Wall 01Brokers and banks
Accounts for US companies, not foreign ones
Some brokers and banks will open an account for a US company but not for a foreign one.
Home/Built for/Founders forming a holding company
Built for · Holding structures
A holding company owns other things: shares in other companies, domains, trademarks, investments. A Wyoming LLC is an inexpensive, private and well-understood way to do that. Whether it does anything useful for you depends mostly on the rules where you live.
01Why a US company
Founders use Wyoming LLCs as holding companies because they cost $60 a year to the state, keep the owners off the public record, and can own almost anything: shares in a US or foreign company, intellectual property, domain names, and investment accounts at brokers that accept US companies. A US holding company also gives a group one US company for banks and partners to deal with.
02What stands in the way
Wall 01Brokers and banks
Some brokers and banks will open an account for a US company but not for a foreign one.
Wall 02Public registers
You may want several ventures under one owner without putting each one on a public register.
Wall 03Investors and buyers
A US operating company may need a parent company for investors or a future sale.
The door
One company, one EIN and one bank account, which is what everything above asks for.
03The honest part
Many countries have controlled foreign company rules. If a resident controls a foreign company earning passive income, that income may be taxed at home as if the company weren't there. A holding company formed to put off or avoid that tax usually doesn't, while one formed to organise and hold assets, or to give a group a US presence, can be perfectly sound. Take this question to an adviser at home before forming anything.
It doesn't make US investment income tax-free. Dividends from US companies paid to an owner abroad are withheld at 30% or the treaty rate, and the LLC is looked through to its owner for that. It isn't the right home for US property either, because an LLC holding property belongs in the property's state.
The plan that fits
A holding company files and pays little. Starter covers the company, the operating agreement that records what it holds, and the calendar.
StarterFits founders forming a holding company
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
If yours is not here, email us at [email protected] before you order.
Usually, subject to your country's rules on foreign ownership of local companies and on residents owning foreign companies. Both are questions for a local adviser.
Its members and managers aren't on Wyoming's public record. Banks, brokers and the IRS still know who owns it, and US-formed companies no longer file beneficial ownership reports with FinCEN.
Ready when you are
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