Most first-hand reports shared here ended in success.
Based on 1 first-hand report shared by the community — 1 reported success — for company in United States. Reviewed for 2026.
Vereinigte Staaten: company formation for location-independent founders. Vereinigte Staaten is outside the EU with a 21% corporate tax rate, rated low as an incorporation base for nomads and online businesses.
Limited Liability Company (Wyoming) (LLC). Limited liability. Minimum capital €1 / none. No bookkeeping required. No audit. Beneficial owner stays private. No local substance required.
Substance & taxation. A company on paper here does not move your tax home: if you run it from another country, controlled-foreign-company and place-of-effective-management rules can tax the profits where the business is really managed. Vereinigte Staaten works best when its structure matches where you actually live and work.
What applicants report. Members have shared 1 first-hand report. reported timelines include LLC registered in Delaware in 3 days. EIN took about 2 weeks. Mercury banking approved in 4 days.. common friction points: Opening a merchant gateway like Stripe is seamless, but Mercury and Wise have ramped up compliance checks. Multi-million dollar SaaS startups of non-residents have had their funds frozen during compliance reviews, requiring proof of physical lease or utility bills, which a remote disregard entity does not have.. practical tips: Utilize platforms like Mercury but keep a backup card-processor or EMoney account active; Make sure you understand your home country's CFC and PE laws before relying purely on US tax-disregarded structures. Treat this as community orientation, not a guarantee.
Bottom line. For most location-independent founders the Limited Liability Company (Wyoming) (LLC) is the natural starting point. Vereinigte Staaten works best when the structure matches where you actually live and manage the business — get substance and place-of-effective-management right before you incorporate, not after.
Curated legal forms relevant for foreign founders. Set your situation to see structure-fit flags (CFC / effective management).
Liabilitylimited
Min capital€0 · No minimum capital requirement under Wyoming LLC Act (W.S. 17-29); Articles of Organization contain no capital field.
Accountingnot required
Auditnot required
Company registerpublic
UBO registernot public
Min shareholders1
Min directors1
Local directornot required
Substancenot required
Local businessallowed
TaxFEDERAL: A foreign-owned single-member LLC is a disregarded entity (pass-through) by default; no US federal income tax on non-US-source income absent a US trade or business generating Effectively Connected Income (ECI). Annual filing obligation: pro forma Form 1120 + Form 5472 attached, due by the Form 1120 deadline (incl. extensions) — penalty $25,000 for failure to file (IRS Instructions for Form 5472, 12/2024, §6038A). WYOMING STATE: No corporate income tax, no personal income tax (0% rate confirmed by Wyoming Legislature LSO, June 2025; basis: Wyoming Constitution Art. 15 §18). Only state obligation is the annual license tax: $60 minimum or $0.0002 × assets located and employed in Wyoming, whichever is greater (SOS fee schedule, effective July 1, 2021).
Grouped by legal form — each applicant type is a row. Colour shows the reported outcome.
foreign owned companyset up1 voice · early signal
An excellent vehicle for Stripe integration and raising US seed capital, but banking compliance is the hardest part. US banks are increasingly demanding physical substance proof for foreign-managed accounts.
Conditions: SaaS business based in Brazil with a US entity for Stripe integration to charge clients globally.
Watch out: CFC rules back home in Brazil. The company must not be managed in a way that suggests it has a Brazil-based Permanent Establishment, which is difficult when the founder resides entirely in Brazil.
Tips: Utilize platforms like Mercury but keep a backup card-processor or EMoney account active · Make sure you understand your home country's CFC and PE laws before relying purely on US tax-disregarded structures
last seen 2026-02-15
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