A company to pay, by ACH
Client systems are built to pay companies by ACH. An individual abroad, paid by wire, takes longer to set up.
Cleared by the LLC
Built for · Freelancers
A US LLC for freelancers outside the United States
You don't need a US company to work for US clients. Freelancers form one when a client's procurement team, a platform's payout rules or a payment processor's country list make it the easier path.
01 · Why a US company
What it does for freelancers.
US clients' accounts teams are set up to pay companies by ACH, and an individual abroad paid by international wire is the exception.
Read the full explanation
US clients' accounts teams are set up to pay companies by ACH, and an individual abroad paid by international wire is the exception. A US LLC with an EIN gives them a company to invoice them and a US bank account they can pay the same day. As its owner abroad you still give them a W-8BEN, not a W-9, because the IRS looks through a single-member LLC to you. It also gives you a place to receive dollars that isn't your personal account, and a business that outlasts any one platform.
Whether that's worth $351.40 to start and $309 a year on Launch depends on how much of your income comes from US clients and how much friction you face now. A freelancer with two American clients on retainer usually finds it worth it. One with a single contract on a platform usually doesn't need it yet.
- 01
A dollar account that isn't yours
Clients pay the company by ACH into its own account.
client invoice #118 payout+2,400.00 USD - 02
A vendor their system expects
An invoice from a company with an EIN fits a US client's accounts process.
VendorAster Studio LLC - 03
Payouts in dollars
Platform payouts land in a dollar account, not a slow or costly transfer abroad.
Payout accountAster Studio LLC - 04
Kept apart from you
The company's account pays its costs and pays you. Keeping personal spending out of it keeps the protection.
Company · YouSeparate accounts
02 · What stands in the way
Three things in the way, and one way through.
A country list you're not on
Stripe, PayPal and Wise Business each serve a set list of countries, and many freelancers live outside it.
Cleared by the LLC
Payouts that arrive slowly or cost too much
Platform payouts to some countries are slow, expensive or arrive in a currency you didn't want.
Cleared by the LLC
A US LLC, with its EIN and a US bank account.
One set of documents that procurement, the processors and the platforms all accept.
Start a company03 · Your options
Three ways to bill US clients from abroad.
Your work is taxed the same way in all three. What changes is how clients pay you and what you keep up each year.
| You, invoicing as yourself | Your company at home | A US LLCWhat we set up | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How clients pay | A cost or a limit: An international wire, or a payout service | Neutral: A wire to your company | Works in your favour: ACH into the LLC's US account |
| Card payments on invoices | A cost or a limit: Depends on your country | A cost or a limit: Depends on your country | Works in your favour: Stripe and PayPal, as a US business |
| The client's tax form | Neutral: W-8BEN, from you | Neutral: W-8BEN-E, from the company | Neutral: W-8BEN, from you as the owner |
| US tax on work done abroad | Works in your favour: Usually none | Works in your favour: Usually none | Works in your favour: Usually none |
| A claim by a client | A cost or a limit: Reaches you | Works in your favour: Reaches your company | Works in your favour: Reaches the LLC |
| Yearly upkeep | Works in your favour: None | Neutral: Your own country's | A cost or a limit: $309, Form 5472 and Wyoming's report |
Works in your favourNeutralA cost or a limitNone of the three lets you work inside the United States. That takes the right visa.
You, invoicing as yourself
- How clients pay
- An international wire, or a payout service
- Card payments on invoices
- Depends on your country
- The client's tax form
- W-8BEN, from you
- US tax on work done abroad
- Usually none
- A claim by a client
- Reaches you
- Yearly upkeep
- None
A cost or a limit:
A cost or a limit:
Neutral:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
Your company at home
- How clients pay
- A wire to your company
- Card payments on invoices
- Depends on your country
- The client's tax form
- W-8BEN-E, from the company
- US tax on work done abroad
- Usually none
- A claim by a client
- Reaches your company
- Yearly upkeep
- Your own country's
Neutral:
A cost or a limit:
Neutral:
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
Neutral:
A US LLCWhat we set up
- How clients pay
- ACH into the LLC's US account
- Card payments on invoices
- Stripe and PayPal, as a US business
- The client's tax form
- W-8BEN, from you as the owner
- US tax on work done abroad
- Usually none
- A claim by a client
- Reaches the LLC
- Yearly upkeep
- $309, Form 5472 and Wyoming's report
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
Neutral:
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favourNeutralA cost or a limitNone of the three lets you work inside the United States. That takes the right visa.
