Formation services advertise a low number because the state filing fee genuinely is low. The number that matters is what you have paid twelve months later, once the things nobody itemises have arrived.
The costs you cannot avoid
State filing fee — one-off
Paid to the state to create the company.
| State | Filing fee |
|---|---|
| New Mexico | ~$50 |
| Delaware | ~$90 |
| Wyoming | ~$100 |
Registered agent — every year
Mandatory in every state, and you cannot be your own from abroad. $50–$150 a year. Watch for first-year discounts that renew at three times the introductory rate.
Annual state obligation — every year
| State | Annual | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| New Mexico | $0 | No report, no fee |
| Wyoming | ~$60 minimum | Annual report |
| Delaware | $300 | Flat franchise tax |
EIN — free
The IRS charges nothing. Any fee is for a third party preparing the form. See getting an EIN with no SSN.
The costs nobody quotes you
- US mailing address — $10–$30 a month if you want mail scanned and forwarded rather than piling up at your agent.
- Form 5472 preparation — $200–$600 a year with a CPA. This is not optional paperwork; see Form 5472.
- Bookkeeping — from free if you do it yourself in a spreadsheet, to $50–$200 a month for a service.
- Payment processing — around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, plus roughly 1% more on international cards. On $5,000 a month that is about $175.
- Banking — usually $0 with a fintech account, but wires and currency conversion cost.
- Expedited filing — $50–$100 if you want same-day state approval.
Realistic first-year totals
A solo founder abroad, online business, doing the admin themselves except the tax filing:
| Item | Lean | Comfortable |
|---|---|---|
| State filing | $50 | $100 |
| Registered agent | $50 | $150 |
| Annual state fee | $0 | $60 |
| Mail address | $0 | $180 |
| Form 5472 preparation | $200 | $600 |
| Bookkeeping | $0 | $600 |
| Year one | ~$300 | ~$1,690 |
Year two onward drops by the one-off filing fee — roughly $250 to $1,590 a year — before payment processing, which scales with revenue rather than sitting fixed.
Delaware adds $240 a year over Wyoming for the same company. For a solo founder that is the clearest avoidable line in the table.
Doing it yourself versus paying someone
Every step is doable alone. The state filing is a short form. The SS-4 is one page.
What you are buying with a service is the sequencing and the error correction — knowing that line 7b takes the word "Foreign", that the EIN must precede the bank application, that the website must be finished before Stripe sees it. A rejected SS-4 costs weeks, which is usually worth more than the fee.
Our own position: if you enjoy admin and have time, do it yourself and read the guides here. If the weeks matter, use a service — ours or someone else's.
Pricing patterns worth watching
- "Free LLC formation" — the state fee is still yours, and the registered agent renewal is where the margin is.
- Introductory agent pricing — check the renewal rate, not the first year.
- EIN as a paid add-on — fine as a service fee, misleading if presented as a government charge.
- Operating agreement upsells — a single-member agreement is a short document.
- Annual compliance packages — sometimes genuinely useful, sometimes a reminder email for $200.
Is it worth it
At roughly $300 to $1,700 in year one, the question is what the company earns you. If it unlocks US customers who will not pay a foreign sole trader, gives you Stripe access, or separates business liability from your personal assets, it pays for itself quickly.
If you have no US customers and no need for US payment rails, a US LLC may be solving a problem you do not have. That is worth deciding before you file, not after.