Yes — if you live in Colombia you can form a Wyoming LLC entirely online, with no US visit, no US partner, and no US address of your own. Through WyomingLLC the all-inclusive price is $397 (the Wyoming state filing fee is already included), formation completes in about 24 hours, and your EIN and US bank account follow over the next few weeks.
Why a Wyoming LLC for Colombia founders
For a founder in Bogota, Medellin, Cali, or Barranquilla selling to clients abroad, a Wyoming LLC solves a specific set of problems that a Colombian S.A.S. cannot. The biggest one is getting paid. International clients, Stripe, PayPal, Amazon, Upwork, and US SaaS marketplaces all process payments to a US entity with a US bank account far more smoothly than to a Colombian account, and they do it without the COP conversion friction, the 4x1000 financial-transaction tax, or the delays that come with receiving USD into a Colombian bank. A US LLC gives you a clean USD rail your customers already trust.
The second reason is tax structure, not tax evasion. A US LLC owned by a non-US person is a pass-through entity. The LLC itself pays no US federal income tax. As long as your income is not effectively connected to a US trade or business — meaning you have no US office, no US employees, and no dependent agent operating inside the United States — the US does not tax that income at the entity level. Your profit flows to you in Colombia, where it is taxed under Colombian rules. You are not creating a second layer of corporate tax; you are creating a clean billing vehicle.
Third is privacy. Wyoming does not publish member or manager names in its public business filings. The Wyoming Secretary of State record shows your registered agent, not your home address in Colombia. For a solo founder who does not want clients and competitors pulling up personal details, this matters.
Fourth is asset protection. Wyoming's charging-order protection is widely regarded as the strongest in the United States, and for a single-member LLC the statute (Wyo. Stat. 17-29-503) explicitly extends charging-order treatment as the exclusive creditor remedy. A creditor pursuing a personal debt generally cannot seize the LLC or force a sale of its assets.
Fifth is cost and speed. There is no minimum capital requirement, no notary, no apostille, and no in-person appearance. You need a passport. Formation is typically done within 24 hours of filing, which is faster and cheaper than incorporating and capitalizing most local entities.
Finally, a Wyoming LLC gives you a credible US business identity that opens doors a Colombian S.A.S. often cannot. Many US wholesalers, dropship suppliers, SaaS partner programs, and B2B platforms either require a US entity and EIN or simply onboard a US LLC faster. For founders planning to scale into the US market, raise from US angels, or eventually sell the business, starting on a US LLC means you are not forced into a costly cross-border restructuring later — you are already on the right foundation, in a low-friction state with no state income tax and a well-developed body of LLC case law.
Cost from Colombia
The price is flat and transparent. There is no hidden state-fee surcharge — Wyoming's $100 filing fee is already inside the $397.
| Item | Year 1 | Year 2 onward |
|---|---|---|
| Wyoming state filing fee (included) | $0 extra | — |
| Formation + registered agent (1 yr) | included in $397 | — |
| EIN (Federal Tax ID) | included | — |
| US business bank account setup help | included | — |
| Operating agreement | included | — |
| All-inclusive total | $397 | — |
| Wyoming annual report (state) | — | ~$60 |
| Registered agent renewal | — | ~$100 |
| Estimated year-2 recurring | — | ~$160 |
Optional add-on: an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) is a separate $297 if you need one — for example to claim certain treaty benefits or satisfy a payment platform. Most Colombian single-member-LLC owners do not need an ITIN to operate; the LLC's EIN handles banking and filings. Note that converting USD profit into Colombian pesos through your local bank may trigger Colombia's 4x1000 (GMF) financial-transaction tax and FX reporting — that is a Colombian-side cost, separate from the LLC.
Banking after formation from Colombia
This is the step that requires the most realism, because Mercury and Relay both tightened non-resident approvals through 2025 and into 2026. The good news: Colombia is not on any prohibited list at the major providers, and Colombian founders continue to get approved. The bad news: approval is no longer automatic, and a sloppy application gets declined.
What the platforms actually check:
- A real EIN. They will not open an account on a pending application; you need the issued EIN letter.
- A genuine US business address — not a registered-agent address. Mercury and Relay stopped accepting registered-agent addresses as the LLC's operating address in 2025, and many non-residents are now declined specifically for using one. Use a real virtual-business-address / mail-forwarding address (iPostal1, Stable, etc.), not your registered agent's address.
