Wyoming LLC from London

London runs on USD-denominated work more than any other UK city: Shoreditch SaaS teams, Soho agencies billing US brands, fintech contractors, and Substack and Gumroad creators all collect dollars daily. A Wyoming LLC gives those earnings a clean US home — a US EIN, a US bank account, and Stripe US — for $397 all-in, with formation in about 24 hours.

Why London founders form a Wyoming LLC

London is the densest concentration of dollar-earning founders in Europe, and the friction they hit is rarely about finding US clients — it is about getting paid like a US business. A Shoreditch or King's Cross SaaS startup selling monthly subscriptions to American customers wants Stripe to settle into a US account so payouts clear in a day instead of bouncing through international ACH. A Soho creative agency on retainer with a New York or LA brand keeps getting asked for a W-9 and a US bank account before the client's accounts-payable system will cut a check. A fintech or data contractor placed through a US staffing firm finds the same wall. In each case the client is American, the invoices are in dollars, and the London founder is trying to receive that money without losing 3-5% to conversion spreads and without looking "foreign" to a US payment stack that quietly prefers US entities.

A Wyoming LLC solves the structural problem. It is a real US legal entity with its own EIN, so US platforms — Stripe, PayPal, Amazon, Mercury, the client's AP department — treat it as a domestic counterparty. You file a W-8BEN-E (or W-9 once the LLC has its EIN) instead of being treated as an unknown overseas vendor. For a single-member LLC owned by a UK resident, the entity is a US "disregarded entity": it is not subject to US corporate income tax on non-US-effectively-connected income, and under Article 7 of the UK-US treaty your business profits are generally taxable only in the UK, where you already file. (See the IRS UK tax treaty documents page.)

London founders also pick Wyoming specifically over Delaware. Delaware is the default in the Stripe Atlas and Y Combinator playbook, but it only earns its keep if you are raising a priced equity round in the next six months. For the agency owner, the bootstrapped SaaS founder, the freelance developer — the overwhelming majority of London's dollar-earners — Delaware just adds roughly $300 a year in franchise tax and registered-agent cost for no benefit. Wyoming, formed under Title 17, Chapter 29 of the Wyoming statutes administered by the Wyoming Secretary of State, gives the same legal limited-liability shell, the same treaty access, no public member names, and a far lower annual cost. The treaty does not care which state you pick; the bill does.

One more London-specific reason the US LLC earns its place: scale of the US market relative to your client base. London founders are physically closer to the EU than to the US, but a large slice of high-value, dollar-paying demand sits across the Atlantic — US SaaS budgets, US agency retainers, US marketplace volume. Forming a US entity is the cheapest way to stop that demand leaking value through conversion fees and "foreign vendor" friction every month, while you keep your existing UK Ltd or sole-trader setup for domestic and EU work. The two structures coexist comfortably; nothing about the Wyoming LLC forces you to unwind your UK business.

Cost from London

The package is $397 all-inclusive, and that figure already includes the Wyoming state filing fee — there is no separate government charge to add on top. The only recurring obligation is the Wyoming annual report plus registered-agent renewal from year two onward, roughly $160 a year.

For a London founder, the all-in first-year outlay is $397, and the steady-state cost is about $160 a year — roughly a quarter of what the equivalent Delaware C-corp path costs once franchise tax is in the mix. Most London founders do not need the ITIN: a single-member LLC obtains its EIN without one, and the ITIN is only relevant if you personally need to file a US individual return, which most treaty-protected UK residents do not.

Banking from London

UK founders sit at the very top of the US fintech approval tier — better than any other non-US market. The UK's clean documentation, strong KYC reputation, and English-language records mean Mercury, Relay, and Wise reviewers process British applicants quickly. Mercury requires that the business itself be a US-registered entity (your Wyoming LLC satisfies this) and that you supply a genuine address for the principal place of business — note that Mercury no longer accepts a registered-agent address, so use a real business or residential address, which can be your London address (Mercury LLC banking). Mercury accepts founders living abroad, including in the UK, and in practice London applicants with a clean SaaS, agency, or consulting profile are approved at roughly the highest non-US rate, typically within 1-5 business days after the EIN lands.

