Nevada vs Wyoming LLC: which one, when you run it from abroad

Both states charge no income tax, both let you form the company online without a visit, and both get you an EIN, a US bank account and a Stripe account the same way. The differences are in what you pay each year, what the public record shows, and what happens if a deadline slips.

State fees: NRS chapter 86, NRS chapter 76, Wyoming fee schedule, July 2026. Heirson prices include the registered agent in both states.

An LLC is a subscription to a state. The gap between these two is small in year one and wide by year five, because Nevada's $350 recurs while Wyoming's $60 barely moves.

Prices with Heirson, which include the registered agent, the EIN in year one and the yearly state filing. Add Form 5472 at $179 a year in either state if you want us to file it.

Both states bill you once a year around the month you formed. The due dates sit at opposite ends of that month, and the penalties for missing them work differently.

Nevada's list is also where you name managers, so each year's filing is a fresh public statement of who runs the company. Wyoming's report asks for the principal office address and the value of assets in Wyoming; the asset worksheet itself is not a public record.

Full schedules, penalties and reminders: Nevada annual fees and Wyoming annual fees. We file both for you as part of the renewal.

"Nevada privacy" is a phrase from an older era of formation marketing. The statute today asks for more names than Wyoming does. Here is roughly what each state's search shows for a one-owner LLC run by its owner.

In Nevada you can keep your own name off by making the LLC manager-managed and naming your own holding company, or a nominee, as manager. Every list carries a declaration, under penalty of perjury, that no manager is named to hide who really controls the company in furtherance of unlawful conduct (NRS 86.263). Our nominee guide explains where that line sits.

In Wyoming the registered agent keeps the managers' names and a contact person privately, released on subpoena or to law enforcement. Neither state hides you from the IRS, your bank or Stripe: all three ask who owns the company. Look up any record yourself with our Nevada company search and Wyoming company search guides.

The protection that matters here runs one way: when you owe someone personally, can they take your LLC? In both states the answer is a charging order. The creditor can collect distributions if the LLC pays any, but cannot take over the membership interest or run the company.

Nevada added a statutory alter-ego test in 2019 (NRS 86.376): a court can look through the LLC only where the owner governs it, there is unity of interest, and keeping the two separate would sanction fraud or promote manifest injustice. That is useful wording, but it protects the LLC's own debts reaching you, which is a different problem.

Neither statute helps if the company's money is mixed with yours. A separate bank account, an operating agreement and contracts signed in the company's name do more than the choice of state.

Neither state taxes your LLC's income. Each has one charge that grows with size, and both are measured inside the state, not on your worldwide business.

• Nevada commerce tax applies only when Nevada gross revenue tops $4,000,000 in a July to June year. At or below that, the Department "shall not require" a return (NRS 363C.200).
• Nevada Modified Business Tax applies only to employers with Nevada staff, at 1.17% of wages above $50,000 a quarter for general businesses (Department of Taxation).
• Wyoming license tax is $60 or two hundredths of a cent per dollar of Wyoming assets, whichever is more. The $60 holds until those assets pass $300,000 (W.S. 17-29-209).

The federal side does not change with the state. A foreign-owned single-member LLC files Form 5472 with a pro forma 1120 every year, due 15 April for a calendar year, and a missed one is a $25,000 penalty. Whether the LLC owes US income tax depends on whether it has income connected with a US trade or business, not on Nevada or Wyoming. More in Nevada LLC tax and Wyoming LLC tax.

Banks and payment providers open accounts for a company, not for a state. They ask for the articles, the EIN letter, an operating agreement, your passport and your real home address, and they treat a Nevada LLC and a Wyoming LLC the same way.

Two things do differ a little. A bank reading a Nevada record sees your name as manager, which matches what you tell it. A bank reading a Wyoming record sees only the agent, so it relies on your documents, which it collects anyway. Neither is a reason to choose.

Stripe accepts both as US companies; the rules for owners outside the US are in Stripe supported countries. For the account itself, see the US bank account guide. We set the account up with you after formation, in either state.

Both states issue an apostille for $20 if a bank or registry abroad wants one. The EIN wait is the same in both: the IRS online tool is closed to founders without an SSN, so we file Form SS-4 by fax. Our EIN without an SSN guide walks through it.

There are honest reasons to pay Nevada's price. Most of them come down to the business being physically in Nevada, in which case Nevada would want registration from a Wyoming LLC anyway.

Nevada also lets one LLC hold separate series without a filing per series, with the shield conditions in NRS 86.296. If series are the reason you are looking, read those conditions with a lawyer first: recognition by banks and courts outside Nevada is less tested.

Weighing a third state? Our Wyoming vs Delaware comparison covers investors, and the comparison hub lists every match-up.