US LLC set up, including the answer to where it gets taxed.
600 to 800 € through our partner, plus around 300 $ to register in the US. Forming it is the cheap part. What gets expensive is what comes back every year, and what nobody has placed. Tell us what your case looks like.
- State and registration
- EIN
- Form 5472
- Management and control
Tell us in five steps what your case looks like
Five short questions, about a minute. The more precisely you describe where decisions are made from, the more precise the answer gets.
- Independent, we do not advise ourselves
- Asking is free and without obligation
- An answer within 48 hours
What a US LLC costs
Three kinds of figure, so they are listed apart: our partner’s fee, the US charges, and what falls due when something is forgotten or placed wrongly.
- 600–800 €The formation through our partner, depending on the state and the scope. You pay us nothing on top.
- around 300 $Registration in the US, on top. The exact amount depends on the state.
- 25,000 $The penalty per year for not filing form 5472. It is due even for an LLC that does nothing at all.
- 50States to choose from. Which one fits depends on what the LLC does, not on which one is being recommended this year.
Where your LLC is taxed does not turn on where it is registered, but on where you run it from. What follows from that is answered differently in every country, so there is no rule of thumb here. Anyone offering you one without knowing your case is guessing.
Start my request nowWhat you gain by working with us
Our business is the accounting software, not the advice. That is exactly why we can say plainly which person fits and which does not.
Every Volk Accountant plan includes a portal for the client’s own accountant. We see how they work, how fast they answer and what they are good at, because they work in the same software we do.
Clients keep asking us who in Cyprus is good at what and how something can be solved. We answer that every week anyway, until now as an aside by email. This page is the proper version of it, with the same answers.
Volk Web Ltd is a Cyprus limited in Paphos, with the same VAT-4, the same monthly VIES statement and the same deadlines. We know which question an adviser answers in ten minutes and which one needs a mandate.
We charge you nothing for picking the right partner, coordinating the work and staying your point of contact. What you pay is the partner’s work and the official fees.
What a US LLC involves
Registering an LLC is quick. What makes it costlier than expected are the duties that come back every year.
- State and registrationWhich state fits depends on what the LLC actually does. There is no state that is best in general.
- A registered agent in the stateEvery LLC needs an address in its state where documents can be served. That is a running cost, not a one-off.
- The EIN, the US tax numberWithout it there is neither a filing nor a bank account. It has to be applied for, it is not issued automatically.
- Form 5472, every yearForeign-owned LLCs file annually, even with no turnover. This is the duty that gets overlooked most often.
What happens after you send us a request
- 1You answer five short questionsAbout a minute. No phone number, no budget question, no call.
- 2We read it ourselvesWithin 48 hours you get an email with your contact and the reason they fit your case.
- 3You decideNothing is passed on until you say yes. If you would rather not, that is the end of it.
US LLC: the questions we get asked most.
What does a US LLC cost through you?
The formation through our partner runs between 600 and 800 €, depending on the state and the scope. On top of that comes the US registration at around 300 $, which goes to the authorities there. You pay us nothing on top. We name the exact price before you decide.
Which state is the right one?
There is no general answer, however often one gets named online. It depends on what the LLC actually does, where it appears and who runs it. Anyone naming a state without those details is guessing.
What is form 5472?
An annual filing to the US tax authority, due for foreign-owned single-member LLCs together with a pro forma form 1120. It is due even when the LLC had no turnover and is completely dormant. Missing it costs 25,000 $ per form per year.
Which country taxes my LLC?
Not the one it is registered in, but the one it is run from. Almost every country ties a company’s tax liability to where the decisions are made. Hold an LLC in Wyoming and run it from your living room, and you have to reckon with the country you live in treating it as resident there. What that means in practice is advice, and an adviser gives it.
I live in Cyprus, Georgia, Malta or Bali. Does that change anything?
Yes, a great deal. The underlying principle is the same everywhere, namely that it turns on where the company is run from. What follows differs completely: the rate, the filing duties, whether there are rules for foreign companies at all, and whether the country you left has actually let go of you. Tell us in the request where you are, and that decides who we bring in.
What if I am not tax resident anywhere?
The US filing duty is untouched by that: form 5472 is still due every year. And being resident nowhere is rarer than it looks. Many countries only let a residence go once a new one is proven, and some attach it to things people do not experience as a tie at all. If you live that way, have it checked properly rather than assumed.