Wall 01Stripe
A country list a US company is on
Stripe serves a set list of countries, and a US company is on it. A merchant of record, such as Paddle, is the alternative if you don't want your own processor yet.
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Built for · Software
A US LLC or C-Corp for a SaaS company built outside the United States
Software needs little from a US company and gets a lot: a payments account that works, a vendor US customers can buy from, and a structure investors recognise if you raise.
- Usually
- Structure
- Wyoming LLC
- Plan
- Standard
- On the day
- $601.40
- Every year
- $309
01Why a US company
What it does for SaaS and app companies.
Selling software to US companies from abroad runs into procurement teams that want a US vendor with a W-9, payment processors that don't serve your country, and app stores and marketplaces that pay out to a bank account you can't open. A US company with an EIN and a US bank account gets past all of them.
The bigger decision is the structure. A Wyoming LLC suits a software business funded by its customers. A Delaware C-Corporation suits one funded by US investors, because their documents assume it and converting later means legal fees. The three-question tool gives you the answer and the reasoning.
02What stands in the way
Three things in the way, and one way through.
Wall 02App stores
Payouts to the company, a W-8 in the interview
Apple and Google pay app revenue to the developer's bank account, and a US LLC owned by someone abroad fills in a W-8 in the tax interview.
Wall 03Enterprise buyers
A W-9 and a US address
Enterprise customers ask for a W-9, a US address and often insurance, and a US LLC covers the first two.
The door
A US company, with its EIN and a US bank account.
One set of documents that Stripe, the app stores and your enterprise customers all accept.
03The honest part
What to know before you order.
01
Software built abroad is foreign-source income
Income from work done outside the United States is foreign-source, and a company with no US office, staff or agent has no US trade or business to tie it to. That's why most foreign-owned software LLCs owe no US income tax. Hiring a US employee, opening a US office or giving a US salesperson authority to sign contracts changes that, so keep the company's management where you are and use US contractors under proper agreements.
02
Your own country taxes it
The US treats a single-owner LLC as see-through, while most other tax offices treat it as a company. Where you live, its profit is either your income or the company's, and a company run day to day from your desk may be resident where the desk is. Ask a local accountant before the first invoice.
03
Raising later
A Wyoming LLC can be converted into a Delaware C-Corporation when an investor asks, which costs legal fees and a few weeks. If you already know you'll raise within two years, form the corporation now.
The plan that fits
Standard, usually.
Standard records the ownership split, which matters as soon as there's a second founder, and you can add the expedited EIN so Stripe can open before your first customer.
StandardFits a SaaS company
For founders who need a bank account, invoices and payments this month.
To start
$601.40 once
Includes the $102.40 Wyoming fee · then $309 a year
04Questions
Questions from SaaS and app companies.
If yours is not here, email us at [email protected] before you order.
An LLC if customers will fund the business, a C-Corporation if US investors will. The LLC costs less to keep and its profit is taxed once. The corporation is what investors' documents assume. You can convert later, at a cost.
Yes. Both accept a US LLC as the developer, pay to its bank account, and ask a single-member LLC owned by someone abroad for a W-8 in the tax interview.
Usually not, when the software is built and the company is run from outside the United States, with no US office or staff. It files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year regardless.
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 companyStandard$499 + $102.40 WyomingSame day