Start a Wyoming LLC as a Non-Resident: Steps & Costs

You can form a Wyoming LLC from outside the US without visiting, and the state charges USD 100 to file the Articles of Organization (checked September 2026). Filed online, a 2.4% card processing fee takes it to USD 102.40. After that, the state’s only regular charge is an annual report license tax of at least USD 60 a year.

The state fee is the smallest part of the decision. As a non-resident you’ll also need a registered agent in Wyoming, an EIN you can’t get through the IRS website, a yearly IRS filing (Form 5472) whether or not the LLC makes money, and a bank that will accept an owner who lives where you live. That last one rules out Mercury for founders living in Nepal, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

This guide covers the real costs first, then each step in order, with the official source linked for every fee and deadline.

In this guide: What it costs · What Wyoming doesn’t charge · Step by step · EIN without an SSN · Banking · Every year after · Where you actually operate · FAQ

What a Wyoming LLC costs a non-resident

State fees

These come from the Wyoming Secretary of State’s filing fee schedule effective 1 July 2026 and its online filing pages (checked September 2026).

Item	Fee	When
Articles of Organization, by mail	USD 100	Once
Articles of Organization, online at wyobiz.wyo.gov	USD 100 plus a 2.4% card processing fee (minimum USD 1), so USD 102.40	Once
Name reservation (optional)	USD 60, by mail, holds the name for 120 days	Only if you want to hold a name before filing
Expedited filing (optional)	USD 700 next business day, USD 1,400 same business day	Only if you can’t wait
Annual report license tax	USD 60, or 0.0002 of the company’s assets located and employed in Wyoming, whichever is greater. Online adds the same 2.4% card fee (USD 61.44 on the minimum)	Every year
Certificate of good standing	Free online (USD 20 on paper)	When a bank or platform asks

The card fee is stated on Wyoming’s online registration instructions and annual report page. The USD 102.40 and USD 61.44 totals are our arithmetic from that 2.4% rate. The online portal takes Visa or MasterCard only, according to the Articles of Organization instructions. Paper filings are paid by check or money order, which is awkward to arrange from abroad, so most non-residents file online.

The asset-based tax only exceeds USD 60 once the company holds more than USD 300,000 of assets in Wyoming (60 ÷ 0.0002). An LLC run from abroad that keeps its money in an online bank and owns nothing in Wyoming pays the minimum.

Costs that aren’t state fees

Registered agent. Required by law, and you can’t be your own unless you live in Wyoming (see step 3). Commercial agents set their own prices and we haven’t surveyed them, so get two or three quotes, and check the renewal price, not just the first year.
EIN. The IRS doesn’t charge for one: “You never have to pay a fee for an EIN” (IRS). If you pay anyone, you’re paying for their time.
Form 5472 preparation every year, if you pay someone to do it.
A formation service, if you use one. Bizstartz’s packages start at USD 199 plus the state fee, and the Starter package lists the first year of registered agent service and the EIN application as included. Other providers bundle differently, so compare what’s included, not only the headline price.
Advice in your own country on how the LLC’s income is taxed there. It’s the cost most people leave out.

What Wyoming doesn’t charge

Wyoming has no state personal income tax and no state corporate income tax, according to the Wyoming Business Council, the state’s economic development agency (checked September 2026). So the state doesn’t take a share of your LLC’s profit.

Two limits on that. First, the annual report license tax above is still a yearly state charge, and it’s due whether or not the LLC made money. Second, “no Wyoming income tax” says nothing about US federal tax or tax in your home country. A single-member LLC owned by a non-resident still files with the IRS every year (see every year after), and your own country may tax the income as yours.

If you’re weighing Wyoming against other states, our Wyoming vs Delaware annual cost comparison and guide to the best state for a non-resident LLC set the numbers side by side.

How to start a Wyoming LLC from abroad, step by step

Step 1: Confirm a bank will take you, before you pay for anything

Forming the company is easy. Getting a US account for it is the step most likely to fail, and it depends on where you live, not on Wyoming. Read the banking section first. If no provider on your shortlist accepts an owner in your country, the LLC may not be worth forming yet.

