Start & Incorporate
How to set up a company in the US or another country while you live somewhere else, from the entity and tax ID to banking and the rules your home country still applies.
Guide · Compliance and filings
A single-member LLC owned by a non-US person files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year, by fax or mail, due April 15 for a calendar year. Putting money in or taking it out counts as a reportable transaction, so almost every such LLC has to file. Missing it costs $25,000.
· 7 min read
Guide · Business banking
Mercury accepts US companies with founders living abroad, but may ask for proof of US business activity and can close accounts that have none. Relay asks every owner for a physical US address. Airwallex's US service needs a US principal place of business. Wise Business works alongside any of them for currency. Here's how to choose.
· 7 min read
Guide · Cross-border payments
If Stripe doesn't serve your country, you either form a US company and open a US Stripe account, or sell through a merchant of record such as Paddle, Lemon Squeezy or Stripe Managed Payments, which charge around 5% or more but take on sales tax and VAT. Here's how the three routes compare.
· 7 min read
Guide · Cross-border incorporation
You don't need an ITIN to get an EIN, file Form 5472 or claim a treaty rate on a W-8BEN if you have a tax number from home. You do need one to file a US return as a nonresident, for example when your business is engaged in a US trade or business. The IRS says allow 9 to 11 weeks from abroad.
· 7 min read
Guide · International hiring
At $599 per employee a month, an employer of record costs $7,188 a person each year. Your own Indian subsidiary swaps that for fixed running costs and Indian tax on a cost-plus margin. With $30,000 a year in quotes, it pays for itself at about six people. Here's how to work out your own number.
· 8 min read
Comparison · Business banking
For a foreign-owned company with no funding, Mercury's IO card is the realistic first credit card: no personal guarantee, no separate application, and a cash-based limit that starts small. Ramp needs $25,000 and mostly US operations. Brex needs a verifiable physical US address. Traditional cards want an SSN or ITIN and US credit history.
· 7 min read
Post · Cross-border incorporation
Forming the company takes days. Everything that has to follow it, from the EIN by fax to a bank account, Stripe, a card and the first year's filing calendar, takes most of three months for a founder abroad. Here's the order I'd follow, with a link to the full guide for each part.
· 7 min read
Guide · Cross-border incorporation
You don't need to live in the US or hold a visa to form a US company. Here's the full process for founders abroad: LLC or C corp, Delaware or Wyoming, an EIN without an SSN, banking, payments, and the filings that catch foreign owners out.
· 8 min read
Guide · Company formation
For most owners, the best state to form an LLC is the state where they live and work. Forming in Delaware or Wyoming usually means registering at home too and paying both states. Here's the math, and the exceptions.
· 7 min read
Guide · Compliance and filings
US-formed LLCs and corporations no longer file beneficial ownership information reports with FinCEN. The final rule took effect on August 14, 2026. Only foreign companies registered to do business in a US state still report. Here's what that means for you.
· 7 min read
Guide · Company formation
An EIN is free from the IRS and takes about 15 minutes online. Here is what to have ready, the hours the online application is open, the mistakes that cause trouble later, and the fax, mail and phone routes for everyone else.
· 7 min read
Comparison · Cross-border incorporation
For a Delaware C corporation you'll raise on, Stripe Atlas is hard to beat at $500. For an LLC, doola's Starter plan is the cheapest all-in bundle at $297 a year, and its Tax and Compliance plan covers the Form 5472 filing. Firstbase forms cheaply but charges more for its agent.
· 7 min read