If you are a non-US founder weighing a Wyoming LLC against a New York LLC, the honest answer is that Wyoming wins for the overwhelming majority of people who do not actually live or operate in New York, and it is not close. New York is one of the most expensive and most paperwork-heavy states in the country to form and maintain an LLC, largely because of a publication requirement that exists in almost no other state and that can cost more than ten times the entire Wyoming setup. This guide walks through exactly why, where New York genuinely makes sense, what the real five-year cost looks like at different revenue levels, and how the federal tax picture (Form 5472, treaty relief, banking) actually works for someone living abroad.
Why Wyoming wins for non-residents
For a founder who lives outside the United States and has no New York customers, employees, office, or property, New York imposes a long list of costs and obligations that produce no corresponding benefit. The single biggest one is the publication requirement. Under New York Limited Liability Company Law Section 206, every new LLC must publish a notice of formation in two newspapers — one daily, one weekly — designated by the county clerk of the county listed in the Articles of Organization, for six consecutive weeks, within 120 days of formation. You then file a Certificate of Publication with the New York Department of State for a $50 fee. The newspaper costs alone run roughly $300–$600 in cheap upstate counties and $1,200–$2,000+ in Manhattan, where many registered-agent addresses sit (New York Department of State, "Certificate of Publication"). Miss the 120-day window and your LLC's authority to do business in the state is suspended.
Wyoming has nothing like this. Wyoming does not require publication, does not levy a state income tax, does not charge a franchise tax, and its annual fee is the $60 minimum license tax (the greater of $60 or $0.0002 of Wyoming-located assets, per W.S. 17-29-209 — and a non-resident's LLC almost never holds Wyoming-located assets, so it stays at $60) (Wyoming Secretary of State, Business Division).
Privacy is the second major gap. Wyoming does not list LLC members or managers in the public formation record. New York's Articles of Organization are a public record, and while New York no longer forces you to name members in the Articles themselves, the publication notice and the public filing trail expose far more than Wyoming's stripped-down public record does.
Third is the federal-tax neutrality point that founders frequently get wrong: your US federal tax outcome is identical whether you pick Wyoming or New York. State choice does not change your Form 5472 obligation, your treaty position, or your effectively-connected-income analysis. So when New York adds state-level cost and friction with no federal upside, you are simply paying more for the same federal result. For a non-resident with no New York nexus, that is money burned. Wyoming delivers the identical federal LLC at a fraction of the lifetime cost, which is why it has become the default hub for non-resident founders using Mercury, Relay, Wise, and Payoneer.
When New York genuinely wins
Honesty matters here, because there are real cases where New York is the correct choice — and forming in Wyoming instead would be a mistake that costs you more than the publication fee ever would.
If you have genuine New York nexus, you should form in New York. "Nexus" means you are physically doing business in the state: you have an office or co-working space in New York, you have employees or contractors working from New York, you store inventory there, you hold New York real estate, or you are personally living in New York while running the company. In those situations a Wyoming LLC does not let you escape New York. You would have to register the Wyoming LLC as a foreign LLC in New York anyway — and foreign LLCs face the same publication requirement plus a second set of filing fees. You would pay for two states and still owe New York tax on New York-source income. That is strictly worse than just forming in New York once.
New York also wins on ecosystem for certain businesses. If you are raising venture capital from New York funds, building a fintech that needs a New York banking or BitLicense relationship, working in fashion, media, advertising, or real estate where being a "New York company" carries weight, or you expect to lease commercial space in the city, a New York entity can be the right call despite the cost. The credibility and proximity can outweigh the fees.
Finally, if you are a US person already filing a New York resident return, the analysis changes entirely — New York will tax your worldwide income regardless of where the LLC is formed, so a Wyoming LLC saves you nothing on the income-tax side and adds a foreign-registration headache. The rule of thumb: form where you actually operate. New York wins precisely when New York is where the business really lives.
One more honest caveat: if you anticipate suing or being sued in New York courts, holding a New York entity can simplify jurisdiction and service of process. For most non-resident e-commerce, SaaS, agency, and consulting founders, none of these New York-specific advantages apply, which is why Wyoming remains the default. But the analysis should be done deliberately rather than assumed — the cheapest state on paper is not always the cheapest once you account for where your customers, contracts, and disputes actually sit.
