Wyoming vs every other state
Wyoming is the benchmark. Pick the state you are weighing it against and see the filing costs, annual obligations, disclosure rules, and the foreign-registration asymmetry that usually settles the decision.
For most non-resident founders the state barely matters. Wyoming costs the least to change later.
If you have no US office, no US staff, and no inventory sitting in a US warehouse, your formation state governs your internal affairs and very little else. What it does not govern is federal tax: a foreign-owned LLC owes Form 5472 with a pro-forma Form 1120 every year, at zero revenue, in all fifty states, carrying a $25,000 minimum penalty for missing it.
The asymmetry that decides it: registering an existing LLC into Wyoming later costs $150. Registering into Texas later costs $750, and in California you inherit an $800 annual minimum franchise tax. When you are genuinely unsure where the business will end up, form in the state that is cheapest to enter afterwards.
Compare Wyoming with…
Seven states account for nearly every real deliberation, so those come first with the angle each one actually turns on. The full index follows.
Wyoming vs Delaware
The venture-capital default. Worth the premium only if you are raising institutional money.
Wyoming vs Texas
No franchise tax under $2.65M, but public ownership disclosure and a $750 entry fee.
Wyoming vs Florida
The e-commerce favourite. The annual report is mandatory and the late penalty is unforgiving.
Wyoming vs Nevada
Wyoming's closest rival on privacy, at several times the annual cost.
Wyoming vs New Mexico
No annual report at all. The trade-off sits in banking and credibility, not in fees.
Wyoming vs California
The $800 minimum franchise tax, and nexus rules that reach founders who never moved there.
Wyoming vs New York
The newspaper publication requirement that surprises every first-time filer.
Every other jurisdiction, 43 more
No state matches that. Try a postal code such as NV, or clear the box to see all 50.
Wyoming’s column never changes
Every page in this series holds Wyoming fixed and varies only the other column. These are the numbers you will see on the left of all of them.
- State filing fee
- $100
- Articles of Organization
- Filing speed
- Same day - 2 days
- Filed online
- Annual state cost
- $60 minimum
- Or $0.0002 per dollar of assets located in Wyoming, whichever is greater
- Annual deadline
- Anniversary month
- First day of the month you formed in
- Ownership disclosure
- None
- Members and managers are absent from the state record
- Charging order
- Sole remedy
- Extended to single-member LLCs by Wyo. Stat. section 17-29-503
- Registering in later
- $150
- Foreign LLC registration, if you form elsewhere first
Wyoming LLC
Non-resident member, no US physical presenceWhat every comparison covers
The same eight axes, in the same order, on every page, so you can read two comparisons side by side without re-learning the layout.
Filing cost and speed
What the state charges to form, and how long the certificate actually takes.
Annual cost and annual form
The recurring fee, the specific form number, and the deadline that triggers it.
Ownership disclosure
Whether your name and address land on a public, searchable government record.
Charging order protection
Whether the statute names it the exclusive creditor remedy, and whether that has been tested for single-member LLCs.
Foreign registration, both ways
What it costs to register into that state later, and into Wyoming later. The asymmetry usually decides the answer.
Dissolution friction
Whether you can simply file, or need a tax clearance certificate first.
What does not change
EIN timelines, Form 5472 exposure, and FinCEN status are federal. No state escapes them.
The India side
LRS and ODI under Schedule III, the AD bank filing, and the Annual Performance Report that keeps profits repatriable.
Before you pick a state
The questions that change the answer, and the ones that only look like they do.
Is Wyoming the best state to form an LLC in as a non-resident?
For a founder with no US office, staff, or warehoused inventory, Wyoming is the strongest default: $100 to file, $60 a year to maintain, no ownership disclosure on the state record, and charging-order protection written as the exclusive creditor remedy. The answer changes the moment you acquire physical presence in another state.
Does forming in Wyoming let me avoid taxes in the state where I actually operate?
No. Physical presence creates nexus regardless of where you formed. Employees, an office, or inventory sitting in a third-party warehouse means you must register there as a foreign LLC and meet that state's filings, on top of Wyoming's. Your formation state controls internal governance, not where you owe tax.
What does it cost to switch states later?
You do not switch so much as add. Registering an existing LLC into a second state is a foreign registration, and it runs from roughly $100 to $750 depending on the state. Wyoming charges $150 to register in; Texas charges $750. That asymmetry is why forming in the cheaper-to-enter state is the lower-risk decision when you are unsure.
Do I have to form in the state where my customers are?
No. Selling to customers in a state does not by itself create a filing obligation there. Remote sales may create a sales-tax collection duty once you cross that state's economic threshold, but that is a tax registration, not a reason to form your LLC there.
Which state is cheapest to maintain year after year?
On state fees alone, New Mexico is cheapest because it requires no annual report, and Wyoming is next at $60. But the meaningful annual cost for a foreign-owned LLC is federal: Form 5472 attached to a pro-forma Form 1120 is due every year even at zero revenue, and the minimum penalty for missing it is $25,000. No state changes that.
Does any state remove the Form 5472 requirement?
None. A foreign-owned single-member LLC is a disregarded entity that must still file Form 5472 with a pro-forma Form 1120 annually, in every state, at zero revenue. Multi-member LLCs file Form 1065 with K-1s instead. This is federal and identical across all fifty states.
Still weighing two states?
The formation is the easy part. The work is the EIN without an SSN, the Form 5472 exposure, and, if you are remitting from India, the AD bank that will actually process an LLC equity transfer.
This page is general business information, not legal or tax advice, and is not prepared by an attorney, a CPA, or a chartered accountant. State fees and franchise tax thresholds change, and the FinCEN beneficial ownership rules and the RBI Overseas Investment Rules are both areas of active change. Confirm current status with a qualified professional before acting. Figures last reviewed September 2026.