Step 2: Choose and check the name

The name must end with “Limited Liability Company”, “LLC”, “L.L.C.”, or one of the other endings Wyoming allows, such as “Ltd. Liability Co.” (W.S. 17-29-108, quoted in the Articles of Organization instructions).
Search the name on wyobiz.wyo.gov first. The online filing asks you to confirm you’ve done this search.
One quirk: Wyoming says any entity name beginning with the letter “A” must be filed on paper for manual review (online filing instructions, checked September 2026). If your name starts with A, expect to mail it and wait longer.
You don’t need to reserve the name if you’re filing the Articles now. A reservation costs USD 60, lasts 120 days and is accepted by mail only (name reservation form).

Step 3: Appoint a registered agent

Every Wyoming LLC names a registered agent on its Articles. The form says the agent “may be an individual resident in Wyoming or a domestic or foreign business entity authorized to transact business in Wyoming,” and “must have a physical address in Wyoming.” A PO box is only acceptable in addition to a physical address, and a drop box isn’t acceptable at all. The agent also signs a consent to the appointment (Articles of Organization form, checked September 2026).

If you live outside Wyoming, that means paying a commercial registered agent. Keep it renewed: Wyoming charges USD 350 to reinstate an LLC dissolved for having no registered agent (fee schedule). More on the role in what a registered agent does.

Step 4: File the Articles of Organization

The Articles ask for:

the LLC’s name
whether it elects to be a close LLC, a separate form of Wyoming LLC with its own rules (W.S. 17-25-101 to 17-25-109); ask an adviser before ticking it
the registered agent’s name and physical Wyoming address
the LLC’s mailing address and principal office address
an organizer’s signature, a contact name, phone number and email
consent to accept electronic service of process at that email

The form doesn’t ask for the names of members or managers. That keeps them off the Articles, but it isn’t anonymity: the IRS, your bank and any payment platform will all ask who owns and controls the company.

Filing online at wyobiz.wyo.gov costs USD 102.40 with the card fee. By mail it’s USD 100, and the Secretary of State says mailed documents take up to 15 business days after they arrive. The office publishes which day it is currently processing on wyobiz.wyo.gov. We didn’t find a published turnaround for online filings, so we don’t quote one. If you need it faster, the fee schedule lists expedited service at USD 700 (next business day) or USD 1,400 (same business day).

Keep a copy of the filed Articles. The EIN, bank and platform steps all need the company’s exact registered name and formation details.

Step 5: Write an operating agreement

You don’t file an operating agreement with Wyoming; there’s no place for one on the Articles. Write one anyway. It records who owns the LLC and how it’s run, and it’s the document you’ll point to when a bank or platform asks who owns the company. See what an LLC operating agreement should cover.

Step 6: Get an EIN

Covered in the next section, because this is where non-residents lose the most time.

Step 7: Open the bank account

With the Articles, operating agreement, EIN letter and your passport, apply to the provider you confirmed in step 1. Details in the banking section.

Getting an EIN without an SSN

The IRS online EIN application needs the responsible party’s SSN or ITIN and a principal place of business in the US (IRS: Get an EIN, updated 19 August 2026). Most non-resident owners have neither, so the online route is closed.

You still have three routes, all using Form SS-4. From the Form SS-4 instructions (Rev. December 2025, checked September 2026):

Route	How	IRS timing
Phone (international applicants only)	267-941-1099 (not toll-free), 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday	Not stated in the instructions
Fax	304-707-9471 from outside the US (855-215-1627 from inside)	Generally within 4 business days
Mail	Internal Revenue Service, Attn: EIN International Operation, Cincinnati, OH 45999	Approximately 4 weeks

Line 7b asks for the responsible party’s SSN or ITIN. The instructions cover the case where the responsible party doesn’t have one and isn’t eligible to get one, so read that line’s instructions before you fill it in rather than applying for an ITIN first. You can also name a third-party designee on the form, such as a formation service, to receive the number on your behalf.

Step-by-step help with the form is in how to get an EIN without an SSN.

