Best State for an LLC as a Non-US Resident (2026 Comparison)

Registered agent fees are separate in every state and run about $50 to $150 a year.

Form in Wyoming. For a non-resident with no US office, no US staff and no US inventory, Wyoming is the right default: $100 to file, $60 a year to keep, your name stays out of the public record, there is no state income tax, and every US bank and payment processor knows the entity type on sight. The exceptions are narrow. Pick New Mexico if you want the lowest possible lifetime cost and already have banking sorted, Delaware if a US investor has told you they expect it, Montana LLC if you are holding vehicles or equipment, and Florida only if you actually operate in Florida.

Wyoming is the best state for most non-US residents. It costs $100 to file and $60 a year, keeps member names private, charges no state income tax, and is recognised by every major US bank.

The reason is not that Wyoming has a secret tax advantage. No state charges income tax on foreign earned income of a properly structured non-resident LLC, so there is nothing to win there. What Wyoming has is the best mix of low recurring cost, real ownership privacy and zero friction at the bank.

That last point is the one people underrate. Mercury, Relay, Wise and Stripe reviewers have processed thousands of Wyoming LLCs. Familiarity is worth more at the application stage than a $10 saving on a filing fee.

No. If you live outside the United States you can form in any state you like. State of formation is a free choice for non-residents with no US physical presence.

The rule that pushes US residents to file in their home state is foreign qualification. A business that physically operates in a state has to register there, whatever state issued its certificate. Living in Ohio and filing in Wyoming means registering in both.

A founder in Lagos, Manila or Lisbon has no US state of operation, so nothing forces a particular choice. That is why non-residents can simply pick the state with the best cost and privacy profile.

New Mexico is the cheapest at $50 once, with no annual report and no recurring state fee. Montana is second at $35 to file plus $20 a year.

Over five years New Mexico costs about $50 in state fees and Wyoming about $340. The gap is roughly $290, or about $58 a year.

Weigh that against the trade-off. New Mexico entities are less common, so bank and processor reviewers sometimes ask why you chose it. If the account opens a week later, the saving is gone. Choose New Mexico when cost is the deciding factor and your banking is already arranged.

No. You do not need a US address, a US phone number or a Social Security Number to form or own a US LLC. You do need a registered agent with a physical street address in the state of formation.

The registered agent supplies that in-state address and receives legal and state mail for the company. Their address can also serve as your principal business address on the filing, which is what keeps your home address off the public record.

For banking, most fintechs accept a foreign residential address for the owner alongside the LLC's US registered address. A mail scanning service is useful for IRS letters, which still arrive on paper.

Wyoming is the best state for an online-only business. With no US premises and no US inventory there is nothing tying you to any other state, so the cheapest well-recognised state wins.

This covers SaaS, agencies, consultancies, freelancers, info products and dropshipping handled from outside the US. Your customers can be anywhere. Their location does not create a filing duty for the LLC in their state unless you cross that state's economic nexus threshold for sales tax on taxable goods.

If you hold stock in a US fulfilment centre, that is a physical presence and the answer changes. See the section below, and compare the full cost by state before deciding.

The most expensive mistake on this topic is misunderstanding foreign qualification.

Foreign qualification means registering your LLC in a second state because you physically operate there. Filing in a cheap state while running the business somewhere else does not avoid the second state. It adds to it. You pay two filing fees, two registered agents and two sets of annual fees, and the cheap state saved you nothing.

Here is the part most competing pages get wrong. This applies to people who are physically in the United States. A US resident in California who forms in Wyoming still has to qualify in California and pay its $800 minimum franchise tax. A non-resident living abroad with no US office, no US employees and no US inventory has no state of operation to qualify in, so there is no second registration to worry about.

That is the whole distinction, and it decides whether the state comparison above matters to you at all. If you are outside the US with no US footprint, pick on cost and privacy. If you have any US physical presence, start with the state where that presence sits. The full rules are set out in our guide to forming an LLC in a state you do not live in.

Wyoming is the recommendation for online businesses, consultants, freelancers, agencies, Amazon and Shopify sellers, and anyone invoicing US clients from abroad.

Why it wins: the combination of low recurring cost, genuine ownership privacy, and unquestioned recognition by US banks and payment processors. There is no scenario where a bank or processor treats a Wyoming LLC as a red flag.

The one obligation: the annual report, due on the first day of your anniversary month. Miss it by about 60 days and Wyoming administratively dissolves the company. There is no grace period and no letter chasing you at an overseas address. This is the single most common way non-resident owners lose an LLC.

New Mexico charges $50 once and never bills you again. No annual report, no franchise tax, no recurring state fee at all. On pure cost nothing else comes close.

The trade-off is recognition. New Mexico LLCs are less familiar to US banks and fintechs than Wyoming or Delaware entities. Approval is not impossible, but it is more likely to trigger additional questions, and some processors are slower to onboard them. If your business depends on getting a Mercury or Relay account open quickly, that friction has a real cost.

Choose New Mexico if: you want the absolute lowest lifetime cost, you already have banking arranged, and you are comfortable with a slightly less recognised entity.

Delaware's $400 annual franchise tax buys legal infrastructure that matters to venture capital funds and to companies with complex ownership. It buys nothing for a freelancer invoicing US clients.

Choose Delaware if a US investor has told you they expect a Delaware entity, you are issuing convertible instruments or multiple share classes, or you have several co-founders and want the most tested dispute framework available.

Otherwise you are paying about $1,700 more over five years for prestige with no operational benefit.

Florida is worth listing because it is frequently suggested, and for most non-residents it is the wrong answer. Florida publishes member and manager names in the public record, which eliminates the privacy advantage entirely, and the annual report fee is higher than Wyoming's.

Choose Florida only if you have genuine physical operations in Florida, such as an office, inventory, or staff. In that case you are legally required to register there anyway.

"Nevada has the best asset protection." Nevada charges roughly $425 a year in combined annual list and business licence fees, publishes manager names, and offers protection that is not materially better than Wyoming's for a single-member LLC. It is heavily marketed because the margins on Nevada formation packages are good.

"Form in a state with no sales tax to avoid sales tax." Sales tax is determined by where your customers are and where you have nexus, not by where you incorporated. Your state of formation does not change your sales tax obligations.

"Delaware saves you tax." It does not. Delaware charges a $400 flat franchise tax that Wyoming does not. There is no state where a properly structured non-resident LLC pays state income tax on foreign-earned income, so there is no tax saving to compete over.

Whichever state you choose, a foreign-owned single-member LLC must file Form 5472 together with a pro forma Form 1120 every year. This is required even if the LLC had no revenue, no US income, and owes no tax.

The penalty for failing to file is $25,000.

This catches more non-resident owners than every state-level issue combined, and it applies identically in all four states above. Whatever you decide, put this on a calendar.

Mercury, Relay, Wise Business and Brex all open accounts for non-resident-owned US LLCs, fully online, with no US visit required.

What determines approval is not the state. It is:

1. A valid EIN issued to the LLC
2. A clear, plausible business description
3. A real website or business presence
4. Consistency between your passport, your address, and your filings

Wyoming and Delaware entities see the smoothest approvals purely because reviewers see thousands of them. That is the practical argument for Wyoming over New Mexico.