What a serious US LLC really costs: price, banking and compliance

State fees are only one part of the cost. A useful LLC needs EIN, Operating Agreement, banking, Form 5472, yearly maintenance and professional tax judgment.

3 costs matter when forming a US LLC: state fees, annual upkeep and, above all, professional judgment. Exentax does not publish its prices inside articles because we do not sell a bare filing: we design tax structure, banking, compliance and operations that actually work.

Let us start by clearing up something that makes us cringe in the trade: an LLC is not "created". It is formed.

You "create" an Instagram profile or a Netflix account. You "form" a legal entity recognised by a sovereign US state, with tax obligations, a federal taxpayer ID and reporting duties to the <a href="https://www.irs.gov" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IRS</a>. Subtle difference, until <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HMRC</a> or your home revenue authority pulls the thread.

Now that we have that off our chest, the question that matters: how much does it cost?

Formation costs (one-off)

The opening bill depends on which state you choose:

New Mexico

Wyoming

Delaware

Maintenance costs (annual)

Once formed, your LLC carries recurring obligations that deserve the same attention as formation:

New Mexico: no state Annual Report

Wyoming annual upkeep

Delaware franchise tax and upkeep

Which state fits your profile? Honest comparison by use case

The price tags above do not pick the state for you. The right state depends on what you sell, how much you turn over, and whether you plan to raise capital, sell the business, or simply operate quietly. This is the honest read we give every Exentax client torn between New Mexico, Wyoming and Delaware:

The Florida lane has its own dedicated article and shows up only when you have physical presence in Miami or you intend to hire local employees. For 80 % of the non-resident clients we advise, the honest choice falls between New Mexico (lowest state burden), Wyoming (most balanced) and Delaware (when there is an investment thesis).

The real 24-month cost of your LLC

The number almost nobody answers fully is: how much will you have spent two years from now? An LLC has a spending peak in month 0 (formation, EIN, Operating Agreement, banking), one fixed annual payment in month 12 and another in month 24. Looking only at the first 12 months hides the recurring part; at 24 months the picture is honest.

Scenario A — Freelancer in New Mexico (lean profile)

• Month 0: full formation (single bundled fee, all in: filing with the Secretary of State, EIN, Operating Agreement, BOI if applicable, year-1 Registered Agent).
• Months 1-12: zero extra state burden (NM does not require an Annual Report). Quiet federal compliance work in the background.
• Month 12: annual Exentax maintenance (Form 5472 + 1120 pro-forma, Registered Agent renewal, BOI monitoring, coordination with your home-country tax adviser).
• Around month 16: actual filing of the 5472/1120 with the IRS Service Center in Ogden, Utah (April 15 deadline, with Form 7004 extension available to October 15 if needed).
• Month 24: second annual maintenance cycle.

True 24-month total: one formation fee + two annual maintenance fees + zero additional state fees. It is the most predictable structure on the market.

Scenario B — Agency in Wyoming (balanced profile)

• Month 0: same scope as NM, with the difference that the filing fee and the future Annual Report are budgeted in.
• Month 12: in addition to Exentax maintenance (5472 + 1120 + Registered Agent), you pay Wyoming's state Annual Report (state fee per the formula in force).
• Month 24: same as month 12, second Annual Report.

True 24-month total: formation + two Exentax maintenance fees + two Annual Reports. Still affordable and buys you Wyoming's strong charging-order protection, which is what you pay extra for vs NM.

Scenario C — SaaS in Delaware (corporate profile)

• Month 0: Delaware filing (more expensive at origin), with an Operating Agreement drafted to host future seed-round clauses.
• Month 12: on top of the Exentax fee, the Annual Report fee for LLC (Delaware does not levy franchise tax on LLC in the corporate sense, but the LLC annual fee is fixed and non-trivial) plus Registered Agent.
• Month 24: same as month 12.

True 24-month total: costlier formation + two Annual Report cycles + two Exentax maintenance fees. It is the priciest scenario, justified when you are raising capital or planning to sell the business: you recover the premium the day a VC opens your cap table and does not force you to redomicile.

