A vendor portal built for US vendors
Procurement portals turn away foreign vendors or send them down a slower approval route.
Cleared by the LLC
Built for · Agencies
A US LLC for an agency based outside the United States
An agency sells to companies, and companies prefer to buy from companies. A US LLC is how an agency in Lahore, Lagos or Lviv stops being the vendor procurement has to make an exception for.
01 · Why a US company
What it does for agencies.
US clients' finance teams have a process for US vendors and a workaround for foreign ones.
Read the full explanation
US clients' finance teams have a process for US vendors and a workaround for foreign ones. A US LLC puts you in the process: invoices from a company with an EIN, payment by ACH to a US bank, and a tax form on file. That's a W-9 for an LLC with two or more owners, and a W-8BEN from you for one with a single owner abroad. Ad platforms and software vendors bill the company, and a client who later wants to buy your agency is buying a company.
It also lets the agency pay US contractors from a US account and file the Form 1099-NEC the IRS expects, which is often the moment agencies find a US company simpler than the alternative.
- 01
ACH from US clients
Clients pay a US vendor by ACH into the company's account.
retainer, March payout+12,500.00 USD - 02
Inside the vendor process
Finance teams have a process for US vendors and a workaround for foreign ones.
VendorAster Studio LLC - 03
Paying US freelancers
Pay US contractors from a US account, with the 1099s prepared from your books.
Form 1099-NECBy 31 January - 04
Partners, on paper
Two or more owners file as a partnership, and the operating agreement records who owns what.
Partner A · Partner BSeparate accounts
02 · What stands in the way
Three things in the way, and one way through.
Accounts that don't serve your country
Payment processors and business accounts may not serve the country your agency is based in.
Cleared by the LLC
Paying them comes with reporting
Paying US freelancers brings reporting duties that are easier to meet from a US company.
Cleared by the LLC
A US LLC, with its EIN and a US bank account.
One set of documents that procurement, the banks and your contractors' paperwork all accept.
Start a company03 · Your options
Three ways to run an agency for US clients.
One owner or several changes the US forms more than anything else. The work, done by your team at home, is taxed the same way in all three.
| Your agency at home | A US LLC, one owner | A US LLC, two or more ownersWhat we set up | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How US clients pay | A cost or a limit: An international wire | Works in your favour: ACH into the LLC's US account | Works in your favour: ACH into the LLC's US account |
| The client's tax form | Neutral: W-8BEN-E, from the agency | Neutral: W-8BEN, from you as the owner | Works in your favour: W-9, from the LLC |
| Your team abroad | Neutral: Paid from home | Neutral: Paid from the LLC, each gives a W-8BEN | Neutral: Paid from the LLC, each gives a W-8BEN |
| US contractors | A cost or a limit: An international payment | Neutral: ACH, and a 1099-NEC from $2,000 a year | Neutral: ACH, and a 1099-NEC from $2,000 a year |
| US tax on work done abroad | Works in your favour: Usually none | Works in your favour: Usually none | Works in your favour: Usually none |
| Yearly US filing | Works in your favour: None for the agency | A cost or a limit: Form 5472, and Wyoming's report | A cost or a limit: Form 1065 with a K-1 per owner, and Wyoming's report |
Works in your favourNeutralA cost or a limitA US employee, a US office or a US salesperson who signs for the agency can bring US income tax, whichever column you're in.
Your agency at home
- How US clients pay
- An international wire
- The client's tax form
- W-8BEN-E, from the agency
- Your team abroad
- Paid from home
- US contractors
- An international payment
- US tax on work done abroad
- Usually none
- Yearly US filing
- None for the agency
A cost or a limit:
Neutral:
Neutral:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
A US LLC, one owner
- How US clients pay
- ACH into the LLC's US account
- The client's tax form
- W-8BEN, from you as the owner
- Your team abroad
- Paid from the LLC, each gives a W-8BEN
- US contractors
- ACH, and a 1099-NEC from $2,000 a year
- US tax on work done abroad
- Usually none
- Yearly US filing
- Form 5472, and Wyoming's report
Works in your favour:
Neutral:
Neutral:
Neutral:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
A US LLC, two or more ownersWhat we set up
- How US clients pay
- ACH into the LLC's US account
- The client's tax form
- W-9, from the LLC
- Your team abroad
- Paid from the LLC, each gives a W-8BEN
- US contractors
- ACH, and a 1099-NEC from $2,000 a year
- US tax on work done abroad
- Usually none
- Yearly US filing
- Form 1065 with a K-1 per owner, and Wyoming's report
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
Neutral:
Neutral:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favourNeutralA cost or a limitA US employee, a US office or a US salesperson who signs for the agency can bring US income tax, whichever column you're in.
04 · Step by step
From company to first US retainer, in seven steps.
Agree who owns what before you file. The EIN is the wait.
Step 1: Agree who owns what
Each partner's share, who decides what, and what happens when one leaves. The operating agreement records it, and every bank and buyer will read it.
