Wall 01Vendor onboarding
Systems that expect a W-9
Client vendor systems assume a US company and a W-9, and a foreign individual takes longer to approve.
Built for · Consulting
A US LLC for consultants advising US companies from abroad
Consulting is sold to companies, and companies prefer to buy from companies. A US LLC is how a consultant abroad becomes a vendor a US client's finance team can approve without a meeting.
- Usually
- Structure
- Wyoming LLC
- Plan
- Starter
- On the day
- $391.40
- Every year
- $179
01Why a US company
What it does for consultants.
A US client paying a foreign individual has to think about a W-8BEN, withholding and an international wire. Paying a US LLC with an EIN is a domestic ACH transfer to a vendor with a W-9 on file. For a consultant with several US clients, that difference pays for itself quickly.
The company also lets you hire subcontractors, sign agreements in its name, and keep the practice's money apart from yours.
02What stands in the way
Three things in the way, and one way through.
Wall 02Banks and processors
Accounts that don't serve your country
Payment processors and business accounts may not serve the country you live in.
Wall 03Clients
A company's invoice, not a person's
Some clients will pay a company's invoice more readily than an individual's.
The door
A US LLC, with its EIN and a US bank account.
One company, one EIN and one bank account, which is what everything above asks for.
03The honest part
What to know before you order.
01
Advice given from home is foreign-source
Work done outside the United States is foreign-source income, and a company with no US office or staff has no US trade or business. A few days a year visiting a client usually doesn't change that, but if you spend months on site in the United States, ask an accountant where the line is.
02
Form 5472, every year
A foreign-owned single-member LLC files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year, even a year with no income. It reports what moved between you and the company, and missing it carries a $25,000 penalty. Premium prepares it for you, and it's on every plan's calendar.
The plan that fits
Starter, usually.
A consultant's company is the simplest kind. Starter covers all of it, with the calendar for the yearly filings.
StarterFits consultants
For your first company, when it needs to exist and nothing more yet.
To start
$391.40 once
Includes the $102.40 Wyoming fee · then $179 a year
04Questions
Questions from consultants.
If yours is not here, email us at [email protected] before you order.
Yes. It has an EIN, a registered address in Wyoming and a US bank account, which is what a vendor record needs. You fill in a W-9 as the company.
Generally not, when you do the work outside the United States and the company has no US office or staff. The company files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year regardless.
Read next
Related.
Ready when you are
Answer the questions. We do the filing.
It takes about four minutes. You see the whole order, state fee included, before anything is charged.
Compare the plansCompany name
LLC · WYName checked first · Same business day
Start a companyStarter$289 + $102.40 WyomingSame day