Relay is the standard fallback if Mercury declines for a thin or unusual profile, and it is worth keeping in your pocket. Wise Business is the most universally accessible option: it is not a bank and balances are not FDIC-insured, but it issues real US routing and account numbers, integrates cleanly with Stripe, PayPal, and Amazon, and does not require a US address. For a London founder, the pragmatic stack is often Mercury (or Relay) for the primary USD operating account plus Wise for low-cost GBP-USD conversion when you sweep dollars back to a UK account. (See this non-resident comparison of Mercury, Wise, and Relay.)

This is where the LLC complements your local rails rather than replacing them. The UK's domestic payment system is Faster Payments (near-instant GBP bank transfers between UK accounts) and your UK challenger banks — Tide, Starling, Monzo Business, Revolut Business — run on it. Those accounts are excellent for paying UK suppliers, HMRC, VAT, payroll, and GBP invoices, but they are GBP-first and they make you a "foreign" vendor to a US client. The Wyoming LLC + Mercury account is the missing USD leg: your US clients pay the LLC in dollars through a US-routing-number account they recognise, the dollars sit in USD until you choose to convert, and you move money to your UK Faster Payments account via Wise only when the GBP rate suits you. You keep your UK banking for everything domestic and add a genuine US presence for everything dollar-denominated — instead of bleeding margin every time an American client's payment is force-converted to sterling on arrival.

Tax: US and your home country

The UK-US income tax treaty is in force and is one of the most generous in the entire US treaty network. The IRS lists the United Kingdom as an active treaty partner (Convention signed 2001, in force since 2003), confirmed current on the IRS United States income tax treaties A-to-Z page and in IRS Table 3 of treaty withholding rates. For a London founder this matters in two ways. First, Article 7 means your active business profits — the SaaS subscriptions, the agency retainers, the consulting fees — are generally taxable only in the UK where you are resident, not by the US, provided you have no US permanent establishment. Second, on genuinely US-source passive income such as portfolio dividends, the treaty's Article 10 reduces US withholding from the statutory 30% down to 15% or in many qualifying cases 0%, claimed by filing a W-8BEN-E with the payer under your LLC and EIN. Interest and royalties under the treaty are generally 0%.

A blunt warning for founders who are not UK residents: the 30%-to-0% relief above is a UK-treaty benefit. If you read this page but actually live in a country with no US treaty, the default rule is 30% US withholding on US-source FDAP income with no treaty relief — do not assume the UK rates apply to you.

Crucially, treaty protection does not exempt your LLC from a US filing. A foreign-owned single-member US LLC is a "reportable corporation" and must file IRS Form 5472 together with a pro-forma Form 1120 every year, reporting transactions between the LLC and you as its foreign owner. This is an information return, not a tax bill — but the penalty for failing to file, or filing late or incomplete, is $25,000, as stated in the IRS Form 5472 instructions. We handle this as a $99 add-on so the deadline never slips. Separately, note that the LLC's BOI (beneficial ownership) regime is administered by FinCEN; check current FinCEN BOI guidance for whether reporting applies to foreign-owned entities at the time you file.

On the UK side, HMRC's treatment of US LLCs is genuinely nuanced and is the one place London founders should pay for advice. HMRC may treat a US LLC as either transparent (pass-through, profits taxed on you personally) or opaque (corporation-like, with its own UK corporation-tax footprint), depending on the facts. This determines how and when your profits are taxed in the UK and whether US LLC expenses flow onto your personal return. Most single-member London founders running an active service business are treated as pass-through and pay UK income tax on the profits, but confirm your specific position with a UK accountant familiar with US LLCs before your first filing. Getting this characterisation right at the outset matters because it determines your double-tax relief: where the LLC is transparent, the UK generally gives credit for any US tax actually paid, but since treaty-protected business profits usually attract no US federal tax, the practical outcome for most London service founders is a single layer of UK tax with the US side limited to the annual Form 5472 information return.

