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Which state should you form your LLC in if you live abroad? Wyoming, New Mexico, Delaware, Florida or North Carolina

Q: What is the cheapest state to keep an LLC every year?

New Mexico. It costs $50 to form and $0 to the state each year, because its LLC Act requires no annual report and no annual tax. Wyoming follows at $60 a year. In both you still need a registered agent, a private service paid every year, and Form 5472 is due every April 15 even though the state asks for nothing.

By Katiuska Bustillos, founder and tax preparer Reviewed by Katiuska Bustillos Published: October 1, 2026 Updated: October 1, 2026

Fees and deadlines checked on September 24, 2026 on each Secretary of State's official website. State fees change: check them again before you form.

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Short answer

If you live outside the U.S. and your LLC will have no office, employees or warehouse in any state, the state barely changes your federal taxes: Form 5472 and the pro forma 1120 are the same in all 50. What changes is what you pay the state every year: with today's official figures, $0 in New Mexico, $60 in Wyoming, $138.75 in Florida, $200 in North Carolina and $400 in Delaware, plus a registered agent. The state does matter if the LLC will operate in another state: you would have to register there too and pay both.

Not sure whether your LLC has to file Form 5472? Take the free test (1 minute) →

What the state changes and what it doesn't

Most comparisons look at what it costs to form the LLC. From an accountant's point of view, what matters is what it costs to keep it every year and the paperwork that comes with it. Formation is paid once; everything else is paid for as long as the LLC exists, active or not.

For a single-member LLC whose owner lives abroad, the state decides three things:

How much you pay to form it.
What you file and pay the state every year: an annual report, a flat annual tax, or nothing.
Which names are visible in the public record.

Some things do not change: the EIN, Form 5472 with its pro forma 1120, the April 15 deadline and the $25,000 penalty are the same in every state. Preparing your federal filings takes the same work for a Wyoming LLC as for a Delaware one.

Comparison: forming it and keeping it

Figures checked on September 24, 2026 on each Secretary of State's official website (links at the end). These are state fees only, without the registered agent.

State	Formation	Annual report	Flat annual fee or tax	Minimum paid to the state each year
Wyoming	$100	Yes. Due on the 1st day of the month the LLC was formed	Paid with the report (license tax): $60 or 0.02% of the LLC's assets in Wyoming, whichever is greater	$60
New Mexico	$50	No	No	$0
Delaware	$110	No	$400 annual tax, due June 1 for the prior year	$400
Florida	$125 ($100 + $25 registered agent designation)	Yes. By May 1: $138.75; after that, $538.75	No	$138.75
North Carolina	$125	Yes. By April 15, starting the year after formation: $200	No, unless the LLC elects to be taxed as a corporation	$200

On top of this, add the registered agent, which is required in all five states. It is a private service and the state does not set its price: ask before you form, because you pay it every year.

The real yearly cost

Ranked by what they cost to keep, not to form:

New Mexico: $50 to form and nothing to the state afterwards. You only pay the registered agent.
Wyoming: $100 to form and $60 a year as long as the LLC's assets in Wyoming do not exceed $300,000.
Florida: $125 to form and $138.75 a year. If the report comes in after May 1, you pay $538.75.
North Carolina: $125 to form and $200 a year.
Delaware: $110 to form and $400 a year, even with no activity. Delaware does not prorate: if the LLC is active on any day of the year, the full tax for that year is due.

Everything else (bookkeeping, Form 5472, the EIN, banking) costs the same wherever the LLC is formed. So when someone says a state “saves you taxes,” ask which ones: for an LLC with no presence in any state, what you usually save are state fees.

State by state, briefly

Wyoming. $100 to form, online at wyobiz.wyo.gov or by mail. The annual report is due on the first day of the anniversary month: if you formed the LLC in March, every March 1. The license tax is paid with it. If it is not filed within 60 days, the Secretary of State dissolves the LLC. The reinstatement fee is $100, or $350 if the LLC was left without a registered agent.

New Mexico. $50 to form, and all business filings are online: the Secretary of State no longer accepts paper. New Mexico's LLC Act requires no annual report and no annual tax, and the articles do not have to name the members. The flip side: you still need a registered agent in the state and, because the state asks for nothing each year, nobody reminds you of your federal filings. Form 5472 is due all the same.

Delaware. $110 to form (Certificate of Formation). LLCs file no annual report, but they pay a flat $400 annual tax by June 1 for the prior year. A 2026 law (HB 400) raised it from $300 to $400, effective January 1, 2026. Late payment brings a $200 penalty plus 1.5% interest per month. Delaware tends to make sense with investors or several members with complex agreements; for a one-owner LLC selling services, it rarely does.

Florida. $125 to form: $100 for the Articles of Organization and $25 to designate the registered agent. The annual report is $138.75 if filed by May 1; after that, a $400 late fee is added. If it is not filed by the third Friday of September, the LLC is administratively dissolved.

North Carolina. $125 to form and a $200 annual report due April 15. This is where our firm is based; we walk through it step by step in our North Carolina LLC guide.

Why the state barely changes your federal taxes

For the IRS, a single-member LLC is by default a disregarded entity, whatever state it was formed in. If the owner is foreign, the LLC files Form 5472 with a pro forma 1120 every year there were transactions with its owner: same form, same fax number, same deadline and same penalty in all 50 states.

Your federal income tax as a non-resident does not depend on the state either. The IRS taxes non-residents on income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business (at the regular graduated rates) and on certain U.S.-source income known as FDAP (at 30% or a lower treaty rate). Whether you have effectively connected income depends on what your LLC does and where, not on where it is registered. We cover this in our guide to non-resident LLC taxes.

