Every service in this market sells the same five things, then stops at exactly the point where being a foreign owner begins to matter. This page is about what happens after that point, and what we can prove.
Brio Inc is listed by name in the IRS's own public directory of acceptance agents. You can check that yourself before you believe anything else on this page.
The standard package is remarkably consistent, and so is where it ends.
Formation, an EIN, a registered agent for the first year, a US address, an introduction to a bank. That is the offer almost everywhere, and for a US founder it is genuinely most of what you need.
If you are not American, it stops one step too early. The two things that actually catch foreign owners out are the ITIN, which most formation services do not handle at all, and Form 5472 — the return a foreign-owned US LLC has to file, which cannot be filed electronically and carries a $25,000 penalty for not filing it, plus another $25,000 for every 30 days it stays unfiled after the IRS asks.
That form is not in anybody's formation package. It is not in the cheap tier of ours either. The difference is that we tell you about it on day one instead of the following spring.
Each of these is checkable against a primary source, not a promise.
Brio Inc appears by name in the IRS directory of acceptance agents. You do not have to take our word for it — open the IRS page and look. Most formation platforms are not on that list.
As a Certifying Acceptance Agent we authenticate your identity documents ourselves and hand them straight back. Without one, an ITIN applicant posts their original passport to Texas and waits. The IRS still requires an interview, which we do by video call.
The IRS's instant online EIN application requires an SSN or ITIN, so if you have neither it simply is not available. Form SS-4 has to go by fax, post or the international phone line. We file it and deal with the IRS for you.
An ITIN requires a federal tax purpose, and owning a US LLC on its own is not one — a foreign-owned single-member LLC files under the company's EIN. If you do not qualify, we say so before you pay rather than after.
Genuinely possible, and for some people the right answer. Here is what it actually involves.
We would rather you did it yourself than bought something you did not need. That is not a pose — a customer who feels sold to does not come back, and this business runs on the years after formation, not the first invoice.
The differences that survive contact with a real situation.
Not referred out and not left to you. We prepare the Form W-7, certify your documents and submit it. The IRS asks applicants to allow 7 weeks, or 9 to 11 from outside the US, so we quote 9 to 14 and tell you what stage it is at.
Federal and state returns for foreign-owned companies, including the Form 5472 filing that carries the penalty. Priced on its own, whether or not you formed the company with us.
Registered agent, annual reports, amendments and BOI — and we will tell you when a filing is not required, which happens more often than you would think.
You can see what is ours and what is the government's. The state's filing fee is set by the state and we do not mark it up.
Monday to Friday, 2 PM to 9 PM, and Saturday, 9 AM to 3 PM (GMT+5), answered by someone who can see your file. Not a queue position and not a bot.
We are not the biggest service in this market and we do not pretend to be. Our rating is 4.7 on Trustpilot from 46 reviews — a small number, and every one of them from someone we actually dealt with.
That we are the cheapest. Several large services advertise formation at $0 plus the state fee, and on the sticker price alone they win. We are not competing on that number.
That we can make the IRS faster. Nobody can. ITIN and EIN timelines are the IRS's queue, not a service level — anyone quoting you a guaranteed date is quoting something they do not control.
That we can get you a bank account. No provider can promise that; every one of us can only make an introduction. Anyone promising approval is promising something that is not theirs to give.
The $1 headline is real, but it is not the whole bill. Here is the honest arithmetic for a typical non-resident founder.
| Item | Brio |
|---|---|
| LLC formation | $1 |
| Your state's filing fee | Set by the state, not by us |
| Registered agent, first year — required in every state, and a non-resident cannot be their own | $49 |
| EIN — needed for a bank account, and most non-residents need one | $35 |
| Typical all-in first year, before the state fee | $85 |
| Federal tax return, when it falls due | $300 |
| ITIN, only if you actually need one | $175 |
Open the IRS acceptance agent directory and find Brio Inc. Then ask any other provider you are considering to show you theirs.
The first year is cheap across this entire market. The question that separates providers is what the registered agent renews at, and whether that renewal is automatic.
If you will own a US LLC from abroad, ask directly whether the service includes that return, and what it costs. A vague answer is an answer.
Before paying anyone, including us. Book 15 minutes and judge the answers you get.
We had a comparison table and checked every claim in it against those companies' current pages. Enough of it was out of date or simply wrong that we took it down rather than leave it up. Comparative claims go stale quietly, and a page that is wrong about a competitor is not a page you should trust about us either. Everything here is either checkable against the IRS or true about us.
No, it is an IRS authorisation with a public list attached. It is what allows us to authenticate your passport ourselves instead of you posting the original to the IRS. It is not rare enough for us to claim we are the only ones, and other providers hold it too — but most formation platforms do not.
It depends entirely on which IRS channel is used, because the instant online application is closed to anyone without an SSN or ITIN. Form SS-4 goes by fax, post or the IRS international line, and current IRS processing for faxed applications is around nine business days from receipt. Your CP 575 confirmation letter arrives separately and later, which matters because banks usually want that rather than just the number.
It is the information return a foreign-owned single-member US LLC must file with a pro forma Form 1120. It cannot be filed electronically, and the penalty for not filing is $25,000, with a further $25,000 for each 30 days it remains unfiled after the IRS notifies you. It catches people who assumed a dormant company with no income had nothing to file.
No, and we would rather say so here than have you find out. Formation starts at $1 plus the state fee, which is genuinely low, but several large services advertise $0 plus the state fee. What we would ask you to compare is the second year and the filings, not the first invoice.
Yes, and a good number of our clients arrive that way — usually at a renewal invoice or a first tax season. We take over registered agent, annual reports, amendments and tax filing for companies we did not form.
Ask us all four, and ask whoever else you are considering. Fifteen minutes, no charge, and no obligation at the end of it.