Real 5-year total-cost projection
The table below models the true five-year cost for a single-member, foreign-owned LLC treated as a disregarded entity, comparing Wyoming against New York. The critical variable is whether the LLC has New York-source income. A non-resident with no New York presence and no New York customers generally has no New York-source income and therefore owes no New York State personal income tax and no IT-204-LL filing fee. A founder who does operate in New York owes graduated New York State income tax (3.9%–10.9% for 2026) on the New York-source portion, plus the IT-204-LL annual filing fee (New York Department of Taxation and Finance, "Partnership, LLC, and LLP annual filing fee").
Verified 2026 New York figures used below:
- Articles of Organization filing fee: $200, one-time (NY DOS).
- Publication: newspaper cost $300–$2,000+ depending on county, one-time, plus a $50 Certificate of Publication filing fee.
- Biennial Statement: $9 every two years (not annual; LLC Law §301(e)) — NY has no traditional annual report.
- IT-204-LL annual filing fee: flat $25 for a disregarded entity that has any New York-source income; $0 if no New York-source income.
- New York State income tax: none without New York-source income; 3.9%–10.9% graduated on New York-source income if you operate there.
- New York LLC franchise tax: $0 — New York imposes no franchise tax on LLCs (the franchise tax applies to corporations).
- Public disclosure: Articles are public; publication notice is public.
| Scenario (5-year total) | Wyoming LLC | New York LLC — NO NY-source income | New York LLC — operating in NY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formation (Year 1, state fees only) | $100 WY filing | $200 + ~$800 publication + $50 cert = ~$1,050 | $200 + ~$800 publication + $50 cert = ~$1,050 |
| Annual/biennial state maintenance (5 yrs) | $60 × 5 = $300 | $9 × ~2.5 biennial cycles ≈ $27 | $27 biennial + $25 × 5 IT-204-LL = $152 |
| State income tax @ $0 revenue | $0 | $0 | $0 (no profit) |
| State income tax @ $50K NY profit/yr | $0 | $0 (no NY source) | ~$2,800/yr × 5 ≈ $14,000 |
| State income tax @ $100K NY profit/yr | $0 | $0 (no NY source) | ~$5,800/yr × 5 ≈ $29,000 |
| State income tax @ $250K NY profit/yr | $0 | $0 (no NY source) | ~$15,000/yr × 5 ≈ $75,000 |
| Franchise/gross-receipts tax | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| 5-yr total at $0 revenue | ~$400 | ~$1,077 | ~$1,202 |
| 5-yr total at $100K NY profit | ~$400 | ~$1,077 | ~$30,200 |
The takeaway: Wyoming is flat and predictable at roughly $400 over five years regardless of revenue. New York with no New York-source income is dominated by the one-time ~$1,050 publication hit and stays around $1,100. But the moment you actually operate in New York, the graduated state income tax scales aggressively — a profitable New York business can pay tens of thousands more over five years. New York's cost is not the franchise tax (there isn't one for LLCs); it is the publication requirement up front and the income tax once you have real New York-source profit. (Income-tax figures are illustrative estimates on net New York-source income for a single non-resident filer using 2026 brackets; actual liability depends on deductions, allocation on Form IT-203, and treaty positions.)
For non-residents specifically
State choice barely moves the needle compared to the federal rules that govern every foreign-owned US LLC. Here is what actually matters when you live abroad.
Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120. A foreign-owned single-member LLC treated as a disregarded entity must file Form 5472 attached to a pro-forma Form 1120 every year that it has a "reportable transaction" with its foreign owner — which includes the capital you contribute and money you take out, so in practice almost every year. The LLC owes no corporate tax; the 1120 here is just a cover page. But the penalty for failing to file, filing late, or filing incomplete is $25,000, with an additional $25,000 if you don't fix it within 90 days of IRS notice, and there is no statute of limitations (IRS, "Instructions for Form 5472"). These returns cannot be e-filed by a disregarded entity; they go by mail or fax to the IRS Ogden, Utah service center. This obligation is identical in Wyoming and New York.
Banking. US business banking is built around your EIN, formation documents, and operating agreement — not your state of formation per se — but Wyoming LLCs are a well-worn path that fintech banks like Mercury, Relay, and Wise/Payoneer recognize instantly. A New York LLC banks fine too, but it carries no advantage here and the formation paperwork takes longer because of publication.
Privacy and asset protection. Wyoming offers the strongest LLC charging-order protection in the US (the charging order is the sole remedy a creditor can reach, including for single-member LLCs) and does not publish member identities. New York's protection is weaker and its filings more public.
