Wyoming LLC Pricing Explained: $397, No Surprises

Year 1 breakdown: where the $397 goes

The single most common question from non-resident founders is some version of "what is the catch?" There isn't one, but you deserve the line-by-line. The $397 covers seven concrete deliverables, each of which has a real cost behind it:

1. Wyoming LLC formation. We file your Articles of Organization with the Wyoming Secretary of State, typically within 24 hours of receiving a complete intake. Formation is governed by the Wyoming Limited Liability Company Act (Wyoming Statutes Title 17, Chapter 29).
2. The Wyoming state filing fee. The Wyoming Secretary of State charges $100 to file Articles of Organization (per the official Wyoming SoS business fee schedule). We pay that to the state on your behalf and absorb it into the $397. There is no separate "state fee" line at checkout - a detail that matters, because almost every competitor advertises a low service price and then adds the state fee on top.
3. Registered agent for 12 months. Wyoming law (W.S. § 17-29-113) requires every LLC to maintain a registered agent with a physical Wyoming address. Our address appears on the public record, not your home address in Lagos, Lahore, or Lisbon.
4. Custom operating agreement. Drafted for your structure (single-member or multi-member) with Wyoming-specific charging-order protection language under W.S. § 17-29-503 - the statute that makes Wyoming's liability shield notably strong.
5. EIN via IRS Form SS-4. We file by fax to the IRS international EIN unit, which is the only reliable method for a non-resident without an SSN or ITIN. The IRS typically returns the CP575 confirmation in roughly 8–10 business days.
6. Bank introductions. Direct intros to Mercury, Relay, and Wise Business, with country-specific prep so your application reads cleanly to the bank's compliance team.
7. Document delivery and support. Searchable PDFs of every document, plus WhatsApp and email support across NYC and Dhaka time zones.

To put the $397 in context: the state takes $100 of it. The remaining $297 covers the registered agent year, the EIN filing labor, the operating agreement, the banking prep, and support. That is the actual unit economics - not a number invented to look cheap.

Year 2+ costs: what you actually pay each year

A Wyoming LLC is cheap to keep alive, which is the entire reason non-residents pick Wyoming over Delaware. From year 2 onward there are exactly two recurring costs:

• Wyoming annual report license tax: $60 minimum. Wyoming charges the greater of $60 or $0.0002 per dollar of in-state assets (0.02%). The $60 minimum applies to any LLC with $300,000 or less in Wyoming-situated assets, which is essentially every non-resident online business - your laptop and Stripe balance are not "Wyoming assets." Confirmed against the Wyoming Secretary of State annual report rules. It is due on the first day of your LLC's anniversary month. Miss it by 60 days and the state administratively dissolves the LLC.
• Registered agent renewal: ~$100/year. Wyoming still requires a registered agent every year after the first. We renew yours at roughly $100/year. You are never locked in - you can move to any Wyoming registered agent provider you like.

So year 2 onward is roughly $160/year, for the life of the LLC. Wyoming has not raised the annual report minimum in many years, so this is a stable, predictable number you can budget around.

Compare the recurring number to Delaware, where year 2 typically runs $300–$400 once you add the franchise tax and registered agent. Wyoming saves a non-resident founder roughly $150–$250 every single year - money that compounds over the life of the company.

A worked five-year total: what the LLC actually costs to own

Suppose a founder forms in year 1 and keeps the LLC running, adding our $99 Form 5472 + 1120 filing each year because they are a single-member foreign owner who needs it. Here is the honest running total:

• Year 1: $397 formation (all-inclusive) + $99 (5472 filing) = $496.
• Years 2–5 (each): $60 (Wyoming annual report) + ~$100 (registered agent renewal) + $99 (5472 filing) = ~$259/year.
• Five-year total: $496 + (4 × $259) = ~$1,532.

If the founder skips the optional 5472 add-on and files it themselves or via their own preparer, the recurring number drops to ~$160/year and the five-year cost falls to roughly $1,037. Either way, the point is that the whole cost of owning a compliant Wyoming LLC for five years sits well under $1,600 - and most of that is the unavoidable state report and registered agent, not our service. There is no escalating subscription, no per-document fee, and no renewal that balloons in year two. The number you can plan around is "about $160–$260 a year after the first," and it stays flat because Wyoming's fees have been stable for years.

