The country list
Stripe's country list is why most indie hackers abroad end up looking at a US company.
Cleared by the LLC
Built for · Indie hackers
A US LLC for indie hackers and solo founders abroad
The honest first question is whether you need a company yet. Many solo founders don't, and the ones who do usually find out because a processor, a customer or a co-founder told them.
01 · Why a US company
What it does for indie hackers.
A merchant of record, such as Paddle or Lemon Squeezy, sells your software as the seller, collects the tax and pays you, and it doesn't need a US company.
Read the full explanation
A merchant of record, such as Paddle or Lemon Squeezy, sells your software as the seller, collects the tax and pays you, and it doesn't need a US company. For a founder earning a few hundred dollars a month, that's usually the right answer. A US LLC becomes worth it when you want your own Stripe account and its lower fees, when a customer wants to sign with a company, when a co-founder joins and ownership needs recording, or when the product is worth shielding from your personal liabilities.
When that day comes, a Wyoming LLC costs $60 a year to the state, plus a registered agent and a yearly federal form you can put on a calendar.
- 01
Your own Stripe account
Lower fees than a merchant of record, once the revenue justifies it.
subscriptions payout+1,180.00 USD - 02
An invoice from a company
Companies buying your software want a business to pay.
Invoice fromAster Labs LLC - 03
Who owns what, written down
When a co-founder joins, the operating agreement records the split.
Ownership60 / 40 - 04
The product, apart from you
The product and its income sit in the company, separate from your personal liabilities.
Product · YouSeparate accounts
02 · What stands in the way
Three things in the way, and one way through.
An invoice from a company
Customers, especially companies, want an invoice from a business they can pay by ACH.
Cleared by the LLC
A handshake isn't an agreement
Once a co-founder joins, who owns what needs writing down in an operating agreement.
Cleared by the LLC
A US LLC, with its EIN and a US bank account.
Your own Stripe account, an invoice from a company, and ownership written down.
Start a company03 · Your options
Three ways to sell a side project from abroad.
Most indie products should start on a merchant of record. A company of your own starts paying for itself somewhere past a few hundred sales a year.
| Paddle, as yourself | Stripe in your own country | A US LLC with StripeWhat we set up | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start selling | Works in your favour: This week | Neutral: If Stripe serves your country | A cost or a limit: After the EIN |
| Fee on a $20 sale | A cost or a limit: $1.50 | Neutral: Your country's Stripe rate | Works in your favour: $0.88 |
| Sales tax and VAT | Works in your favour: Collected and filed for you | A cost or a limit: Yours to handle | A cost or a limit: Yours to handle |
| Fixed yearly cost | Works in your favour: None | Works in your favour: None | A cost or a limit: $309, plus Form 5472 |
| A co-founder's share | A cost or a limit: A side agreement | A cost or a limit: A side agreement | Works in your favour: Written into the operating agreement |
| Selling the product later | Neutral: The code and accounts, transferred | Neutral: The code and accounts, transferred | Works in your favour: The LLC, sold whole |
Works in your favourNeutralA cost or a limitAt $20 a sale, Stripe keeps $0.62 more of each sale than Paddle. A US LLC's $309 a year is covered after about 500 sales, before you count the tax work Paddle does for you.
Paddle, as yourself
- Start selling
- This week
- Fee on a $20 sale
- $1.50
- Sales tax and VAT
- Collected and filed for you
- Fixed yearly cost
- None
- A co-founder's share
- A side agreement
- Selling the product later
- The code and accounts, transferred
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Neutral:
Stripe in your own country
- Start selling
- If Stripe serves your country
- Fee on a $20 sale
- Your country's Stripe rate
- Sales tax and VAT
- Yours to handle
- Fixed yearly cost
- None
- A co-founder's share
- A side agreement
- Selling the product later
- The code and accounts, transferred
Neutral:
Neutral:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Neutral:
A US LLC with StripeWhat we set up
- Start selling
- After the EIN
- Fee on a $20 sale
- $0.88
- Sales tax and VAT
- Yours to handle
- Fixed yearly cost
- $309, plus Form 5472
- A co-founder's share
- Written into the operating agreement
- Selling the product later
- The LLC, sold whole
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
Works in your favourNeutralA cost or a limitAt $20 a sale, Stripe keeps $0.62 more of each sale than Paddle. A US LLC's $309 a year is covered after about 500 sales, before you count the tax work Paddle does for you.