When the state does matter: doing business elsewhere

An LLC can be formed in one state and operate in another, but every state requires an out-of-state LLC that is transacting business (or doing business) there to register as a foreign LLC. From then on you pay both states: the report or tax in the home state, and the registration and yearly filings in the second one.

Registering as a foreign LLC costs, for example, $250 in North Carolina (where the $200 annual report also applies) and $125 in Florida. And in Delaware, an out-of-state LLC registered there also pays the $400 annual tax.

Each state defines “doing business” its own way, sometimes differently for registration and for tax. As a reference, North Carolina's tax instructions include keeping an office or place of business in the state, keeping inventory in a warehouse (owned or rented), or providing services there through employees or agents.

Typical cases where the state matters:

You live in the U.S. If you run the business from your home in Florida or North Carolina, you will most likely have to register the LLC in your state even if you formed it in Wyoming. It is almost always cheaper to form it where you live.
You will have an office, store, employees or warehouse in a state. That state will require foreign LLC registration and, depending on what you do, its taxes.
You sell products to customers in a state. Sales tax rules depend on the state where you sell, not the LLC's home state. For example, North Carolina requires remote sellers with more than $100,000 in sales into the state in the previous or current year to register.

Registered agent and privacy

State	Registered agent	Which names are in the public record
Wyoming	Required, with a physical address in Wyoming	The articles do not ask for members or managers; the organizer who signs appears
New Mexico	Required: a New Mexico resident or a company with an office in the state	The law does not require members to be named in the articles
Delaware	Required, with a physical address in Delaware	The certificate only asks for the LLC's name and registered agent, signed by an authorized person
Florida	Required, with a physical address in Florida; the LLC cannot be its own agent	Members are not listed in the articles and managers are optional; whatever goes in the annual report is public
North Carolina	Required: a North Carolina resident or an authorized company with an office there	Name and address of whoever signs the articles, plus the company officials in the annual report, which are searchable

Be careful with the idea of an “anonymous LLC.” Privacy only refers to the state's public record. The IRS knows who the owner is, because Form 5472 asks for your name, address and country, and the bank identifies you when you open the account. Also, since FinCEN's August 2026 final rule, LLCs formed in the U.S., including foreign-owned ones, no longer file a BOI report.

How to choose, in practice

Will the LLC operate physically in a state (you, employees, a store, a warehouse)? Form it in that state and avoid paying two.
Do you live in the U.S.? Your home state is almost always the right choice.
Do you live abroad, with no physical presence in the U.S.? Compare the yearly cost: New Mexico and Wyoming are the cheapest to keep. Between the two, decide based on the registered agent and the service you get, not on what is trendy.
Are there investors or several members with complex agreements? That is where Delaware can justify its $400 a year. Talk to a lawyer as well.

Every case is different; we review yours before anything is formed. If you already have an LLC, see the yearly calendar in our LLC annual compliance guide and how to open an account in our bank account guide.

Common mistakes

Choosing what is trendy. “Everyone forms in Wyoming or Delaware.” It may suit you, but decide on the yearly cost, not the formation cost.
Paying two states without knowing it. Forming in one state and operating from another means registering in both: two reports, two agents, two deadlines. Many people find out late.
Thinking “no annual report” means “no obligations.” New Mexico has no report, but Form 5472 is due every April 15 and the registered agent still has to be paid.
Missing the state deadline. In Wyoming it depends on the month you formed the LLC; North Carolina is April 15; Florida, May 1; Delaware, June 1. Missing it brings late fees and, eventually, dissolution.
Stopping payment to the registered agent. In North Carolina, 60 days without an agent is a ground for administrative dissolution; in Wyoming, reinstating an LLC left without an agent costs $350.
Believing state privacy hides you from the IRS. Form 5472 identifies the owner.

How we help

At BMS of NC we form your LLC, get the EIN and keep you current every year: the state annual report, Form 5472 with its pro forma 1120, and a reminder before every deadline. In North Carolina we can act as your registered agent. Before forming, we look at where you live and how you will operate to pick the state that costs you least to keep. In English or Spanish, online.

Frequently asked questions

Wyoming or Delaware: which is better for an LLC if I live outside the U.S.?

For a single-member LLC with no U.S. presence, Wyoming is usually cheaper to keep. Wyoming costs $100 to form and $60 a year as long as the LLC's assets in Wyoming do not exceed $300,000; Delaware costs $110 to form and $400 a year, even with no activity. Delaware tends to make sense with investors or several members with complex agreements.

What is the cheapest state to keep an LLC every year?

New Mexico. It costs $50 to form and $0 to the state each year, because its LLC Act requires no annual report and no annual tax. Wyoming follows at $60 a year. In both you still need a registered agent, a private service paid every year, and Form 5472 is due every April 15 even though the state asks for nothing.

Does the state I form my LLC in change what I owe the IRS as a non-resident?

Barely, if the LLC will have no office, employees or warehouse in any state. The EIN, Form 5472 with its pro forma 1120, the April 15 deadline and the penalty are the same in all 50 states. Whether you have effectively connected income depends on what your LLC does and where, not on where it is registered. At BMS of NC we can help you with this.

Can I form my LLC in Wyoming if I live in Florida or North Carolina?

You can, but you will most likely also have to register it in your home state as a foreign LLC and pay both states. That registration costs, for example, $125 in Florida and $250 in North Carolina, where the $200 annual report also applies. That is why it is almost always cheaper to form the LLC in the state where you live.

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Official sources

Related guides

This guide is general information about U.S. tax rules and does not replace advice on your specific case.