Popular use cases for London founders

• Bootstrapped SaaS — a Shoreditch or remote micro-SaaS selling monthly subscriptions to US customers, billing through Stripe US into Mercury so payouts settle next-day in dollars.
• Creative and marketing agencies — Soho and Clerkenwell studios on retainer with US brands, who need a US bank account and W-9 to clear their clients' accounts-payable systems without being flagged as a foreign vendor.
• Freelance developers and designers — contractors on Upwork, Toptal, Contra, or direct US clients, who want USD invoicing and a US entity that platforms recognise instantly.
• Content creators and info-product sellers — Substack newsletters, Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy digital products, YouTube and Patreon income, where US platforms pay in dollars and a US LLC simplifies payouts and tax forms.
• Fintech and data consultants — specialists placed through US firms who are asked for a US entity and EIN before onboarding.
• Amazon and e-commerce sellers — London sellers running Amazon US or Shopify storefronts who want US payment processing and a clean US-facing entity.

The common thread is a London founder whose customers, platforms, or clients are American and pay in dollars. The Wyoming LLC turns "overseas freelancer who happens to invoice the US" into "a US business your American counterparties already know how to pay." That single change — being a domestic counterparty rather than a foreign one — is what unlocks faster Stripe payouts, smoother AP onboarding, and the ability to hold USD rather than being force-converted on every invoice.

Step-by-step from London

London is on GMT/BST, five hours ahead of New York. Our support spans NYC and Dhaka time zones, so a question you send during your London afternoon is almost always answered the same working day — there is no overnight black hole. Here is the sequence:

1. Submit your details (London morning, Day 0). Send your name, address, and the desired LLC name. We check name availability against the Wyoming Secretary of State register. No SSN or ITIN is required.
2. Formation filed (within ~24 hours). We file the Articles of Organization under Wyoming Title 17, Chapter 29. You receive the stamped formation documents and your operating agreement as searchable PDFs.
3. EIN application (Days 1-10). We submit IRS Form SS-4 for your EIN without an SSN. For UK founders this typically lands in about 8-10 business days. The EIN is the key that unlocks banking and Stripe.
4. Open Mercury or Relay (Days 10-14). With the EIN issued, apply to Mercury using a real principal-business address (your London address is fine — not a registered-agent address). UK profiles approve at the top non-US tier, usually within 1-5 business days. Keep Relay as a fallback and add Wise Business for GBP-USD conversion.
5. Connect Stripe US and your platforms. Plug the EIN and US bank details into Stripe US, PayPal, or your marketplace. Your US clients can now pay the LLC directly in dollars.
6. File W-8BEN-E with US payers. Provide the W-8BEN-E to claim treaty-rate (0%/reduced) withholding on any US-source passive income.
7. Calendar your annual filings. Diarise the Wyoming annual report (~$160) and the Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120. We handle the 5472 as a $99 add-on so the $25,000 penalty risk never materialises.

Because the EIN step is the only one with a meaningful wait, most London founders are fully operational — formed, banked, and accepting US payments — inside about two weeks from the day they start.

Common mistakes

• Defaulting to Delaware. London founders copy the Stripe Atlas / YC default and pay ~$300/year in franchise tax for a structure that only benefits venture-track companies. Pick Wyoming unless you have a priced round imminent.
• Using a registered-agent address for Mercury. Mercury no longer accepts registered-agent addresses for the principal place of business. Use your real London address or a genuine business address, or the application stalls.
• Skipping Form 5472. The most expensive error. Treaty protection does not remove the filing requirement; a missed or late Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120 carries a $25,000 IRS penalty even when you owe $0 in tax.
• Assuming HMRC automatically treats the LLC as pass-through. HMRC may treat your US LLC as opaque, which changes your UK tax outcome. Confirm your treatment with a UK accountant before your first filing rather than guessing.
• Forgetting UK VAT. If you sell to UK consumers above the ~£90,000 threshold, UK VAT can apply regardless of which entity invoices. The US LLC does not make the VAT question go away.
• Force-converting every dollar on arrival. Letting your client's payment auto-convert to GBP burns the spread. Hold USD in Mercury and convert via Wise only when you need sterling.