into a Delaware C corp for investors. Our Delaware vs Wyoming LLC comparison goes deeper.

Step 3: Formation service or DIY?

Every state requires a registered agent with a physical address in that state, so “DIY” still means paying an agent. A formation service bundles the agent, the state filing and usually the EIN.

Sources: Stripe Atlas, doola, Firstbase. Checked 28 Oct 2026. Prices change often.

Atlas also refunds its fee if you deposit $5,000 in Stripe Treasury within 90 days, per its pricing page. For a three-year cost comparison, see Stripe Atlas vs doola vs Firstbase.

Step 4: Get the EIN without an SSN

The EIN is your company’s federal tax ID; banks and payment processors ask for it. It is free from the IRS, and the IRS says to form the entity with the state first, then apply (IRS).

If your principal place of business is outside the US, the online application is not open to you. Instead:

• Call 267-941-1099, Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time. That suits Canadians; from Sydney it is roughly 9 p.m. to 2 p.m. the next day, depending on daylight saving.
• Fax Form SS-4 to 304-707-9471 from outside the US (about four business days).
• Mail Form SS-4 to Internal Revenue Service, Attn: EIN International Operation, Cincinnati, OH 45999 (about four weeks).

With no SSN or ITIN, you write “foreign” on line 7b, and a single-owner foreign LLC describes itself on line 9a as a “Foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entity-Form 5472”. The IRS issues one EIN per responsible party per day and says nominees cannot apply (IRS). Our EIN for non-US residents guide walks through each line.

Step 5: Open a US business account

Mercury, for example, supports US companies founded by people living outside the US. The company must be formed in the US, have existing or planned US operations, and give a business address that is not a registered agent address, PO box or UPS Store box. Every person owning 25% or more must be listed, and you upload formation documents, the IRS EIN letter and a passport (Mercury). Approval is case by case and country lists change, so check eligibility for your country before you form. See our Mercury for non-US residents guide.

Step 6: Your home country’s tax view

The IRS ignores a single-member LLC for income tax, so its profit is reported as the owner’s. Many countries do not follow that.

• Canada. The Canada Revenue Agency’s long-standing position is that a US LLC is a corporation for Canadian tax purposes, even when the US treats it as transparent (CRA, 2018 STEP Roundtable). That mismatch can mean distributions taxed as foreign dividends and lost foreign tax credits. Read US LLC for Canadians before you form.
• Australia. Australian residents are taxed on worldwide income and need advice on how the ATO will treat the LLC and its profits before choosing it over another structure. See US company for Australian founders.
• UK, EU and elsewhere. Classification varies by country. Ask a local adviser whether the LLC is transparent or opaque at home, and whether running it from home creates a local taxable presence.

This step decides whether an LLC is the right vehicle at all, so do it before you pay any formation fee.

Step 7: US compliance every year

The Form 5472 duty is the one that hurts. Even a zero-revenue LLC usually has a reportable transaction, because the instructions list contributions to and distributions from a foreign-owned disregarded entity as reportable. You attach it to a pro forma Form 1120, write “Foreign-owned U.S. DE” across the top, and fax or mail it: it cannot be e-filed. The penalty for not filing, or for filing a substantially incomplete form, is $25,000 (IRS), plus $25,000 for each 30 days the failure continues beyond 90 days after an IRS notice, with no maximum (IRS).

A foreign-owned disregarded entity uses its owner’s US tax year or, if the owner has none, the calendar year (IRS). So an Australian owner on a July-to-June home year still files the LLC’s Form 5472 on a calendar-year basis unless they have a US filing requirement of their own. Our Form 5472 guide has the deadline table and a worked penalty example, and our BOI explainer covers what changed in August 2026 (FinCEN).

Worked example: year-1 and ongoing cost

Tom lives in Manchester and forms a single-member Wyoming LLC for his software consultancy in November 2026 using doola Starter. He hires a CPA separately for Form 5472.

If he used Stripe Atlas in Delaware instead: $500 in year 1, plus the $400 Delaware tax for 2026 due by 1 June 2027, so $900 for the first calendar year. After that, $100 agent + $400 tax = $500 a year. Over three years before any CPA fees, that is $397 + $357 + $357 = $1,111 for the doola-Wyoming route versus $900 + $500 + $500 = $1,900 for Atlas-Delaware, a $789 difference.

If doola’s $1,999 Tax & Compliance plan replaced Starter to cover the IRS filing, the Wyoming year-1 total would be $1,999 + $100 = $2,099. Compare that with a standalone CPA quote for the pro forma 1120 and Form 5472.

Who should and should not form a US LLC

If you take payment from US platforms, you will also be asked for a W-8 form; see W-8BEN vs W-8BEN-E.

The short checklist

1. Decide LLC vs C corp.
2. Check your home country’s tax treatment of a US LLC.
3. Pick Wyoming or Delaware.
4. Form the company (service or DIY) and appoint a registered agent.
5. Get the EIN by phone, fax or mail.
6. Open the US account.
7. Put two dates in your calendar now: 15 April (Form 5472 or Form 7004) and your state deadline.

For every guide on running a US company from abroad, see US company setup.