A country list a US company is on
Stripe serves a set list of countries, and a US company is on it. A merchant of record, such as Paddle, is the alternative if you don't want your own processor yet.
Cleared by the LLC
Built for · Software
A US LLC or C‑Corp for a SaaS company built outside the United States
Software needs little from a US company and gets a lot: a payments account that works, a vendor US customers can buy from, and a structure investors recognise if you raise.
01 · Why a US company
What it does for SaaS and app companies.
Selling software to US companies from abroad runs into procurement teams that want a company to invoice and a US bank account to pay, payment processors that don't serve your country, and app stores and marketplaces that pay out to a bank account you can't open.
Read the full explanation
Selling software to US companies from abroad runs into procurement teams that want a company to invoice and a US bank account to pay, payment processors that don't serve your country, and app stores and marketplaces that pay out to a bank account you can't open. A US company with an EIN and a US bank account gets past all of them.
The bigger decision is the structure. A Wyoming LLC suits a software business funded by its customers. A Delaware C-Corporation suits one funded by US investors, because their documents assume it and converting later means legal fees. The structure tool gives you the answer and the reasoning.
- 01
Stripe, on US terms
A US company is on Stripe's country list, and payouts land in dollars.
subscriptions payout+6,940.00 USD - 02
A vendor procurement can approve
Enterprise customers want a US company with an EIN and a US address.
VendorAster Labs LLC - 03
Payouts to the company
Apple and Google pay the company's bank account, and the tax interview takes a W-8 from you.
DeveloperAster Labs LLC - 04
Funded by customers, or by investors
A Wyoming LLC costs less to keep. A Delaware C-Corporation is what investors' documents assume.
Customers · InvestorsSeparate accounts
02 · What stands in the way
Three things in the way, and one way through.
Payouts to the company, a W-8 in the interview
Apple and Google pay app revenue to the developer's bank account, and a US LLC owned by someone abroad fills in a W-8 in the tax interview.
Cleared by the LLC
A company, a US account and the right tax form
Enterprise customers onboard a company with an EIN, a US bank account and a tax form: a W-8BEN from you as owner of a single-member LLC, a W-9 from a corporation.
Cleared by the LLC
A US company, with its EIN and a US bank account.
One set of documents that Stripe, the app stores and your enterprise customers all accept.
Start a company03 · Your options
Three ways to sell software from abroad.
A merchant of record sells for you. Your own company sells as itself. The difference is fees, tax work and what investors can buy.
| A merchant of record | A Delaware C-Corp | A Wyoming LLCWhat we set up | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who sells to the customer | Neutral: The merchant of record, such as Paddle | Works in your favour: Your company | Works in your favour: Your company |
| Fee a sale | A cost or a limit: 5% + 50¢ with Paddle | Works in your favour: Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ | Works in your favour: Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Sales tax and VAT | Works in your favour: Collected and filed for you | A cost or a limit: Yours to track and file | A cost or a limit: Yours to track and file |
| US tax on the profit | Works in your favour: None in the US | A cost or a limit: 21% federal, on the corporation | Works in your favour: Usually none, run from abroad |
| US investors | A cost or a limit: Need a company first | Works in your favour: What their documents expect | A cost or a limit: Convert first, at legal cost |
| Yearly cost to the state | Works in your favour: None | A cost or a limit: $450, Delaware | Works in your favour: $60, Wyoming |
| Yearly US filing | Works in your favour: None | A cost or a limit: Form 1120, with 5472 if 25% foreign-owned | A cost or a limit: Form 5472, and Wyoming's report |
Works in your favourNeutralA cost or a limitSelling to consumers in the EU or the UK? VAT is due from the first sale for a seller outside them, unless a merchant of record sells for you.
A merchant of record
- Who sells to the customer
- The merchant of record, such as Paddle
- Fee a sale
- 5% + 50¢ with Paddle
- Sales tax and VAT
- Collected and filed for you
- US tax on the profit
- None in the US
- US investors
- Need a company first
- Yearly cost to the state
- None
- Yearly US filing
- None
Neutral:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
A Delaware C-Corp
- Who sells to the customer
- Your company
- Fee a sale
- Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢
- Sales tax and VAT
- Yours to track and file
- US tax on the profit
- 21% federal, on the corporation
- US investors
- What their documents expect
- Yearly cost to the state
- $450, Delaware
- Yearly US filing
- Form 1120, with 5472 if 25% foreign-owned
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
A cost or a limit:
A Wyoming LLCWhat we set up
- Who sells to the customer
- Your company
- Fee a sale
- Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢
- Sales tax and VAT
- Yours to track and file
- US tax on the profit
- Usually none, run from abroad
- US investors
- Convert first, at legal cost
- Yearly cost to the state
- $60, Wyoming
- Yearly US filing
- Form 5472, and Wyoming's report
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favourNeutralA cost or a limitSelling to consumers in the EU or the UK? VAT is due from the first sale for a seller outside them, unless a merchant of record sells for you.
