Which state is best for an LLC if you live outside the US?

The figures below are each state's own fee for a domestic LLC, taken from its Secretary of State schedule or its LLC statute. They exclude registered agent charges, which are set by the agent, and any card or convenience fees.

Wyoming's Business Division fee schedule, effective 1 July 2026, sets the LLC Articles of Organization fee at $100.00. Its annual report license tax is $60 or two-tenths of one mill on the dollar ($.0002), whichever is greater, based on the company's assets located and employed in Wyoming.^[1] For an LLC whose assets sit outside Wyoming, that points to the $60 minimum.

The Secretary of State's LLC instructions say annual reports are due every year on the first day of the anniversary month of formation, and that an entity that has not paid within 60 days of the due date is subject to dissolution.^[2]

The Articles of Organization form asks for the company name, an optional close LLC election, the registered agent's name and physical address, the company's mailing address and principal office address, an email address, and the signature and printed name of an organizer. It has no field for members or managers.^[2] The registered agent may be an individual resident in Wyoming or a business entity authorized to do business there, and must have a physical Wyoming address.^[2]

New Mexico's Limited Liability Company Act sets the fee for filing the original articles of organization and issuing a certificate of organization at fifty dollars ($50.00).^[3] The Secretary of State's online filing guide shows the same $50.00 application fee for Domestic LLC Articles of Organization, filed online through its SOS Enterprise portal.^[4] The Act's fee section lists no annual or periodic report fee.^[3]

Under the Act, the articles set forth the company's name; the registered office street address and registered agent's name, and the principal place of business if different; the period of duration if not perpetual; a statement if management is vested in a manager; a statement if the company may operate as a single-member LLC; and any other provision the signers choose to include.^[3] Member names are not among the required contents, and that is the feature behind the phrase “anonymous LLC”: the state filing need not list the owners. For a foreign-owned single-member LLC, the owner is still identified to the IRS in Part II of Form 5472 in any year the form is filed.^[8]

A New Mexico LLC must keep a registered office and a registered agent in the state: an individual resident of New Mexico, or a company with a place of business there that matches the registered office.^[3]

Delaware's Division of Corporations fee schedule, revised 1 August 2026, lists the state filing fee for a domestic LLC formation at $110.00.^[5] Every domestic LLC pays an annual tax of $400, due on or before 1 June for the prior year; there is no requirement to file an annual report.^[6][7] The Division says there is no proration: the tax is assessed if the entity is active in its records at any time from 1 January to 31 December, and a late payment carries a $200 penalty plus 1.5% interest per month on tax and penalty.^[6] So an LLC formed in 2026 owes $400 for 2026 by 1 June 2027.

Delaware's LLC Act requires the certificate of formation to set forth only the company's name, the registered office address and the registered agent's name and address, and any other matters the members choose to include.^[7] Each Delaware LLC must keep a registered office and a registered agent in Delaware.^[7]

Forming in one state does not settle where a company must register. An LLC that transacts business in another state is a “foreign” LLC there, and each state's own law decides when it must register and what that costs. New Mexico's Act is one example: a foreign LLC transacting business in New Mexico may not bring a lawsuit in a New Mexico court until it registers, is liable for the fees it would have paid had it registered, and is subject to a civil penalty of up to $200 for each year or part of a year it did business without registering.^[9] The same Act lists activities that do not count as transacting business, among them maintaining bank accounts and selling through independent contractors.^[10]

Registration has its own fee in each state: $150 for a Wyoming Certificate of Authority,^[1] $100 for a New Mexico foreign LLC registration,^[3] and $200 for a Delaware foreign certificate of registration.^[5] For a founder abroad selling online, where the company has an office, staff or stock is worth checking against that state's rules before choosing a formation state.

• Lowest state cost over several years: on the state fees alone, New Mexico's one-time $50 is the smallest, Wyoming adds at least $60 a year, and Delaware adds $400 a year.^[1][3][6] Registered agent fees come on top in every state.
• Fewest owner details on the state filing: none of the three asks for member names on the formation document; Wyoming's form shows an organizer's name, and New Mexico's articles state whether a manager runs the company.^[2][3]
• A yearly reminder built in: Wyoming's report and Delaware's tax each create a fixed annual date; New Mexico's Act sets none, so the company's own calendar carries any yearly dates, such as its registered agent's invoice.
• Federal rules do not change with the state: a single-member LLC owned from abroad files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 in any year it has a reportable transaction with its owner, whichever state it is formed in.^[8] See our Form 5472 instructions guide.

Our US LLC formation for non-residents files the articles in the state you choose, arranges the registered agent and prepares the company's EIN application, with the state's current fee read from its own schedule and shown at cost in a written quote. Founders in Pakistan can see the same service on our Pakistan formation page.