Mercury vs Novo for Non-Resident LLC Owners

If you are a non-resident founder who just formed a Wyoming LLC and you are weighing Mercury against Novo, this comparison saves you a wasted application. The honest answer is short and the rest of this guide explains why: Mercury opens accounts for non-US founders; Novo does not. Novo's own published policy requires every applicant to be a US resident with a Social Security number and a US address, and it requires at least one beneficial owner who is a US citizen or permanent resident. So for the overwhelming majority of readers of this site — people living outside the United States who own a US LLC — this is not really a close call. Mercury is the realistic choice, and Novo is a useful option only if you happen to already be a US resident running your Wyoming LLC from inside the country.

That said, "just pick Mercury" is not a strategy. You still need to understand what each provider actually is (neither one is a chartered bank in the way most people assume), how their FDIC coverage really works, what the fees are, and how a banking account slots into the larger Wyoming LLC compliance stack of EIN, Form 5472, and the BOI report. This guide covers all of that with current 2026 figures, sourced inline.

What Mercury and Novo actually are

The single most common misconception about both companies is that they are banks. Neither is. Both are financial technology companies — fintechs — that build software on top of FDIC-insured partner banks that hold the actual money.

Mercury is operated by Mercury Technologies. Deposits are held at its partner banks, currently Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., both Members FDIC, after Mercury transitioned away from Evolve Bank & Trust in 2025 (Mercury, "Understanding FDIC insurance"). Notably, in April 2026 Mercury received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to charter Mercury Bank, N.A., which over time may change this partner-bank structure — but as of this writing the partner-bank model is what governs your deposits.

Novo is operated by Novo Platform, Inc. Banking services are provided by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., Member FDIC (FDIC Certificate 28368), a federal savings bank in Massachusetts (Novo / Middlesex Federal partnership, COCC). Middlesex handles the regulated banking and deposit-holding; Novo builds the app, the dashboard, and the integrations.

Why does this distinction matter for you? Three reasons:

1. FDIC insurance is "pass-through," not direct. Your money is insured because the partner bank is FDIC-insured and your funds are recorded in a way that passes the insurance through to you. With Novo, that means the standard $250,000 per depositor limit at Middlesex Federal Savings. With Mercury, because deposits can be swept across a network of up to 20 partner banks, eligible balances can be insured up to $5 million (Mercury, "Understanding FDIC insurance"). This is a genuine, material difference if you hold large idle balances.

2. Eligibility is set by the fintech's compliance/KYC program, not just by the bank charter. This is exactly why Mercury can serve non-residents and Novo cannot — it is a policy and underwriting decision layered on top of the bank.

3. Account access depends on the fintech's solvency and bank relationships. The 2024 industry disruption around the Synapse/Evolve failures showed that the fintech layer adds risk. Mercury's move away from Evolve and its OCC charter application are partly responses to that environment. Neither Mercury nor Novo was affected by the Synapse collapse, but the structure is worth understanding before you park your operating cash anywhere.

Neither company is a payment processor in the Stripe/PayPal sense. They are deposit/checking platforms. You still use Stripe, PayPal, or similar to accept card payments, and you route the payouts into Mercury or Novo. We will return to this stack point below.

Non-resident eligibility: the part that decides everything

This is where the comparison ends for most readers, so let us be precise.

Mercury

Mercury explicitly supports US companies with founders from around the world. Per its own eligibility page, you do not need to be a US citizen or resident to apply (Mercury, "Eligibility and requirements"). The core requirements are:

• Your business must be formed and registered in the US or a US territory — a Wyoming LLC qualifies.
• The business must have existing or planned US operations.
• You provide a US or international address for the principal place of business.
• You provide valid government-issued ID (a passport, for non-residents) for every person owning 25% or more of the company.
• You provide your EIN and formation documents.

The major caveat is the prohibited-countries list. Mercury cannot open accounts for founders who reside in — or whose businesses are headquartered in — certain countries. Over 2024–2025 Mercury expanded this list to include countries such as Ukraine, Nigeria, Russia, Iran, and others (Mercury, "Prohibited countries"). The list changes, and Mercury does not always update it the moment a country's sanctions or FATF status changes. Check the live prohibited-countries page before you apply — if your country of residence is on it, no amount of paperwork will get you approved, and you should plan around an alternative such as Wise or Relay from the start.

Novo

Novo's published policy is unambiguous: Novo currently only opens accounts for business owners who reside within the US, and the business must be registered in the US (Novo FAQ, "Is Novo available for businesses or owners outside of the United States?"). Specifically:

• Applicants and owners must have a Social Security number, a US cell phone number, and a US address.
• For non-citizen beneficial owners, Novo requires proof that you live in the US (e.g., via a W-8).
• At least one beneficial owner (anyone owning 25%+) must be a US citizen or permanent resident.
• Sole proprietors specifically must be US citizens.

