Questions founders ask us, answered plainly.

Yes. It's one of the most common places founders get stuck. The IRS online application needs an SSN or ITIN, so without one the application goes by a slower route that someone has to chase. We file it the day your company exists and chase it until the number arrives.

Most founders outside the US want an LLC. It's the simplest to own, the cheapest to keep, and its profit is taxed once. Choose a corporation when you already know you need one, which usually means you're raising from US investors who expect Delaware stock. The order form asks three questions and tells you which, with the reasons.

At minimum, two things. One is your state's yearly charge, which is an annual report in Wyoming and a flat tax for a Delaware LLC. The other is a federal filing. A foreign-owned single-member LLC owes Form 5472 with a pro-forma 1120 even in a year with no income, and the penalty for missing it starts at $25,000. Every plan puts both dates on your calendar, and Premium files both for you.

Yes, you need an account that's separate from your personal one, because mixing the two can cost you the protection the company gives you. Mercury opens accounts remotely for founders in most countries, with an EIN and no US address, and Wise Business is the usual second account. Where Mercury won't open for you, we point you to the providers that will, so you don't have to find out by trial and error.

The filing is the fast part. Wyoming approves the company the same day it's filed, and Delaware takes two to three weeks. The EIN is the slow part, and the IRS sets that pace, not us. Plan on a few weeks before you can open a bank account, so it's worth starting before you need it.

We check the state register before anything is filed. If the name clashes, we ask you for another one, and we don't charge you again to file it. The order form never tells you a name is free when nobody has checked.

Premium includes registration in one state, and we can register you in others as a separate service. Whether you owe sales tax at all depends on what you sell and where your customers are. That's a question for an accountant, not something a form can answer.

The company is yours, not ours. If you stop using us, you can move your registered agent to another provider, and we'll hand over every document we hold. Nothing renews without an email from us first.

From $391.40 in Wyoming on Starter: $289 to us and $102.40 to the state. After that it costs $179 a year: $119 for the registered agent and $60 to Wyoming. The plans above show what the bigger ones add.

On Starter and Standard you pay it alongside our fee, at the same figure the state charges us: $102.40 in Wyoming, $110 in Delaware. On Premium we pay it for you. Either way, you see the whole figure before you confirm, and it is the same on the receipt.

No. You pay once to form the company. The only things that come round again are the registered agent renewal and the state's own yearly charge, and we email you before either is taken.

The registered agent renews a year after formation, at the figure shown on your plan. The state's yearly charge follows the state's own calendar: Wyoming on the first day of your anniversary month, Delaware's LLC tax on 1 June. We email you before either is charged.

Yes, while you are ordering and after. Moving up costs the difference. Moving down takes effect at the next renewal. Nothing you have already received is taken away.

No. A person checks the state register before we file. If the name clashes, we ask you for another one at no extra cost. If you want to be sure before you order, email us the name and the state.

It depends on the state. Wyoming approves an online filing the moment it is sent, so there is no queue to jump. For $75 we file yours ahead of our next batch, so the company exists the same day. Delaware sells its own next-day service. We buy it and chase it for $110, plus the $50 Delaware charges for it. Premium includes both. Neither speeds up the EIN, which the IRS handles at its own pace.

If you need a bank account this month, yes. On every plan the ordinary route brings the number back in twenty to thirty business days at no extra charge. The expedited EIN costs $199. We file the day the company exists and chase the IRS ourselves, and the number usually arrives in one to two weeks.

Yes. Until we send anything to the state, our fee is refunded in full. If a filing is rejected because of a mistake of ours, we refile at our cost and you keep your place in the queue. The refund policy says all of this in plain language.

We dissolve a company we formed for no fee of ours, whenever you decide. We prepare the state's closing filing and the final federal forms. The state's own charge is passed through at what it charges us: $60 in Wyoming, $220 in Delaware. The company is yours, including the end of it.

The IRS online application needs the responsible party to have an SSN or ITIN, and it won't submit without one. So the application goes on paper, on Form SS-4, by fax or through the IRS's telephone line for international applicants. The IRS works that queue by hand.

No. The SS-4 asks for a mailing address, and yours can be outside the United States. It also asks for the company's address in its state, which is your registered agent's. Every plan includes the agent for the first year.

On the ordinary route, twenty to thirty business days from the day we file, which is the day the state approves your company. With the expedited EIN, one to two weeks. The IRS queue moves at its own pace, so both are estimates, not promises.

No. You don't need an ITIN to get an EIN. We file the SS-4 with the responsible party's number marked Foreign. Some founders apply for an ITIN later for their personal US tax filings. That's a separate matter.

The IRS notice that confirms your EIN. The IRS posts it once. Banks and payment processors ask to see it, so we keep it in your documents. If it's ever lost, we request the replacement letter, the 147C, for you.

No. The responsible party on the SS-4 must be the person who controls the company. Using someone else's number tells the IRS something untrue. The expedited EIN is the honest way to shorten the wait.

Because for a founder outside the United States, these two cover what matters. Wyoming costs little to keep a company in, and it keeps owners off the public register. Delaware is what US investors' paperwork assumes. Some other states cost less, but they're less familiar to the banks and processors reviewing a non-resident. If your business really needs another state, we'll say so before you order.

When the company will have a physical presence there: an office, employees, a warehouse, or property. A company that operates in a state usually has to register there, whether or not it was formed there. Forming somewhere else first can mean paying two states.

Only the state's own charges. Federal tax follows from what the company does and where, not from where it was formed. Wyoming has no state income tax. Delaware charges no income tax on a company that doesn't operate there. Neither changes what the IRS expects.