Guides
Everything it takes to run a US company
Most guides stop at the certificate. These don’t. Each one covers a stage of the founder lifecycle end to end — what it costs, how long it takes, and what goes wrong — with the sources cited so you can check us.
Discover
US LLC for non-residents: how to start a US business
Most guides stop at the certificate. That's the easy part. This is the whole sequence, in the order you'll actually hit it, with the costs and the things that go wrong.
Read the guideBest LLC formation services for non-residents, compared
Every provider in this category looks similar on the homepage. The differences show up in year two, in the renewal price, and in whether anyone answers when a filing goes wrong.
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Form
US LLC formation for non residents: entity and state
Two decisions, and most founders agonise over the wrong one. The entity type matters enormously. The state matters far less than the internet insists — unless you get it wrong.
Read the guideHow to open a US company from abroad
You do not need a visa, a green card, a US address or an SSN to own a US company. You do need to know which three steps behave differently, because that is where everyone loses months.
Read the guideEIN for non-US residents: how to get one without an SSN
The EIN is the number that unlocks banking, Stripe and payroll. Getting one without an SSN is entirely possible — and the widespread claim that you need an ITIN first is wrong.
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Get paid
US business bank account for non-residents
The account, not the certificate, is what makes a US company useful. It is also the step where founders outside the US are most likely to be told no — usually for a reason they could have fixed.
Read the guideGetting paid: payment processing for a US company
For a lot of founders this is the whole reason the company exists. Here's how the payment stack fits together, what gets accounts restricted, and where the money goes at the end.
Read the guideBuilding US business credit with no US credit history
Business credit is not a trick and it is not fast. Here is what genuinely builds it, what the "EIN-only credit" industry is selling you, and what funding is realistically available.
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Keep the books
Stay compliant
US LLC taxes for non-residents: every form and deadline
Filing and owing are different questions, and confusing them is expensive in both directions. Here is what you file, when, and what the penalties actually are.
Read the guideForeign-owned LLC compliance: Form 5472 and annual filings
Compliance failures are quiet. Nobody calls. The company simply stops being in good standing, and you find out when a bank asks for a certificate you cannot get.
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Operate
E-commerce: entity, sales tax and marketplace payouts
Selling online in the US means three systems you didn't sign up for: marketplace rules, sales tax nexus, and inventory accounting. Here's how they fit together.
Read the guideHiring and paying contractors from a US company
Paying people is where small companies create their largest unforced liabilities. Classification, contracts and payroll are cheap to get right and expensive to get wrong.
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