Banking: where you live decides it, not Wyoming

A Wyoming LLC is a US company, but banks judge the people behind it. No state of formation changes that.

Mercury

Mercury’s help centre says it is “unable to open accounts for founders living in any of the countries and regions listed below,” and that “this is based on your country of residence, not your citizenship or nationality.” Nepal, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Philippines are on the list. India, the UAE and the UK aren’t (Mercury: Prohibited countries, checked September 2026). A citizen of a listed country who lives somewhere else may still be eligible, subject to review.

Relay

Relay says it accepts US-registered businesses owned by non-US citizens or residents “provided the business has an operating presence in the U.S.” It asks every beneficial owner for a passport (for non-US citizens), an SSN or passport number, and a “physical U.S. address (no PO boxes, no virtual mailboxes)”. Non-resident owners are also asked about the source of income that started the business, their annual personal income and the countries the business operates in (Relay: Required documents, updated 11 August 2026). An LLC run entirely from abroad, with only a registered agent’s address in Wyoming, may not meet that. Ask Relay in writing before you rely on it.

Wise Business

Wise is the alternative most non-residents look at. For a US business it asks for a registered address and a trading address, meaning the place where the work actually happens, and it doesn’t accept PO boxes, registration agencies, mail forwarding services or virtual addresses for the trading address. Owners outside the US provide a photo ID instead of an SSN. Wise can’t onboard businesses from Nevada or US territories; Wyoming isn’t excluded (Wise: Verify your US business, checked September 2026).

Two things that page doesn’t settle: whether your country of residence is accepted, and whether a trading address outside the US is fine. Both are decided at verification. Your registered agent’s address won’t work as the trading address.

Our guide to a US business bank account for non-residents goes through the applications in more detail.

Every year after you form

Wyoming annual report and license tax

Due: the first day of the month your LLC was formed in. Wyoming’s own example: formed on 15 May, the report is due 1 May every year (Wyoming annual report page). An LLC formed in September 2026 should expect its first report on 1 September 2027.
Amount: USD 60 or 0.0002 of Wyoming assets, whichever is greater, plus the 2.4% card fee online. Wyoming doesn’t allow e-filing when the fee is over USD 500.
Owed with no income: the tax is based on assets in Wyoming, not profit, so a company with no revenue still pays the minimum.
If you’re late: the Secretary of State says the entity is “deemed delinquent on the second day of the month following its due date,” and “if the annual report is not filed within sixty (60) days following the due date, the entity will be administratively dissolved” (Wyoming business FAQ, checked September 2026). An LLC dissolved for missing reports within the past two years, with no other problems, can reinstate online; the reinstatement fee is USD 100.

Wyoming sends reminders to the email on your filing, which is one reason to use an address you’ll keep checking.

Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120

A single-member LLC owned by a non-US person is treated as a “foreign-owned U.S. DE” for this filing. It files a pro forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 attached, writes “Foreign-owned U.S. DE” across the top, and cannot e-file: it faxes to 855-887-7737 or mails to the IRS in Ogden, Utah. The penalty for not filing is USD 25,000, plus another USD 25,000 for each 30-day period the failure continues more than 90 days after an IRS notice (IRS Instructions for Form 5472, Rev. December 2024).

Form 1120 is due by the 15th day of the fourth month after the tax year ends (Form 1120 instructions). For a calendar-year LLC formed in 2026, the 2026 return is due 15 April 2027. Form 7004 extends the time to file. Who has to file and what counts as a reportable transaction is in our guide to Form 5472 for foreign-owned US LLCs, and the full yearly calendar is in annual tax filing for Wyoming LLC owners.

BOI reports: not required for a Wyoming LLC

Beneficial ownership (BOI) reports to FinCEN no longer apply to companies created in the US. FinCEN’s interim final rule of 26 March 2025 limited reporting to entities formed under foreign law, and FinCEN made that permanent with a final rule published on 14 August 2026 (FinCEN: BOI, Federal Register, checked September 2026). The test is where the company was created, so a Wyoming LLC with a foreign owner doesn’t file. If a rule change reverses this, FinCEN’s BOI page is where it will show first.