Why "all-inclusive" is rarer than it sounds

The phrase "all-inclusive" gets used loosely in this industry, so it is worth defining what we mean by it precisely. For us it means the state filing fee is inside the $397 - not added at checkout - and that formation, the EIN, the first-year registered agent, the operating agreement, and bank introductions are all in the same number with no required upsell to make the LLC actually function. The common alternative model is to advertise a low service fee and then add the state fee, charge separately for the EIN (especially the no-SSN fax track), and renew the registered agent at a higher rate in year two. Both models can be honest; they are just different. The reason we fold everything in is that a non-resident founder forming their first US company has no easy way to know which add-ons are mandatory versus optional, and a single inclusive number removes that guesswork. The test of "all-inclusive" is simple: can you pay the headline price and have a working, bankable, compliant LLC without buying anything else? For the $397, the answer is yes - the only genuinely optional items are the $99 5472 filing (recommended but self-serviceable) and the $297 ITIN (which most founders never need).

Optional add-ons (only if you want them)

We keep three things off the base price because most founders do not need all of them, and bundling them would force people to pay for services they will never use.

• Form 5472 + pro forma 1120 filing - $99/year. This is the one we strongly recommend most non-resident, single-member owners add (more on the penalty below). We prepare the filing and remind you 60 days before the deadline.
• ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) - $297 one-time. An ITIN is needed only in specific cases - personal PayPal verification, or filing a US personal tax return. It is not required for Mercury, Stripe, Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, or roughly 95% of normal online operations. Do not buy it reflexively.
• Extended support packages. Available on request for founders who need ongoing cross-border tax planning or structure decisions. We have not marketed these aggressively because most people genuinely do not need them.

Everything outside that list is not billed by us. Stripe charges its own per-transaction fees directly. Mercury is free to open and run. Form W-8BEN-E (which your US payers may ask for) costs nothing - we coach you through it at no charge.

The non-resident angle: banking, privacy, and the Form 5472 trap

Pricing is only half the decision. The reason a Bangladeshi or Brazilian founder forms a Wyoming LLC instead of just operating locally usually comes down to three things: access to US payment rails, privacy, and a clean tax posture. Each interacts with cost in a way worth spelling out.

Banking without a US visit

You do not need to fly to the US to bank. The realistic stack for a non-resident is:

• Mercury - the most common choice; full US business checking and a clean API, free to open, no monthly minimum. Mercury's compliance is strict, which is why our country-specific prep matters.
• Relay - a strong alternative if Mercury declines, with multiple sub-accounts useful for tax/profit envelopes.
• Wise Business - the safety net. Wise accepts the broadest range of nationalities and gives you USD, EUR, and GBP receiving details, though it is a payments account rather than a true bank.

All three are included as introductions in your $397. None of them charges us a referral fee that we pass to you.

Privacy

Wyoming does not publish member or manager names in the public LLC record. Combined with our registered agent address on the filing, your name and home address stay off the public Secretary of State database. That privacy is structural to Wyoming law, not an add-on you pay extra for.

The federal filing every owner must know about

Here is the cost that catches people who DIY badly. A foreign-owned, single-member US LLC is a disregarded entity for income tax, but it must file IRS Form 5472 attached to a pro forma Form 1120 every year it has a "reportable transaction" with a related party (which includes you funding the company). Per the IRS Form 5472 instructions, the penalty for failing to file - or filing incomplete - is $25,000, with another $25,000 for each 30-day period the failure continues after IRS notice. Critically, the IRS treats Form 5472 sent without its pro forma 1120 (or vice versa) as a failure to file, even if both documents exist.

This is not income tax. A non-resident with no US-source income and no US "effectively connected income" typically owes $0 in federal income tax - but still owes the filing. That distinction is exactly why we offer the $99 Form 5472 + 1120 service: the form is informational, the penalty is brutal, and the filing itself is fiddly enough that a missed signature line can cost $25,000. The 2026 deadline for 2025-year filers is April 15, 2026, extendable to October 15 with Form 7004.