04 · Step by step
From company to first subscription, in seven steps.
Choosing the structure is the decision. The EIN is the wait.
Step 1: Choose the LLC or the C-Corp
Customers fund you: a Wyoming LLC. US investors within two years: a Delaware C-Corporation. The three-question tool gives the answer and the reasoning.
Before you orderYouStep 2: Form the company
We file it. Wyoming approves an online LLC filing the same day it is filed. Delaware takes two to three weeks on its standard queue.
Same day in WyomingWe 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 company's name. Stripe pays out to it, and US customers pay invoices into it by ACH.
Often days, after the EINYou, with the bankStep 5: Open Stripe for subscriptions
Apply with the company's real details, a live product, prices and a refund policy. Stripe reviews every account, and Stripe Billing runs the subscriptions once it's open.
Stripe's reviewYou, with StripeStep 6: Set up the tax
US sales tax by state, once your sales into a state pass its threshold; states differ on whether software sold as a service is taxable at all. EU and UK VAT on consumer sales from the first one. A merchant of record does all of it for its fee.
Before the first sale abroadYou, with an adviserStep 7: Answer the enterprise paperwork, and diary the filings
A W-8BEN from you as the owner of a single-member LLC, or a W-9 from a corporation, and often a security questionnaire. 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.
What would make the company owe US tax?
Software built abroad is foreign-source income
Income from work done outside the United States is foreign-source, and a company with no US office, staff or agent has no US trade or business to tie it to. That's why most foreign-owned software LLCs owe no US income tax.
Read more
Hiring a US employee, opening a US office or giving a US salesperson authority to sign contracts changes that, so keep the company's management where you are and use US contractors under proper agreements.
How does my own country see the LLC?
Your own country taxes it
The US treats a single-owner LLC as see-through, while most other tax offices treat it as a company.
Read more
Where you live, its profit is either your income or the company's, and a company run day to day from your desk may be resident where the desk is. Ask a local accountant before the first invoice.
What if I raise money later?
Raising later
A Wyoming LLC can be converted into a Delaware C-Corporation when an investor asks, which costs legal fees and a few weeks. If you already know you'll raise within two years, form the corporation now.
Sources: IRS Publication 519, US tax guide for aliens; IRS, Instructions for Form 5472; IRS, Instructions for Form W-8BEN; Stripe, pricing; Paddle, pricing; Your Europe, the EU VAT One Stop Shop; Delaware Division of Corporations, franchise tax.
06 · What it costs
What the first year costs, line by line.
Ours from our price list, Stripe's and Paddle's from their own pages. Nothing here is a bundle.
| Cost | Amount | When | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch, Wyoming LLC | $351.40 | First year | $249 to us and $102.40 to Wyoming, at cost. The LLC, the EIN and the registered agent. |
| Or a Delaware C-CorpOptional | $450 a year | To the state | Delaware's annual report and minimum franchise tax for the share structure investors expect, due each 1 March. |
| Expedited EINOptional | $199 | Once | Gets Stripe open sooner. |
| Stripe | 2.9% + 30¢ | Each sale | A US card. An international card costs 1.5% more. |
| Or Paddle, as merchant of recordOptional | 5% + 50¢ | Each sale | Sales tax and VAT collected and filed for you. |
| From the second year | $309 | Every year | $249 for Launch and Wyoming's $60 minimum. Form 5472 is an accountant's fee on top. |
VAT and sales tax registrations, where you need them, cost what each country or state charges plus any filing service.
The plan that fits
Launch, usually.
Add the expedited EIN and Stripe can open before your first customer.
Launch
Fits a SaaS companyFor 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 that records each founder's share
Raising within two years? Start a Delaware C-Corporation instead.
07 · Questions
Questions from SaaS and app companies.
If yours is not here, email us at hello@baseacross.com before you order.
Yes. Both accept a US LLC as the developer, pay to its bank account, and ask a single-member LLC owned by someone abroad for a W-8 in the tax interview.
Paddle sells as merchant of record for 5% + 50¢ a sale and handles sales tax and VAT for you. Your own Stripe account costs 2.9% + 30¢ a US card sale, but the tax work is yours. Many founders start on a merchant of record and move to their own Stripe once revenue makes the difference worth it.
To consumers, yes, from the first sale: a seller outside the EU owes VAT where each customer lives, through the EU's one-stop shop, and the UK has its own registration. Sales to businesses with a VAT number usually aren't charged VAT by you. A merchant of record takes all of this on.
A W-8BEN, signed by you as the owner, if the company is a single-member LLC, because the IRS looks through it to you. A Delaware C-Corporation, or an LLC with two or more owners, gives a W-9.
Usually not, when the software is built and the company is run from outside the United States, with no US office or staff. It files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year regardless.
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