We file the company, get your EIN, and act as your registered agent. You do not need a visa, a US address or a Social Security number. What you do need is to know what has to be filed afterwards, which is the part this page is really about.
The $1 is ours; the filing fee is your state's and we do not mark it up. General information about US filing requirements on this page — not tax or legal advice.
Worth being precise, because both halves cost people money.
A limited liability company is a business entity created under the law of one US state. It can hold a bank account, sign contracts, own a brand and be paid by Amazon, Stripe or a client, and it separates those obligations from you personally. You can form one from anywhere in the world.
It is not an immigration document. An LLC gives you no visa, no work permit, no green card and no right to live in or work from the United States. Neither does an EIN, and the IRS says of the ITIN that it "creates no inference concerning your immigration status or your right to work in the United States." If you want to move to the US to run the company, that is a separate immigration process and you should speak to an immigration attorney.
It is also not a way to be invisible to the IRS. A US LLC with a foreign owner has filing obligations whether or not it makes a penny, and the penalty for missing them is the single most expensive mistake we see.
Each of these changes what you will owe or file later.
By default the IRS does not treat a one-member LLC as its own taxpayer — it is a disregarded entity and its income is treated as the owner's. With two or more members it is classified as a partnership, filing Form 1065 and issuing a Schedule K-1 to each member. Adding a member later switches this automatically, with no election and no form.
A US LLC with a single foreign owner must file Form 5472 attached to a bare-bones Form 1120. The trigger is a transaction, not profit — money you put in, money you take out, even forming the company. Failing to file is $25,000, and it keeps growing if it stays unfiled after the IRS notifies you.
Every state requires a registered agent with a real street address in that state, staffed during business hours — a PO box, a mail-forwarding service or a virtual office does not qualify (Delaware says so in statute). If you live in that state you can be your own agent; from abroad you can't, so we act as yours.
The IRS online EIN tool is unavailable to anyone with no legal residence or principal place of business in the United States. That is the reason, not the missing Social Security number — the SS-4 instructions expressly allow "foreign" on line 7b. It goes by fax, post or the IRS international line instead.
Most of this is handled for you.We file the company, get the EIN, act as your registered agent and file the Form 5472 when it falls due.
The filing, and then the years afterwards.
Articles filed with the state, your operating agreement prepared, and the documents every bank and marketplace asks for afterwards. $1 to us, plus the state's own fee.
We prepare and file Form SS-4 for you and deal with the IRS. On line 9a we check "Other" and write Foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entity-Form 5472, which is the IRS's own code for exactly this situation.
A real street address in your formation state, staffed in business hours, with anything served on the company scanned to you the same day. All 50 states.
Including the pro forma Form 1120 it attaches to. There is no electronic route for this one — it is faxed or posted — which is exactly why it gets missed. Part of our tax filing service.
As an IRS Certifying Acceptance Agent we certify your documents ourselves, so your passport is not posted to Texas. But an ITIN is not needed for Form 5472 — that runs on the company's EIN. We will tell you which you need.
Annual reports and franchise tax in whichever state you chose, with the deadline tracked so it does not quietly lapse.
It does not depend on having an LLC. It depends on whether your income is effectively connected with a US trade or business, which is taxed after deductions at the same graduated rates that apply to US citizens, and on whether you receive US-source FDAP income — dividends, interest, royalties — which is taxed at a flat 30%, or a lower treaty rate, on the gross amount with no deductions at all.
Which side of that line your business falls on is a question of facts. Brio is not a law firm, a CPA firm, an enrolled agent practice or a tax adviser. Everything here is general information about US filing requirements, not advice on your situation, and it creates no professional relationship. Take advice on your own facts before acting.
What we can tell you is what has to be filed either way — and the filings above are required whether or not any tax turns out to be owed.
Not sure which state yet?Tell us what the business does and where you live, and we will tell you which state fits. It costs nothing and takes about fifteen minutes.
Our $1 plus the state's own filing fee. State fees verified against each state's published schedule on 1 September 2026 — check the current figure before you file, because states do change them.
| State | State filing fee + our $1 |
|---|---|
| New Mexico — no LLC annual report | $50 + $1 = $51 |
| Wyoming — annual report from $60 | $100 + $1 = $101 |
| Delaware — annual LLC tax, due 1 June | $110 + $1 = $111 |
| Florida — annual report $138.75, due 1 May | $125 + $1 = $126 |
| Registered agent, first year — required in every state | $35 |
| EIN, if you need one | $35 |
Not which package you want. What you sell, where you live, and how you plan to get paid. The right state follows from that, and the advice costs nothing.
Articles of organisation, your operating agreement, and the registered agent appointed. You get the filed documents back.
Prepared and filed correctly the first time, through whichever IRS channel is open to a non-resident. Your CP 575 confirmation letter follows separately, and that is the one banks usually want.
The annual report, the franchise tax if your state has one, and the Form 5472 deadline. See the whole year in our compliance checklist.
Ready when you are.$1 to us plus your state's filing fee. Nothing else is charged unless you ask for it.
For most non-resident founders it comes down to cost and simplicity rather than anything exotic. Wyoming and New Mexico are cheap to keep alive; Delaware matters mainly if you are raising investment; Florida is common for people with a genuine Florida presence. If you will have staff, an office or inventory in a particular state, that usually settles it. Our state guides cover all 50.
They are different things and you may well not need both. The EIN belongs to the company and is what the Form 5472 filing runs on. An ITIN is a personal number for you, and you need one when you have a US return of your own to file. If you do not qualify for an ITIN we will say so rather than sell you one.
The tax classification changes by itself. Your LLC stops being a disregarded entity and becomes a partnership, which means Form 1065 and a Schedule K-1 for each member instead — a different form, a different deadline, and for foreign-owned companies an entirely different reporting regime. Neither member recognises gain or loss on the conversion itself, but tell us before it happens rather than after.
Yes, by filing Form 8832. The election cannot take effect more than 75 days before it is filed or more than 12 months after. Note that S-corporation status is not available if any owner is a non-resident alien, so for most people reading this the realistic choices are an LLC as it stands or a C corporation.
Almost certainly yes. The Form 5472 trigger is a reportable transaction, not profit — and money you put in, money you took out, and forming the entity all count. Even paying the state filing fee out of your own pocket is a contribution to the company. Filing is the safe default when the penalty for getting it wrong is $25,000.
No. It gives you no visa, no work authorisation and no right to live in the United States, and neither does an EIN or an ITIN. Moving to the US to run a business is a separate immigration process with its own routes, and it needs an immigration attorney rather than us.
$1 plus your state's filing fee, with the EIN, the registered agent and the filings that come afterwards handled by the same team.
