Yes, a foreigner can open an LLC in the US. You do not need to be a citizen, a green card holder, or even physically present in the country. Every state allows non-residents to form and fully own a Limited Liability Company, and the entire process, from filing the paperwork to getting a federal tax ID and opening a bank account, can be done from abroad. What matters is following the specific steps in the right order and understanding the tax filings that come with foreign ownership, because the penalties for missing them are severe.
Pick a State and File the Formation Paperwork
An LLC is created under one state’s laws, and you can pick any state regardless of where you live. Wyoming and Delaware draw a large share of foreign founders because of low fees and settled business law, but the better question is where your customers are. If most of your sales happen in one state, forming there avoids having to also register as a “foreign LLC” in that state on top of your home-state filing.
To create the entity, you file a document usually called Articles of Organization, or Certificate of Formation in some states, with the Secretary of State. Filing is generally available online or by mail. The form asks for the LLC’s name, the name and physical street address of a registered agent, and sometimes a short description of the business purpose. A filing fee is due when you submit. Once the state processes the filing, it issues a certificate confirming the LLC exists.
Appoint a Registered Agent
Every LLC needs a registered agent: a person or company with a physical street address in the formation state who is available during business hours to accept legal documents and official mail. A P.O. box or mailing service doesn’t qualify. The agent’s job is to make sure lawsuits and state notices actually reach you.
Foreign owners almost always hire a commercial registered agent service, which typically costs roughly $50 to $300 per year. This is one of the recurring costs of keeping a U.S. LLC in good standing, and there is no way around it if you don’t have your own address in the state.
Get an EIN Without a Social Security Number
After the LLC exists on paper, you need an Employer Identification Number from the IRS. The EIN is your federal tax ID, and you will use it to open a bank account, file returns, and hire anyone. The IRS issues EINs for free.1Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
The catch: the IRS online application requires the “responsible party” to have a Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. If you have neither, the online system will not work for you.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 Instead, complete Form SS-4 and submit it through one of these routes:
- Phone, the fastest option. Call the IRS international line at 267-941-1099 (not toll-free), Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time. The caller must be authorized to receive the EIN and answer questions about the form. An EIN can be issued during the call.
- Fax. Send the completed SS-4 to 304-707-9471 from outside the United States, and include your fax number so the IRS can send the EIN back.
- Mail. Send Form SS-4 to Internal Revenue Service, Attn: EIN International Operation, Cincinnati, OH 45999. Expect about four weeks.
On the form, where it asks for a taxpayer identification number for the responsible party, write “Foreign” if you don’t have an SSN or ITIN.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4
An ITIN is a separate number you’ll likely need later, when it’s time to file your personal U.S. tax return reporting income from the business. You don’t need one to form the LLC or to get the EIN. You apply for it by submitting Form W-7 with a federal tax return and identity documents, typically a passport. Processing runs about seven weeks, or nine to eleven weeks during tax season or from overseas.3Internal Revenue Service. How to Apply for an ITIN A Certifying Acceptance Agent can review your original passport in person and certify copies for you, so you don’t have to mail the actual document to the IRS.4Internal Revenue Service. ITIN Acceptance Agent Program
Open a U.S. Business Bank Account
Keeping the LLC’s money separate from your personal funds is not just tidy bookkeeping. Mixing the two is one of the fastest ways a court will “pierce the veil” and hold you personally liable for business debts, which defeats the purpose of forming an LLC.
Banks generally ask a foreign owner for:
- The approved Articles of Organization or Certificate of Formation
- The EIN confirmation letter (IRS Letter CP 575)
- An operating agreement (banks routinely require one, even where the state does not)
- A valid foreign passport for each owner
The traditional obstacle has been the in-person branch visit, driven by anti-money-laundering “Know Your Customer” rules, and many banks still require it. A growing group of online-focused banks and fintech platforms now let non-residents open business accounts remotely through digital identity verification, though approval standards vary and some ask for extra documentation.
Because banks expect an operating agreement, draft one even if your state doesn’t legally require it. The document sets out ownership percentages, how profits are split, how decisions get made, and what happens if an owner leaves. Even for a single-member LLC, a simple written agreement documenting capital contributions and distributions helps preserve limited liability protection.