How we compare to competitors

The honest version of a price comparison shows year 1, year 2+, and the five-year total - because year 1 is where competitors hide the real cost in renewals.

A few honest notes on this table:

• doola sells a genuinely more bundled product (Total Compliance folds in the 5472/1120 filing and a dedicated account manager). At $1,999/year their five-year cost lands near $9,995. If you want full concierge hand-holding and never want to think about a deadline, doola is a legitimate fit. The savings versus doola over five years is roughly $8,900 - but you are unbundling and self-managing some compliance to get there.
• Firstbase advertises a lower headline but charges the state fee separately and pushes paid add-ons (registered address, tax, legal) that stack the real annual cost. Five-year savings versus Firstbase: roughly $1,860.
• Stripe Atlas forms in Delaware, not Wyoming. That means the Delaware franchise tax and the loss of Wyoming's privacy and no-state-income-tax advantages. Atlas is excellent if you are raising venture capital and need a Delaware C-corp; it is overkill and pricier long-term for a non-resident running a lean LLC. Five-year savings: roughly $1,150, plus the structural Wyoming benefits.

We are not the right answer for everyone. If you want a dedicated account manager and a single bundled invoice that covers every filing, the premium players earn their premium. We are the right answer if you want the formation done correctly at a fair price and prefer to keep your recurring overhead near $160/year.

What is not included (and where you do not need it)

Transparency cuts both ways - here is what the $397 deliberately does not cover, with the honest reason:

• US phone number. Optional via Google Voice (~$20/month) or Twilio. Most founders just use WhatsApp Business or Wise notifications, so we do not bundle it.
• Bookkeeping. Use Wave (free) or QuickBooks Online (~$30/month). Bundling accounting software would inflate the price for people who already have a system.
• Multi-state compliance. If you create nexus in California, New York, or another state (e.g., an employee or inventory there), you may need extra registrations. We help you spot when nexus applies; we do not run those filings.
• Legal advice. We provide information, not legal counsel. For litigation, investor structures, or immigration planning we refer you to US attorneys.

What to have ready before you pay

The $397 buys a fast formation, but the speed depends on you supplying a clean intake. To avoid back-and-forth that delays your filing, have these ready before checkout:

• Two or three LLC name options. Wyoming requires a unique name with an "LLC" or "Limited Liability Company" designator. Having backups means a name conflict does not stall you.
• A passport scan for each member. No SSN, US ID, or US visit is required - the passport is the identity document.
• A clear, specific business description. "Software-as-a-service for dental clinics" reads far better to a bank than "online business," and the same description carries through to your Mercury or Relay application later.
• A reliable email and WhatsApp number. The EIN confirmation and document delivery come electronically, and time-zone-spanning support runs over email and WhatsApp.
• A payment card. Stripe handles checkout in your home currency and converts to USD with no FX markup added by us.

That is the entire intake. There is no notarization, no apostille, and no in-person step. A complete intake is what lets us file with the Wyoming Secretary of State within about 24 hours.

A simple decision checklist

Before you pay anyone, run through this:

1. Confirm Wyoming is right for you. Online business, no US physical presence, want privacy and low recurring cost → Wyoming. Raising VC and need a C-corp → Delaware (different product).
2. Budget the real number. $397 year 1, then ~$160/year. Add $99/year if you want us handling Form 5472.
3. Decide on the ITIN now or later. Skip it unless you specifically need personal PayPal verification or a US personal return. You can always add it later.
4. Pick your banking target. Mercury first, Relay as backup, Wise as the universal fallback. We prep all three.
5. Calendar the two deadlines. Annual report on your anniversary month; Form 5472 by April 15. Missing either has real consequences ($25,000 for 5472; administrative dissolution for the annual report).
6. Keep the documents. Articles, operating agreement, CP575/EIN letter, registered agent appointment - store them where you can find them for banking and renewals.

Sources: Wyoming Secretary of State business fee schedule; Wyoming SoS annual report / license tax rules; IRS Instructions for Form 5472. Figures verified for 2026. Tax and compliance details are informational, not legal or tax advice.