Do I need a US address for my LLC if I live outside the US?

Delaware's LLC Act requires every LLC to keep, in Delaware, a registered office, which may but need not be a place of its business, and a registered agent whose business office is that registered office.^[1] The certificate of formation itself sets out only the company's name, the registered office and agent, and anything else the members choose to include.^[8]

New Mexico's Act is similar: an LLC keeps in New Mexico a registered office, which may be the same as its principal place of business, and a registered agent who is a New Mexico resident or a company with a place of business at that registered office.^[2] In both Acts, the in-state address is the registered office kept with the agent.

On Form SS-4, the EIN application, the mailing address is the address for the entity's correspondence, and the IRS says it will generally be used on all tax returns. If it is outside the United States, the instructions ask for the city, province or state, postal code and the full country name.^[3] The street address is given only if different from the mailing address, and may not be a P.O. box.^[3]

Two related points from the same instructions: the online EIN application is for applicants with a legal residence, principal place of business or principal office in the US, so a company run from abroad applies by fax, mail or the telephone option for international applicants; and a responsible party who has no SSN or ITIN and can't get one enters “foreign” or N/A on line 7b.^[3]

Form 5472 follows the same pattern. Part I has its own instructions for a foreign address: city, province or state, and country, in that order, with the country name in full.^[4] If the mailing address, business location or responsible party changes later, Form 8822-B tells the IRS; a change of responsible party is reported within 60 days.^[5]

Stripe's page on US accounts says a registered business must be registered in the US even if it operates in another country, that every business gives the address of the physical location where most of its business activity is carried out, and that PO boxes are not accepted.^[6] PayPal's business verification page asks the account holder and the executive contact for home addresses, not a PO box, and asks a person with no US tax ID to have passport details ready.^[7] Each provider reviews the application and decides.

Our US LLC formation for non-residents files the articles in the state you choose, arranges the registered agent that gives the company its in-state office, and prepares the EIN application with your own mailing address. Founders in Pakistan can see the same service on our Pakistan formation page.