Federal Tax Filings You Cannot Miss
This is where foreign-owned LLCs face the steepest penalties for mistakes. What you owe depends on how the LLC is structured and whether its income is connected to a U.S. business.
Form 5472 and the Pro Forma 1120
A single-member LLC owned by a foreign person is treated as a “disregarded entity” for federal tax purposes and has no separate income tax return of its own. It still has to file Form 5472 every year to report transactions between the LLC and its foreign owner, including capital contributions, distributions, loans, and payments for services. The 5472 is attached to a simplified (pro forma) Form 1120 that carries only the LLC’s name, address, and a couple of identifying items, with “Foreign-owned U.S. DE” written across the top.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5472
The filing is due by April 15 for calendar-year filers, with a six-month extension available through Form 7004. The penalty for not filing, or for filing something substantially incomplete, is $25,000 per form per year. If the failure continues more than 90 days after IRS notification, another $25,000 penalty accrues for each additional 30-day period.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6038A – Information With Respect to Certain Foreign-Owned Corporations This is the filing foreign owners most commonly miss.
Income Tax on U.S. Business Profits
If the LLC earns income effectively connected to a U.S. trade or business, that income is taxed at the same graduated rates that apply to U.S. citizens, after allowable deductions.7Internal Revenue Service. Effectively Connected Income (ECI) A multi-member LLC taxed as a partnership must withhold on each foreign partner’s share of effectively connected income at 37% for individual partners and 21% for corporate partners.8Internal Revenue Service. Partnership Withholding
U.S.-source income that isn’t connected to a trade or business, such as interest, dividends, or royalties, faces a flat 30% withholding tax unless a tax treaty between the U.S. and your country reduces it.9Internal Revenue Service. Tax Withholding Types Checking whether your country has a treaty with the U.S. is worth doing early.
State and Sales Taxes
State income or franchise taxes may apply depending on where you do business, and some states charge a minimum annual tax whether or not the LLC earned anything. If you sell taxable goods or services into a state, you may have to collect and remit sales tax once you cross that state’s economic nexus threshold. A common threshold is $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions in a state during the year, though the exact rule varies. Marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy usually handle sales tax collection for you.
Keeping the LLC in Good Standing
Most states require an annual or biennial report with the Secretary of State updating the business address, registered agent, and member names. Fees and deadlines differ by state. Miss the report and the state can revoke your good standing, which blocks you from enforcing contracts and using the courts, and in some states leads to administrative dissolution. Combined with your registered agent fee and any minimum franchise tax, this is the baseline yearly cost of keeping a U.S. LLC alive even when it isn’t earning revenue.
One filing you can currently set aside: the Beneficial Ownership Information report under the Corporate Transparency Act. Under FinCEN’s interim final rule issued in March 2025, entities created in the United States are exempt from BOI reporting, and that includes foreign-owned U.S. LLCs.10FinCEN. Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Only companies formed under foreign law and registered to do business in the U.S. still have to file. FinCEN has signaled it may issue a revised final rule, so checking the BOI page periodically is worth the minute it takes.
Owning an LLC Does Not Let You Work in the US
This is the boundary most often misunderstood. Forming and owning a U.S. LLC gives you no immigration status. You can run the company remotely from your home country without any visa. But if you want to physically enter the United States and work in the business, you need a separate work visa.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Options for Alien Entrepreneurs to Work in the United States
The two categories that come up most for LLC owners are the E-2 Treaty Investor visa, available only to nationals of countries with a qualifying commerce treaty who make a substantial investment in a real, operating business,12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. E-2 Treaty Investors and the L-1 Intracompany Transferee visa, for owners transferring themselves from an existing foreign company to a related U.S. entity.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. L-1A Intracompany Transferee Executive or Manager Other pathways exist, including the International Entrepreneur Rule for founders of high-growth startups with significant U.S. investment or government funding.14U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Nonimmigrant or Parole Pathways for Entrepreneur Employment in the United States Getting the visa question wrong can result in denied entry or bars on future applications, so working with an immigration attorney if you plan to relocate is worth the cost.