- A coherent business story. A live website, a clear description of what you sell and to whom, and matching activity. "Consulting" with no website and no clients is a red flag.
- Your passport and proof of your Colombian residential address (a utility bill or bank statement in your name).
Recommended fallback order for a Colombia founder:
- Mercury — best product (no monthly fee, virtual cards, good UX). Apply first. Use a non-registered-agent US address and a working website. Approvals for Colombian founders are common but not guaranteed for brand-new, no-revenue entities.
- Relay — very similar profile and a reasonable second attempt if Mercury declines.
- Wise Business — the reliable safety net. Wise is a money-services business rather than a chartered bank, but it has the broadest country coverage including Colombia, gives you USD/EUR/GBP receiving details, and is the most predictable approval for a new Colombian-owned LLC. Many founders run Wise as their primary account and treat Mercury as the upgrade.
- Payoneer — useful as a marketplace-payout receiver (Amazon, Upwork) layered on top.
Practical tip: do not apply to all three the same week. Get Mercury's decision first; if declined, fix the flagged issue (usually the address) before moving on, because a clean reapplication beats three rushed rejections.
Tax: US and Colombia
US-side, verified. There is no income-tax treaty in force between the United States and Colombia. The IRS treaty index (United States Income Tax Treaties — A to Z) does not list Colombia, and no bilateral US-Colombia income-tax convention has entered into force. The two countries have only a Tax Information Exchange framework, not a double-tax treaty. The practical consequence: there is no reduced treaty rate for Colombian owners. Any US-source FDAP income (passive income such as US dividends, certain royalties, or US-source interest) is subject to the statutory 30% US withholding — there is no treaty to lower it. Most service and e-commerce founders selling to non-US or to US customers as foreign-source service income are not generating US-source FDAP, so this withholding often does not bite; but do not expect treaty relief, because none exists.
Federal filing that does apply to you. A foreign-owned, single-member US LLC is a "disregarded entity" treated as a foreign-owned domestic disregarded entity, and it must file IRS Form 5472 together with a pro-forma Form 1120 every year, reporting reportable transactions between you and the LLC (capital you put in, distributions you take out, etc.). This is an information return, not a tax bill — but the penalty for failing to file, filing late, or filing incompletely is $25,000 per the IRS Form 5472 instructions. Treat this as non-optional. If your LLC has US Effectively Connected Income (ECI) — a US office, US staff, or a US-based dependent agent — then you also owe US tax on that ECI and file Form 1040-NR. Pure offshore service income with no US nexus is generally no-ECI and creates no US income tax, only the 5472 information return.
Note on BOI: per FinCEN's March 26, 2025 Interim Final Rule, domestic US entities — including US-formed Wyoming LLCs — are exempt from Beneficial Ownership Information reporting. As a Colombian owner of a Wyoming LLC you currently have no FinCEN BOI filing.
Colombia-side — read this carefully. Colombia taxes its tax residents on worldwide income, and it has a Controlled Foreign Entity regime (Entidades Controladas del Exterior, "ECE") introduced by Law 1819 of 2016. If you are a Colombian tax resident and you control a foreign entity (broadly, 10%+ participation), the regime can attribute the entity's passive income (dividends, interest, royalties, certain services among related parties) to you and tax it in Colombia in the year it is earned — even before you distribute it. Active business income generally falls outside ECE attribution, but your US LLC's profits, and your foreign assets, must be reported. Colombian residents also file the annual declaración de activos en el exterior (foreign-assets declaration) with the DIAN. Do not assume the US LLC is invisible to Colombia — DIAN receives cross-border financial information. Use a Colombian contador who knows the ECE rules to classify your income correctly.
Sources: IRS — United States Income Tax Treaties A to Z (no Colombia treaty); IRS Form 5472 instructions ($25,000 penalty); FinCEN March 26, 2025 Interim Final Rule (domestic-entity BOI exemption); Colombia DIAN / Law 1819 of 2016 (ECE regime). None of this is individualized tax advice — confirm with a US CPA and a Colombian contador.
Popular use cases for Colombia founders
The Wyoming LLC fits Colombian founders whose revenue comes from outside Colombia or from US-facing platforms:
- Freelancing and remote contracting. Developers, designers, and marketers billing US and European clients through Upwork, Toptal, or direct invoices. A US LLC with a US bank account looks like a vendor, not a personal account, and clears AP departments faster.