Forming in Wyoming doesn’t move where you do business

Wyoming’s rules govern the company’s paperwork. They don’t decide where it owes tax or needs to register. That follows what the business actually does and where.

Other US states. If the LLC operates in another state, that state’s rules apply. California, for example, treats you as doing business there if you “engage in any transaction for the purpose of financial gain within California,” among other tests (California Franchise Tax Board). If you have an office, staff or stock in another state, check that state’s registration and tax rules; your Wyoming Articles don’t answer that question.
Your home country. If you run the LLC from your home, your country’s tax and foreign exchange rules still apply to you and to the income. Some countries also restrict residents from owning or funding companies abroad. Ask a local adviser before the first payment, not after.
US federal tax. The LLC’s federal position depends on what it does and where, not on the state it was formed in. The yearly Form 5472 filing applies regardless; whether any US tax is owed is a question for a US tax adviser.

If you already have an LLC in another state and are thinking of switching, that’s a different process; see how to move an existing LLC to Wyoming.

How Bizstartz can help

Bizstartz forms Wyoming LLCs for founders who live outside the US. Our US company formation service handles the state filing, the first year of registered agent service, the operating agreement and the EIN application, and the higher packages add bank application support (pricing). We can’t promise that a bank, the IRS or a payment platform will approve you, since those decisions are theirs. A free 30-minute consultation is a sensible place to check the banking question for your country before you spend anything.

Frequently asked questions

Can I form a Wyoming LLC if I don’t live in the US?

Yes. Nothing on Wyoming’s Articles of Organization asks where the owners live, and the IRS has EIN routes for applicants with no US residence or business location. What you do need is a registered agent with a physical Wyoming address and a bank that accepts owners from your country.

How much is the Wyoming LLC filing fee?

USD 100 by mail. Online it’s USD 100 plus a 2.4% card processing fee, so USD 102.40 (Wyoming Secretary of State, checked September 2026).

How long does Wyoming take to approve an LLC?

For mailed filings, the Secretary of State says up to 15 business days after receipt. We didn’t find a published turnaround for online filings. Expedited service costs USD 700 for the next business day or USD 1,400 for the same business day.

What does a Wyoming LLC cost every year?

The state’s annual report license tax is at least USD 60 (USD 61.44 paid online), or 0.0002 of assets in Wyoming if that’s more. On top of that you pay your registered agent’s renewal, and you have a Form 5472 filing with the IRS, which you either prepare yourself or pay someone to prepare.

Do I have to file the annual report if my LLC made no money?

Yes. The tax is based on Wyoming assets, not income, so the USD 60 minimum applies. If the report isn’t filed within 60 days of its due date, Wyoming administratively dissolves the LLC.

Can I be my own registered agent from abroad?

No. Wyoming’s form says the agent must be an individual resident in Wyoming or a business entity authorized to transact business there, with a physical Wyoming address.

Can I get an EIN online without an SSN?

No. The IRS online application needs an SSN or ITIN. Non-residents apply with Form SS-4 by the IRS international phone line (267-941-1099), by fax (generally within 4 business days) or by mail (approximately 4 weeks). The EIN is free.

Does a Wyoming LLC keep my name private?

The Articles of Organization don’t ask for member or manager names. That’s narrower than it sounds: the IRS, banks and payment platforms all collect owner details, and the organizer who signs the Articles is named on them.

Does my Wyoming LLC need to file a BOI report?

No. Since FinCEN’s March 2025 interim final rule, made permanent in August 2026, companies created in the US are exempt from BOI reporting, whoever owns them.

Can I move an existing LLC to Wyoming instead?

That’s a separate process from forming a new LLC, with its own filings and tax questions. See how to move your LLC to Wyoming, and speak to a tax adviser before you do it.

This guide was researched and drafted with the help of AI tools and reviewed against the sources linked in each section. Fees, deadlines and bank policies were checked on 17 September 2026. They change, so check the linked source before you file or apply.

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How to Start a Wyoming LLC as a Non-Resident: Steps and Real Costs