What a founder outside the US actually needs to know before forming a company and after — no filler, and no promises we cannot keep.
A single-member LLC owned by a non-resident often owes no federal income tax — and is still required to file Form 5472 every year. The penalty for not filing starts at $25,000, and it attaches to the failure to file, not to any unpaid tax.
FinCEN exempted US-formed companies from beneficial ownership reporting in March 2025, and the rule remains in force. Most published guidance has not been updated — here is what actually applies to you now.
The difference is not the name or the fees. An LLC passes profit to its owner untaxed at company level; a C-Corp pays its own tax but is the only structure venture investors can practically enter. One question settles it.
The fast online route at the IRS requires an SSN, which stops most non-resident founders. There is a separate route built for exactly this case — here is how it works and how long it takes.
Most of what is written about this question is selling you one particular state. The truth is that three numbers separate them, and the right answer depends on one question about your business — not on a state's reputation.
The bank account is where most founders stall after formation. Rejection is rarely about your nationality and usually about an incomplete file or an unclear business. Here is what a compliance desk actually looks at.
“A US company is tax free” is repeated so often it has become misleading. The exemption, where it applies, is conditional on something specific — and the duty to file remains either way.
Nobody calls to remind you. You miss the date, a penalty attaches, the company loses good standing, and you may find out months later when a bank declines to update your account.
Selling on Amazon from outside the US on an individual account works, until it hits three ceilings. A US entity lifts them — and brings obligations the people selling you the idea rarely mention.
The "from $99" figure is true and incomplete. What decides the cost is not what you pay today but what recurs every year — here is the full arithmetic.
A US company opens the global payment gateways to you. It does not keep them open. Here is what Stripe actually requires, how it differs from PayPal, and the four reasons accounts get shut — all of them avoidable.
Plenty of freelancers form a US company they do not need, and plenty more put it off long past the point where delaying costs more than the company. Here are the four signals that separate the two, and what the company actually changes.
A line on every formation invoice that nobody explains, so it reads like padding. A registered agent is a legal requirement in every state; a US business address is something else entirely — and you may not need one.
“Your company in 24 hours” is true of one stage out of five. Here is the real timetable for each, which run in sequence and which in parallel, who actually controls the clock — and why nobody can honestly promise a single number.
We handle the whole procedure — formation, the EIN, the registered agent and the annual obligations.