In plain terms: if you live outside the US, do not have an SSN, and have no US-citizen/permanent-resident co-owner, Novo will not approve you. Some older comparison content (including an earlier version of this very page) circulated a figure suggesting Novo approves roughly 30–50% of non-resident applicants. That figure does not match Novo's own stated requirements and we have corrected it here. The realistic non-resident approval rate at Novo is effectively near zero under its current policy. We would rather tell you that up front than have you waste a week and a hard-to-reverse rejection on your record.

Side-by-side comparison

Note that both platforms genuinely charge $0 monthly fees, no minimum balance, and no overdraft fees (Mercury business banking; NerdWallet, "Novo Business Checking 2026 Review"). The headline pricing is not where these two differ. The differences that matter are eligibility, FDIC ceiling, treasury yield, and cross-border features — all of which favor Mercury for the non-resident audience.

Real fees, in detail

People assume "free business banking" means truly free. It mostly is on both platforms, but watch the edges.

Mercury. No monthly fee, no minimum deposit, no overdraft fees, and free domestic and international USD wires. The real cost shows up when money changes currency: Mercury applies roughly a 1% conversion fee on non-USD international wires to cover the SWIFT network, and an international transaction fee applies to non-USD debit/credit card spend (Mercury FAQ). For a non-resident whose customers pay in USD and who holds USD, those fees rarely bite. If you constantly convert to and from your home currency, factor the 1% in.

Novo. No monthly fee, no minimum balance, no excess-transaction fees, and it even refunds ATM fees (NerdWallet, "Novo Business Checking 2026 Review"). Novo is genuinely cheap for simple US-domestic small-business banking. Its weakness is not fees — it is that it is not engineered for international money movement or large idle balances, and it will not let a non-resident in the door.

The practical takeaway: for the non-resident reader, fees are not the deciding variable. Eligibility is. Mercury wins by default because Novo is unavailable to you.

Who should pick which

Pick Mercury if:

• You are a non-resident founder of a Wyoming LLC and live outside the US (and outside Mercury's prohibited-countries list). This is the dominant case for this site.
• You want FDIC coverage above $250K via the sweep network.
• You hold idle cash you want earning yield through Mercury's treasury product.
• You bill in USD, send USD wires, or run a SaaS/e-commerce/agency business with any operational complexity.
• You want API access or multiple cards with spend controls as you grow.

Pick Novo only if:

• You are a US resident (citizen or with a US address and SSN) running a Wyoming LLC — for example, an out-of-state US founder who chose Wyoming for its asset-protection and privacy advantages.
• Your needs are simple: domestic checking, a debit card, ATM-fee refunds, light Stripe/Shopify integrations, and budgeting "reserves."
• You do not need cross-border wires, large FDIC ceilings, or a treasury yield product.

If you are a non-resident, your fallback is not Novo — it is Wise or Relay. Because Novo simply will not accept you, the right "Plan B" behind Mercury is a platform that, like Mercury, is built for or open to non-resident LLC owners. Keep Wise or Relay in mind if Mercury rejects you or your country is restricted.

How banking fits the Wyoming LLC + EIN + US bank stack

Opening an account is one step in a sequence. Do it in the right order or you will hit avoidable rejections.

Step 1 — Form the Wyoming LLC

Wyoming is a popular home for non-resident LLCs because it has no state income tax, low annual fees, and strong privacy (member names are not on the public record). The LLC must be filed with the Wyoming Secretary of State and kept in good standing via the annual report and registered-agent requirement (Wyoming Secretary of State, Business Center). Our service forms the Wyoming LLC for $397 all-inclusive, with the Wyoming state filing fee included. ITIN assistance, if you need it, is a separate $297 add-on.

Step 2 — Get the EIN

The Employer Identification Number is the business's federal tax ID, and both Mercury and Novo require it. As a non-resident without an SSN or ITIN, you cannot use the IRS online EIN tool — you obtain the EIN by submitting Form SS-4 by fax or mail, where the responsible party can be a foreign person without a US TIN (IRS, "Apply for an Employer Identification Number"). Budget one to several weeks for the fax route. You do not need an ITIN to get an EIN or to open a Mercury account.

Step 3 — Open the bank/fintech account

With the LLC formed, the operating agreement in hand, and the EIN issued, you apply to Mercury. Have ready: formation documents, EIN confirmation, passport(s) for every 25%+ owner, your business address, and a clear description of what the company does and where its customers are. A vague or e-commerce-dropshipping-style description is a frequent rejection trigger, so describe a real, lawful business clearly.

