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Pick a state before anything else: what should an India-based founder weigh?
Choose the state where your business actually operates. If you run everything from India with no US office, inventory, or staff, pick a remote-friendly state and stop second-guessing it. Wyoming and Delaware are the two most common answers for Indian founders, and New Mexico shows up third because it has no annual report. Stripe's own guide to forming an LLC as a nonresident puts state selection as step one, ahead of the name, the agent, and the filing [1].
Here is the blunt version: state choice is a cost and paperwork decision, not a prestige decision. Delaware costs more to maintain than Wyoming. It buys you familiarity with US investors and a well-worn body of corporate law. If you are bootstrapping a services or software business and selling to customers, not VCs, Wyoming usually wins on annual cost.
| State | Formation fee (government) | Annual obligation (government) | Registered agent (provider, recurring) | Why founders pick it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wyoming | Check the current official fee | Annual report, due in the anniversary month | Paid yearly, varies by provider | Low cost, strong privacy |
| Delaware | Check the current official fee | Annual franchise tax | Paid yearly, varies by provider | Investor familiarity |
| New Mexico | Check the current official fee | No annual report | Paid yearly, varies by provider | Quiet and cheap to keep alive |
Nexus is the word that decides this. Nexus means a real connection to a state: an office, an employee, inventory in a warehouse. If you hold stock with a US fulfilment partner in New Jersey, New Jersey has a claim on you no matter where you filed. Filing in Wyoming while operating from a New Jersey warehouse creates two state obligations instead of one.
Say your Shopify store ships from a third-party warehouse in California. You file in Wyoming for the low annual cost, then discover California wants its own registration because your inventory sits there. That is a real cost, and it lands after you have already paid the Wyoming fee.
Costs split into three buckets and you should never add them into one number. Government fees go to the Secretary of State. Provider fees go to a registered agent or formation service. Recurring fees come back every year whether or not you earn anything. If you want the full breakdown of what a formation package includes, see NexFyla pricing and package costs.
Name availability and filing the articles remotely: what is the actual order?
Check the name on the Secretary of State's business search, appoint a registered agent, then file the articles of organization. That is the order. The articles of organization are the one or two page document that creates the LLC, and every state has its own name for it.
Do not open a bank account or apply to Stripe before the state approves the filing. You will have nothing to show them. Stripe's nonresident guide runs the same sequence: state, name, registered agent, then file [1].
What you need from India:
- Passport (clear scan, all four corners visible)
- Address proof, such as a utility bill or bank statement in your name
- PAN card
- A card that can pay a USD government fee, since many Indian debit cards fail on US state portals
Processing time depends on the state and whether you pay to expedite. Standard filings take days to a couple of weeks. Expedited service costs extra and is a government fee, not a provider fee. Verify the current fee and the current processing window on the state's own .gov site before you pay anything, because these numbers move.
Heads-up: the name you want is often taken. Have two backups ready and check all three before you file. A rejected filing means a second fee.
Appoint a registered agent and set up a US address: can you do both from India?
Yes. A registered agent is a person or company with a physical street address in your formation state who accepts legal papers on your behalf. You can hire a commercial agent while your own principal address stays in India. That is normal and legal.
Three addresses get confused, and mixing them up is where setups break.
- Registered agent address. Must be a physical street address in the formation state. No PO boxes, no virtual mailboxes.
- Principal place of business. Where you actually run the company. Your Indian address is fine here.
- Mailing or virtual address. Where mail lands. Useful, but it is not a registered agent address.
Using a virtual mailbox as your registered agent address gets filings rejected in most states. The agent's address has to accept service of process, which means a human who can be served legal documents.
The registered agent fee is a provider cost, paid yearly. Budget for it as a permanent line item, not a one-time setup charge. A registered agent for an LLC from India costs the same as it does for a US founder, because the job is the same.
Draft the operating agreement with foreign ownership: what must it include?
Write an operating agreement even if your state does not require one. Banks, Stripe, and payment processors ask for it, and a missing operating agreement is one of the most common reasons a KYC review stalls.
The operating agreement is the internal contract that sets out who owns the LLC, how much they put in, who manages it, and what happens if someone wants out. It does not go to the Secretary of State. It sits in your files until a bank asks.
For an Indian-owned LLC, make sure it names the owner's full legal name exactly as it appears on the passport, states the ownership percentage, and sets the governing law as your formation state. Add a transfer restriction clause. If you later bring in a co-founder or an investor, that clause saves you a rewrite.
Note: India-side rules on outbound investment and the India-US tax treaty are a separate question from the operating agreement. Talk to a cross-border tax advisor about how you fund the LLC and how you report it in India. Nothing in this article replaces that advice.
Get an EIN without a US Social Security Number: which method actually works from India?
The fax method. File IRS Form SS-4 by fax when you have no SSN or ITIN. The online EIN tool on IRS.gov only accepts applicants with a valid US Social Security Number or ITIN, so it will reject you at the first field.
An EIN is the Employer Identification Number, the federal tax ID for the company. It is not an ITIN. An ITIN is an individual taxpayer number for people who must file a US return without an SSN, and it does not substitute for the company's EIN. If you need one for your own filing, applying for an ITIN with Form W-7 is a separate process.
Four SS-4 fields trip up Indian founders:
- Line 7b, SSN/ITIN/EIN. Leave it blank if you have none. Do not invent a number.
- Line 9, responsible party. Your name exactly as on the passport. Check "Foreign" where it asks for the SSN of the responsible party.
- Line 10, reason for applying. "Started new business" is the standard answer.
- Third-party designee. Only tick this if you want someone else to speak to the IRS about the application. If you are handling it yourself, leave it blank.