04 · Step by step
From company to first client paid by ACH, in seven steps.
Most of it is setup you do once. The EIN is the wait.
Step 1: Check that you need it
Worth it when US clients are steady and payments are the friction: slow wires, lost conversions, a processor that won't serve your country. One platform contract usually isn't enough reason.
Before you orderYouStep 2: Form the Wyoming LLC
We file the articles online. 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, with ACH details you can put on every invoice. Clients pay into it like any US vendor.
Often days, after the EINYou, with the bankStep 5: Move clients to the company
Send each client the LLC's name, EIN and bank details, and a W-8BEN signed by you as the owner. New contracts are signed by the LLC; existing ones move when they renew.
A week or twoYou, with each clientStep 6: Pay yourself, and keep the record
Move money from the LLC to yourself as distributions, and write each one down. Form 5472 reports what moves between you and the company.
Each monthYouStep 7: Diary the filings
Form 5472 is due each 15 April, and Wyoming's annual report on the first day of the month the LLC was formed in. Your own country's return comes on top, as before.
Every yearOn your calendar
05 · The honest part
What to know before you order.
Where is freelance work taxed?
The work happens where you are
Work done outside the United States is foreign-source income, and a company with no US office or staff has no US trade or business. That's why a foreign-owned LLC doing design, writing, development or consulting from abroad generally owes no US income tax.
Read more
Your own country taxes the income, just as it did before the LLC.
What does the LLC file every year?
The forms still have to be filed
A foreign-owned single-member LLC files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year, even a year with no income. It reports what moved between you and the company, and missing it carries a $25,000 penalty. The Wyoming annual report is $60. Both are on every plan's calendar.
Can I pay personal costs from the company?
Keep your personal spending out of it
The company's bank account pays the company's costs and pays you. Spending on personal things from it is the quickest way to lose the liability protection the LLC gives you, and to make your accountant's job harder.
Sources: IRS Publication 519, US tax guide for aliens; IRS, Instructions for Form W-8BEN; IRS, Instructions for Form 5472; Wyoming Secretary of State, business fees; Stripe, pricing; USCIS, B-1 temporary business visitor.
06 · What it costs
What the first year costs, line by line.
Ours from our price list, Stripe's from its own page. 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 and the registered agent. |
| Expedited EINOptional | $199 | Once | Gets the bank account, and the first ACH payment, sooner. |
| Stripe, for card paymentsOptional | 2.9% + 30¢ | Each card payment | A US card. Clients who pay by ACH straight into the bank account skip this fee. |
| A US tax specialistOptional | $149 | Once | Forty-five minutes on your setup, before the first large payment. |
| From the second year | $309 | Every year | $249 for Launch and Wyoming's $60 minimum. Form 5472 is an accountant's fee on top. |
Set the yearly cost against what you lose today to wire fees and conversions. If that's less, you may not need the LLC yet.
The plan that fits
Launch, usually.
Two US clients on retainer usually make it worth it.
Launch
Fits freelancersFor 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
- The EIN a client's vendor record needs
- Form 5472 and the annual report on your calendar
Everything a client's accounts team asks for.
07 · Questions
Questions from freelancers.
If yours is not here, email us at hello@baseacross.com before you order.
Generally not, when you do the work outside the United States and the company has no US office or staff. The company still files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year.
It can. The US looks through a single-member LLC to you, but many countries treat it as a company, so its profit may be taxed at home as company income, as yours, or both ways. Ask an accountant in your country before the first invoice.
No. The LLC gives you no right to work in the US. A business visitor can meet clients and negotiate contracts, but doing the work while there needs the right visa, and work done in the US can be taxed there.
A W-8BEN, signed by you as the owner, with the LLC's name, EIN and bank details on your invoices. The IRS looks through a single-member LLC to you, so the form is yours, not the company's.
As the owner of a single-member LLC, you take distributions rather than a salary. Record each one, because Form 5472 reports what moves between you and the company.
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