04 · Step by step
From side project to your own company, in seven steps.
Ship first. Form the company when one of the signs below shows up.
Step 1: Ship on a merchant of record
Paddle sells for you at 5% + 50¢ a sale and handles the tax. No company, no EIN, no yearly filings while you find out if anyone pays.
This weekYouStep 2: Watch for the signs
Revenue past about 500 sales a year at $20, a customer who needs a company to buy from, a co-founder joining, or a buyer interested in the product.
Each monthYouStep 3: Form the Wyoming LLC
With the operating agreement recording who owns what, if there are two of you. Wyoming approves an online filing the same day it is filed.
Same dayWe do itStep 4: 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 5: Open the bank account and Stripe
Both in the LLC's name. Stripe reviews the product, its pricing page and the person behind it.
Days, then Stripe's reviewYouStep 6: Plan how subscribers move
New customers start on Stripe. For existing subscribers, ask your merchant of record what it supports; many founders let old subscriptions run where they are.
Before you switchYouStep 7: Take on the tax, and diary the filings
US sales tax by state once you pass a threshold, and EU and UK VAT on consumer sales from the first one. Form 5472 is due each 15 April, and Wyoming's annual report 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.
Does the LLC owe US income tax?
Foreign-source income, filed anyway
Software built and run from outside the United States by a company with no US office is foreign-source income, and most such LLCs owe no US income tax.
Read more
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.
How does my own country see the LLC?
Your own country
Where you live, the LLC's profit is either your income or the company's, and a company run from your desk may be resident where the desk is.
Read more
Ask a local accountant once, before the first payout.
Sources: Paddle, pricing; Stripe, pricing; Your Europe, the EU VAT One Stop Shop; IRS, Instructions for Form 5472; Wyoming Secretary of State, business fees.
06 · What it costs
What each path costs, line by line.
Paddle's and Stripe's from their own pages, ours from our price list.
| Cost | Amount | When | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paddle, as merchant of record | 5% + 50¢ | Each sale | $1.50 on a $20 sale, tax included. |
| Launch, with Wyoming's feeOptional | $351.40 | First year | $249 to us and $102.40 to Wyoming, at cost. The LLC, the EIN and the operating agreement. |
| StripeOptional | 2.9% + 30¢ | Each sale | $0.88 on a $20 US card sale. The tax work is yours. |
| From the second yearOptional | $309 | Every year | $249 for Launch and Wyoming's $60 minimum. Form 5472 is an accountant's fee on top. |
The break-even ignores what VAT and sales tax registrations cost you once Paddle stops handling them. Add those before you switch.
The plan that fits
Launch, usually.
Launch is the whole company at the lowest running cost.
Launch
Fits indie hackersFor 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 Stripe asks for, without an SSN
- An operating agreement, ready for a co-founder
Add the expedited EIN if Stripe is waiting on the number.
07 · Questions
Questions from indie hackers.
If yours is not here, email us at hello@baseacross.com before you order.
On fees alone, at about 500 sales a year at $20 each: Paddle takes $1.50 of a $20 sale and Stripe $0.88, and the $0.62 difference covers Launch's $309 a year around there. Count the VAT and sales tax work you take on too before you switch.
New customers, easily. Existing subscriptions depend on what your merchant of record supports, so ask it first; many founders let old subscriptions run where they are and start new ones on Stripe.
While you're earning a few hundred dollars a month. A merchant of record such as Paddle or Lemon Squeezy sells your software, collects the tax and pays you, and it doesn't need a US 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