Fax takes days to a few weeks. Phone is faster when you get through, but you are calling from a time zone 9.5 to 12.5 hours ahead of the US, so plan the call. Either way, get the EIN before you touch banking. If you want the process handled end to end, getting an EIN as a non-US resident without an SSN covers the fax route line by line.
Open a US business bank account from India: bank or fintech first?
Start with a fintech. Mercury, Relay, and similar providers accept remote KYC from Indian founders and let you open an account without a US visit. A traditional bank branch account usually wants you in person, and that is a $1,000-plus round trip before you have earned a dollar.
The order is fixed: LLC approved, EIN in hand, then apply. Applying before the EIN exists wastes a review cycle.
Documents they ask for, in practice:
- Passport
- PAN card
- Indian address proof
- Articles of organization
- EIN confirmation letter (CP 575 or the fax confirmation)
- Operating agreement
Fintechs and banks are not the same product. A fintech account gives you a US account number and routing number for receiving payments, and it works with Stripe. A traditional bank gives you a relationship, a line of credit later, and a person to call. Most Indian founders need the first and eventually want the second. If you need an in-person account, help opening a brick-and-mortar US bank account is the route.
No provider is obliged to approve you. Approval is their decision, based on their risk rules and your business type. Have a backup application ready.
Set up Stripe or PayPal for a foreign-owned LLC: what gets approved and what gets blocked?
A US LLC owned by an Indian resident can apply for Stripe. Whether Stripe approves depends on your business model, your bank account, and the countries you operate in. Nobody can promise approval, and any service that does is selling you something.
The sequence: EIN, then US bank or fintech account, then Stripe signup with the LLC's legal name and address, then business verification. Stripe's own nonresident guide treats the bank account as a prerequisite, not an optional extra [1].
What blocks applications:
- Address mismatch. The address on Stripe, the bank, and the state filing must match. A Wyoming LLC with a Bengaluru billing address and a New York bank address reads as three different companies.
- Prohibited categories. Restricted business types get declined regardless of who owns the LLC.
- Missing tax form. Stripe asks for a W-8BEN-E from foreign entities. Have it ready.
Suppose Stripe declines your account. You still have options: a different processor, or collecting through a payment link provider while you sort out the main account. Indian payment gateways like Razorpay serve Indian entities, not US LLCs, so they are not a fallback for this structure. For the setup mechanics, see Stripe setup for non-US founders.
Map the annual filings and when they come due: what is the first compliance cycle?
Calendar four things the day your LLC is approved. Missing them costs money, and the federal one has a fixed penalty.
| Filing | Who it goes to | When | If you skip it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual report or franchise tax | State | Your state's fixed month | State fees and possible dissolution |
| Registered agent renewal | Provider | Yearly | Agent lapses, you lose your legal address |
| Form 5472 with pro forma Form 1120 | IRS | Yearly, by the 1120 due date | A fixed penalty per form, no warning letter |
| Beneficial ownership report | FinCEN | Check current status before filing | Check the current FinCEN rule, it has changed |
Form 5472 is the one people miss. A foreign-owned single-member LLC that is disregarded for tax purposes still files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120, every year, even with no US tax due. The penalty for not filing is fixed and applies per form.
The FinCEN beneficial ownership rule changed in 2025. Domestic companies were carved out of the requirement. The status for foreign-owned entities needs checking against the current FinCEN guidance before you file or decide not to file. Do not rely on a 2024 article.
Tax classification is a decision, not a default. A single-member LLC owned by a nonresident is disregarded by default, which is why Form 5472 applies. A multi-member LLC is a partnership. A C-corp election changes everything and brings its own filing set. S-corp status is not available to nonresident owners. Which one fits depends on your income sources, the India-US treaty, and your state, so run it past a qualified tax professional. Federal tax support for Form 5472 and Form 1120 covers the annual filing side.
Common Mistakes
Filing in a state with no connection, then hitting a bank wall. A Wyoming LLC is fine until a bank asks why a Wyoming company has a Bengaluru operations address and a New York bank account. It is answerable, but keep your story consistent.
Trying the online EIN tool without an SSN. It fails at the first field. Use the fax route.
Applying to the bank before the EIN arrives. The application gets paused or declined, and you reapply from scratch.
Using a virtual mailbox as the registered agent address. Rejected filing, second fee.
Assuming Stripe approval is automatic. It is not. Business model and address consistency decide it.
Missing the first Form 5472. The penalty is fixed and it does not care that you had no US income.
Skipping the operating agreement. Bank KYC stalls, and you lose a week.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I start a US LLC from India without visiting the US? Yes. Filing, the registered agent, the EIN by fax, and fintech banking all happen remotely.
Do I need an SSN or ITIN to get an EIN for my LLC? No. File Form SS-4 by fax as a foreign applicant with no SSN.
Which state is best for an Indian founder's LLC? The state where you operate, if you have US presence. Otherwise Wyoming for cost, Delaware for investor familiarity.
Can I open a Stripe account with a US LLC owned by an Indian resident? You can apply. Approval depends on your business model, bank account, and country restrictions.
What annual filings does a foreign-owned LLC need? State annual report or franchise tax, registered agent renewal, and IRS Form 5472 with pro forma Form 1120. Check the current FinCEN position.
How much does it cost to start a US LLC from India? Separate the three: government filing fee, provider and registered agent fees, and yearly compliance costs. Totals vary by state.
If you want help with US LLC formation, EIN and business setup, NexFyla can assist.
*Last updated: February 2026.*
Related reading
- How to Register a US LLC from India: Step by Step
- Registering a Wyoming LLC From India: Step-by-Step
- Registering a US Company From India: A Step-by-Step Path
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