Before you orderYou and your partnersStep 2: Form the Wyoming LLC
We file the articles online, with every member on the operating agreement. Wyoming approves an online filing the same day it is filed.
Same dayWe do itStep 3: Get the EIN
Without a Social Security Number the IRS issues it by fax, which is the slowest step. The expedited EIN, $199, has us file the day the company exists and chase it.
The longest waitWe do itStep 4: Open the US bank account
In the LLC's name. Banks check each owner of a large share, so every partner sends ID.
Often days, after the EINYou, with the bankStep 5: Get set up as a vendor
Each client's procurement wants the LLC's name, EIN, bank details and a tax form: a W-9 from an LLC with two or more owners, a W-8BEN from you if you're the only one. Then the contract and the first statement of work.
A week or twoYou, with each clientStep 6: Pay the team the right way
Contractors working abroad give the LLC a W-8BEN, and their pay isn't US-source, so there's no 1099. US contractors give a W-9, and anyone paid $2,000 or more in a year gets a Form 1099-NEC by 31 January.
Each paymentYouStep 7: Diary the filings
With two or more owners, Form 1065 and a K-1 for each are due by 15 March. With one owner, Form 5472 by 15 April. Wyoming's annual report is due on the first day of the month the LLC was formed in.
Every yearOn your calendar
05 · The honest part
What to know before you order.
What would make the agency owe US tax?
Keep management where the team is
Your team does the work in your country, which keeps the income foreign-source.
Read more
If the agency hires a US employee, opens a US office or gives a US salesperson authority to sign contracts, it can end up with a US trade or business, and US income tax with it. US contractors under a proper agreement don't create that by themselves.
What does a multi-member LLC file?
A multi-member LLC files differently
Two or more owners make the LLC a partnership for US tax, which files Form 1065 with a Schedule K-1 for each member every year. A partnership doesn't file Form 5472, which belongs to corporations and single-member LLCs with a foreign owner.
Read more
It's more paperwork than a single-owner company, and the operating agreement records each member's share.
Is the company taxed where I live?
Your own country
A company run from your office may be resident for tax where the office is. Ask a local accountant before the first invoice.
Sources: IRS, Instructions for Form 1065; IRS, Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC; IRS, independent contractor or employee?; IRS Publication 515, withholding of tax on nonresident aliens and foreign entities; IRS, Instructions for Form W-8BEN; IRS, Instructions for Form 5472.
06 · What it costs
What the first year costs, line by line.
Ours from our price list. Nothing here is a bundle.
| Cost | Amount | When | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch, with Wyoming's fee | $351.40 | First year | $249 to us and $102.40 to Wyoming, at cost. The LLC, the EIN, the registered agent and the operating agreement for every member. |
| Expedited EINOptional | $199 | Once | Gets the bank account, and the first retainer paid, sooner. |
| Filing your 1099-NECsOptional | $49 | Each January | For US contractors paid $2,000 or more. We prepare them from your books on every plan. |
| A US tax specialistOptional | $149 | Once | Forty-five minutes on a partnership with owners abroad, before the first return. |
| From the second year | $309 | Every year | $249 for Launch and Wyoming's $60 minimum. Form 1065 or Form 5472 is an accountant's fee on top. |
A partnership return with K-1s for owners abroad costs more to prepare than a single owner's Form 5472. Ask for both quotes before you choose.
The plan that fits
Launch, usually.
Two or more partners? The operating agreement records the split.
Launch
Fits an agencyFor your first company, when it needs to exist and nothing more yet.
What it covers
- Your Wyoming LLC, filed, with the state fee at cost
- An operating agreement with each partner's share
- The EIN, without a Social Security Number
Filing the 1099s for your US contractors is $49 as a service.
07 · Questions
Questions from agencies.
If yours is not here, email us at hello@baseacross.com before you order.
Yes. The LLC has three members, the operating agreement records the split, and the company files as a partnership for US tax, with a Form 1065 and three K-1s.
Yes, from its US bank account. Any US contractor paid $2,000 or more in a year, the threshold since 2026, gets a Form 1099-NEC from the company by 31 January.
No. Pay for services is sourced where the work is done, so a contractor working abroad has no US-source income from you. Collect a W-8BEN from each for your records; the 1099-NEC is for US contractors.
Form 1065, with a K-1 for each owner, is due by 15 March for a calendar year. Form 7004 extends it six months, to 15 September. A single-owner LLC files Form 5472 by 15 April instead.
A W-9, if the LLC has two or more owners, because it's a US partnership. If you're the only owner and live abroad, the IRS looks through the LLC to you, so you give a W-8BEN instead.
A Wyoming LLC on Launch is $351.40 for the first year: $249 for Launch and $102.40 to Wyoming, at cost. After that it is $309 a year, $249 to us and $60 to Wyoming.
Ready when you are
Answer the questions. We do the filing.
It takes about four minutes. You see the whole order, Wyoming fee included, before anything is charged.
Step 1 of 10 · About four minutesNothing charged yet
You're startingLLC · WY
Start a companyLaunch · $351.40 · Wyoming fee included