Tax-treaty relief. Whether you owe US tax at all turns on whether your income is effectively connected income (ECI) from a US trade or business, and whether your country has an income tax treaty with the US that provides a "permanent establishment" threshold (IRS, "Effectively Connected Income (ECI)"; IRS Tax Treaty Tables). If you have no US office, no US employees, and no dependent agent in the US, many treaties let you avoid US federal income tax on business profits — but you still file Form 5472. This treaty analysis is federal and does not change between Wyoming and New York; only New York's separate state-source rules add a layer if you operate there.
Payment-platform reporting. A point of frequent confusion: the planned $600 Form 1099-K reporting threshold was repealed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and the threshold reverts to the long-standing rule of more than $20,000 in gross payments AND more than 200 transactions in a calendar year. This matters for founders selling through Stripe, PayPal, Amazon, Etsy, or similar platforms: receiving a 1099-K is an information report to the IRS, not a tax bill, and it does not change your underlying ECI or treaty analysis. Whether you receive one or not, your obligation to file Form 5472 and to correctly report any effectively connected income is unchanged. Again, this is federal and identical in Wyoming and New York.
Step-by-step: forming from abroad
You do not need to be in the United States, hold a US visa, or have an SSN to form and run a US LLC. The process from abroad looks like this:
- Pick the state and name. For most non-residents that is Wyoming. Confirm name availability and choose your LLC name.
- Appoint a registered agent. Every state requires a registered agent with a physical in-state address. With WyomingLLC.xyz this is included in the $397 all-inclusive package, which also includes the Wyoming state filing fee — there is no separate state fee to pay on top.
- File the formation document. The Articles of Organization are filed with the Wyoming Secretary of State. (In New York, you would file Articles with the NY Department of State for $200 and then begin the 120-day publication clock — a step Wyoming does not have.)
- Get your EIN from the IRS. Without an SSN or ITIN, you cannot apply online; you complete Form SS-4 and submit it by fax or mail. The IRS issues the EIN to a "responsible party" who can be a non-resident. This typically takes a few days to a few weeks by fax. WyomingLLC.xyz handles the SS-4 for you.
- Decide on an ITIN if you need one. You do not need an ITIN to form the LLC or to get an EIN. You may need one later for certain tax filings or some banking situations. WyomingLLC.xyz offers ITIN as a separate $297 add-on.
- Sign an operating agreement. Banks ask for it; it also documents ownership and the charging-order protection.
- Open a US business bank account. Mercury, Relay, Wise, and Payoneer accept non-resident-owned LLCs remotely with your EIN, formation docs, and ID.
- Calendar your federal filings. Mark Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120 (due the 15th day of the 4th month after year-end, or the 6th month if you have no US office), and confirm whether you have any state-source income.
The whole process is routinely done entirely online and by mail from another country, with no US travel required.
Common mistakes
Forming in Wyoming while actually operating in New York. This is the most expensive error. If you have a New York office, employees, or are personally based in New York, the Wyoming LLC must register as a foreign LLC in New York — triggering the same publication requirement plus a second filing fee — and you still owe New York tax on New York-source income. You end up paying for two states. Form where you operate.
Skipping or missing New York's publication requirement. Founders who do form in New York often forget the 120-day publication window. Miss it and the state suspends your LLC's authority to do business, and curing it later is messier and no cheaper.
Treating the LLC's $0 tax as "no filing." A foreign-owned single-member LLC owing zero US income tax still must file Form 5472 with a pro-forma 1120. The zero-tax LLC and the $25,000 penalty coexist — silence is the trap.
Assuming the state choice changes your federal taxes. It does not. Your Form 5472 duty, ECI analysis, and treaty position are federal and identical in every state.
Confusing New York's fees. New York has no LLC franchise tax and no annual report; it has a $9 biennial statement and a separate $25 IT-204-LL filing fee that only applies if you have New York-source income. Founders who budget for a "New York franchise tax" or an annual report are modeling the wrong state. The real New York cost is the one-time publication and, if you operate there, the graduated income tax.
Sources: New York Department of State (Articles of Organization; Certificate of Publication; Biennial Statements); New York State Department of Taxation and Finance ("Partnership, LLC, and LLP annual filing fee"; nonresident filing, Form IT-203); IRS ("Instructions for Form 5472"; "Effectively Connected Income (ECI)"; Tax Treaty Tables); Wyoming Secretary of State, Business Division (annual report license tax, W.S. 17-29-209).