- Consulting and agencies. Bogota and Medellin have strong pools of growth-marketing, design, and software agencies serving North American clients. Invoicing in USD from a US entity removes the "can we even pay a Colombian company?" objection.
- SaaS and digital products. A US LLC is the cleanest home for a Stripe account, app-store payouts, and subscription billing, and it makes a future US fundraise or acquisition far simpler than starting from an S.A.S.
- E-commerce. Amazon (US, especially via the growing seller base out of Colombia), Shopify, and print-on-demand sellers who need a US entity for the marketplace, US payment processing, and US supplier relationships.
- Affiliate, content, and creator income. YouTube, ad networks, and affiliate programs that prefer paying a US entity into a US/Wise account.
The common thread: customers and platforms are outside Colombia, revenue is in USD, and you want a stable, trusted billing layer without setting up physical operations in the US. For purely domestic Colombian business, a local S.A.S. usually remains the right tool — the Wyoming LLC is for your cross-border revenue.
Step-by-step: forming from Colombia
- Choose your LLC name. Pick a name ending in "LLC" and check availability on the Wyoming Secretary of State business-name database. Avoid restricted words (bank, insurance, trust). We confirm availability before filing.
- Appoint a Wyoming registered agent. Wyoming law requires every LLC to maintain a registered agent with a physical Wyoming address. This is included in your $397 — you do not need a US presence of your own.
- File the Articles of Organization. We submit the Articles to the Wyoming Secretary of State. Filing is typically processed within about 24 hours. Wyoming does not list members publicly, so your name stays off the public record.
- Get your EIN via Form SS-4. Because you have no SSN or ITIN, the EIN cannot be requested online — it is obtained by submitting Form SS-4 to the IRS (by fax/mail), with line 7b handled for a non-US responsible party. This typically takes 8–10 business days. The EIN is what banks and platforms require.
- Sign your operating agreement. Even a single-member LLC should have one — it documents ownership, sole-member control, and management. It is included, and banks frequently ask to see it.
- Set up a US business address (not the registered-agent address). Add a real virtual-business address before banking, since Mercury and Relay reject registered-agent addresses.
- Open the bank account. With EIN letter, Articles, operating agreement, passport, and your business address, apply to Mercury first, then Relay, with Wise Business as the reliable fallback. Plan for 8–10 business days after the EIN.
- Stay compliant. File the Wyoming annual report (~$60) each year, file Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120 annually, and handle your Colombian ECE / foreign-assets reporting with a local contador.
End to end, expect roughly 3–4 weeks from order to a fully operational, bankable US LLC. The longest single wait is the EIN, because non-US founders cannot use the IRS online tool and must go through the Form SS-4 fax/mail channel. Nothing in this sequence requires you to leave Colombia, sign in front of a US notary, or apostille any document — your passport plus the information we collect is enough to file the Articles, request the EIN, and prepare your operating agreement. If a platform later asks for an ITIN (a few do for tax forms), you can add it after formation; it is not a prerequisite for forming the LLC or opening Mercury, Relay, or Wise.
Common mistakes Colombia founders make
- Using the registered-agent address as the bank address. This is now the single most common reason Colombian founders get declined by Mercury and Relay. Always use a separate virtual-business address for banking.
- Assuming a tax treaty exists. It does not. There is no US-Colombia income-tax treaty, so do not plan around a reduced withholding rate on US-source income — the default 30% applies to US-source FDAP.
- Ignoring Form 5472. Many founders never hear about it until a $25,000 penalty notice. Foreign-owned single-member LLCs must file 5472 + pro-forma 1120 every year, even with zero US tax due and even with no activity.
- Forgetting Colombia's ECE and foreign-asset reporting. The US LLC is not invisible to DIAN. Colombian residents must report foreign assets and may have passive income attributed under the ECE regime. Get a Colombian contador early.
- Applying to all three banks at once. A burst of rejections is harder to recover from than one clean, well-prepared application. Apply to Mercury first, fix any flagged issue, then proceed.
- Skipping the operating agreement. Banks ask for it, and it strengthens the liability separation between you and the LLC.
- Mixing personal and business money. Run all LLC income and expenses through the LLC account; commingling weakens both your asset protection and your bookkeeping for the 5472.