What does NOT change between the three scenarios

• Form 5472 + 1120 pro-forma is filed identically in all three states; the penalty for omission is also identical: USD 25,000 per form per year. In an Exentax file, the source record comes first and the response follows from it.
• The BOI Report is harmonised at the federal level; the state does not matter.
• Banking (Mercury, Relay, Wise Business) works the same with all three states.
• Your obligation to declare the LLC at residence (UK Self Assessment, Irish revenue, German Finanzamt, Spanish AEAT, etc.) does not change with the state choice: the owner's effective taxation depends on residence, not on Delaware vs NM.

The cost of NOT having an LLC

Here is the figure most people ignore: the cost of not having an LLC when you should.

If you are a UK freelancer turning over GBP 60,000/year billing international clients and your effective rate (income tax + Class 2/4 NIC) lands near 35-40 %, that is GBP 21,000-24,000 in UK tax. With a properly structured LLC and clean residency planning, the federal US side pays conditional US federal treatment tax on those flows; only your residency taxation remains, and it can be lower than self-employed once dividends or sound attribution rules are used.

The delta is real, and the cost of the LLC is recovered in the first month. Read our <a href="/en/blog/spanish-autonomo-vs-us-llc-structure-and-reality">self-employed Spain vs US LLC tax comparison</a> for fully worked-out numbers (the framework is the same for the UK and Ireland; only the local rate differs).

"But aren't there services that do this for $49?"

Yes there are. They do exactly one mechanical job: they fill in a form and submit it. No tax advice, no Operating Agreement adapted to your case, no post-formation support, no return preparation, nobody to tell you what to do next.

Forming the LLC is the easy step. The hard part — and what makes the difference — is operating it correctly so that your tax structure actually works.

To keep going on this thread, <a href="/en/blog/us-llc-for-marketing-agencies-with-tax-structure">US LLC for digital marketing agencies: structure, billing and scaling</a> and <a href="/en/blog/llc-asset-protection-and-public-register-privacy">LLC legal security and asset protection: the underrated advantage</a> fill in nuances this guide only touched on.

What Exentax includes (no fine print, no surprise add-ons)

Here is where we close the loop and pull together what other websites scatter across five marketing bullets: exactly what we do, what the annual fee covers, what you save, and what we will not surprise-bill you for later. One single block, everything in its place, closed-quote in writing before we start.

At formation (month 0):

• Legal filing in the optimal state for your profile (New Mexico, Wyoming, Delaware or Florida) with Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State and the state filing fee paid by us.
• Federal EIN obtained via SS-4 with the IRS — no queues, no need to explain to Washington what a non-resident is.
• Operating Agreement drafted for your real case, not a template downloaded from a blog.
• BOI/FinCEN scope review under current rules, with evidence archived instead of a filing made by inertia.
• Year-1 Registered Agent included.
• Banking onboarding with Mercury, Relay, Wise Business or Slash, matched to your activity and inbound payment profile.
• Initial tax advisory so you understand the full structure before you operate.
• ITIN filed via W-7 whenever your bank or payment processor requires it.

In the annual maintenance (every year from year 1 onwards):

• Preparation and filing of Form 5472 + pro-forma Form 1120 with the IRS Service Center in Ogden, Utah, with Form 7004 extension when convenient.
• Registered Agent renewal.
• State Annual Report in Wyoming, Delaware or Florida when applicable.
• BOI Report monitoring (updates if there are ownership, address or structure changes).
• FBAR if applicable (aggregate balances > USD 10,000 across foreign accounts of the holder).
• Coordination with your home-country tax adviser so the local return reflects the attribution or dividend correctly.
• Continuous written support all year, with a named owner for your file.

What you save vs DIY: a misfiled 5472 is USD 25,000 per form per year (IRC §6038A); a late BOI, when it applies, is USD 591/day cumulative; a rejected ITIN leaves you without operational banking for months. The Exentax value is not just running the paperwork; it is getting it right first time and having an accountable adviser when the IRS or your home-country authority asks.

Zero surprises, zero "ah, that wasn't included", zero invoice shocks. Book a strategic review and we will give you the exact numbers for your specific case.

> <a href="/en/services">See how we work</a>

How any of these rules actually apply to your case depends on your tax residence, what your LLC does and the documentation you keep. This content is informational and does not replace personalised professional advice.

_More on this topic: difference between LLC, Corporation, S-Corp and C-Corp._

Want to apply this protocol to your case? <a href="/en/book">Book a session with the Exentax team</a> and we review your LLC with real numbers in thirty minutes, no strings attached.