Step 4 — Connect a payment processor (if you sell)

Neither Mercury nor Novo processes card payments. If you sell online, you connect Stripe, PayPal, or a marketplace as the processor and route payouts into your Mercury account. This is where the 1099-K form enters: a US payment processor issues a 1099-K when your card/processor volume exceeds more than $20,000 AND more than 200 transactions in a year. The widely-feared $600 reporting threshold was repealed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, so the long-standing $20,000/200 rule remains in force (IRS, "Understanding Your Form 1099-K"). Receiving a 1099-K is not itself a tax bill — it is an information return — but it must match what you report.

Step 5 — Stay compliant: 5472, BOI, and treaties

This is the part founders forget, and it is the most expensive to forget.

Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120. A foreign-owned single-member US LLC (disregarded entity) must file Form 5472 attached to a pro-forma Form 1120 every year, reporting reportable transactions with the foreign owner. Writing "Foreign-owned US DE" across the top and filing by the deadline is mandatory even if the LLC had no profit. The penalty for failing to file, filing late, or filing substantially incomplete is $25,000 per form under IRC §6038A, with further $25,000 increments if non-compliance continues after IRS notice (IRS, "About Form 5472"; IRS, "Instructions for Form 5472"). Submitting one form without the other is treated as a failure to file. This single requirement is why "set up the LLC and forget it" is dangerous advice for non-residents.

BOI / FinCEN. The beneficial ownership information reporting landscape under the Corporate Transparency Act changed dramatically in 2025. FinCEN issued an interim final rule that exempts US-formed companies from BOI reporting and narrows the requirement to certain foreign entities registered to do business in the US. Because this area has shifted repeatedly through litigation and rulemaking, confirm your current obligation directly at the source before assuming you are exempt (FinCEN, "Beneficial Ownership Information").

Tax treaties. Whether your US-source income is taxable, and at what withholding rate, can depend on whether your country of residence has an income tax treaty with the US. The authoritative list is published by the IRS (IRS, "United States Income Tax Treaties — A to Z"). A single-member LLC with no US trade or business (ETBUS) and no US-source income is often outside the US net-income tax base, but this is fact-specific. Do not rely on a banking blog — including this one — for your final tax position. Confirm with a cross-border accountant.

A Mercury (or Novo) account is therefore one node in a chain: Wyoming SoS filing → EIN via SS-4 → bank/fintech account → processor → annual 5472/1120, BOI check, and treaty analysis. Banking is necessary but not sufficient. The compliance steps in Step 5 are what keep the structure legal and penalty-free.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying to Novo as a non-resident. It will not work. Novo requires a US address, a US SSN, and at least one US-citizen/permanent-resident owner. Go to Mercury (or Wise/Relay) instead.
• Trusting an old "Novo approves 30–50% of non-residents" claim. That figure contradicts Novo's own policy. We corrected it on this page; ignore it wherever else you see it.
• Applying before the EIN is issued. Both platforms require the EIN. Applying without it guarantees a stall or rejection.
• Assuming you need an ITIN to open Mercury. You do not. An EIN plus a passport is enough for Mercury. ITINs matter for certain tax filings, not for the account itself.
• Ignoring Mercury's prohibited-countries list. If your country of residence is restricted, Mercury will decline regardless of paperwork. Check the live list first and plan a Wise/Relay fallback.
• Treating the fintech as a chartered bank. Both are software layers over partner banks. Know that your FDIC coverage is pass-through ($250K at Novo; up to $5M via Mercury's sweep) and that the fintech relationship adds a layer of operational risk.
• Describing your business vaguely. "Online business" or generic dropshipping descriptions are common rejection triggers at Mercury. Describe a real, lawful, specific business and where customers are located.
• Forgetting Form 5472. A zero-revenue, dormant foreign-owned LLC still must file Form 5472 with a pro-forma 1120. The penalty is $25,000. This is the most expensive oversight in the entire stack.
• Converting currency more than necessary on Mercury. Each non-USD conversion carries roughly a 1% fee. Hold and transact in USD where you can.

Bottom line

For the non-resident Wyoming LLC owner this site serves, Mercury is the answer and Novo is not an option — Novo's own rules require US residency, an SSN, a US address, and a US-citizen/permanent-resident owner. Mercury, by contrast, is built to onboard global founders with just an LLC, an EIN, and a passport, offers up to $5M in FDIC coverage through its sweep network, supports free USD wires, and includes a treasury yield product. Novo remains a perfectly good, genuinely low-fee choice — but only for the US-resident operator running a Wyoming LLC from inside the country. Pick the platform that will actually approve you, get your EIN and Wyoming filing in order first, and never let the Form 5472 deadline slip.