Why Form a Wyoming LLC

What is a Wyoming LLC?

A Wyoming LLC is a limited liability company formed in Wyoming and governed by Wyoming statutes. A hybrid of corporations and partnerships, the Wyoming LLC combines the tax structure of partnerships and the limited liability features of corporations into one legal entity, making LLCs the most widely-used business structure in America.

Advantages of Wyoming LLCs:

1. Limited Liability and Asset Protection
   Limited liability protection is the cornerstone of every Wyoming LLC. Each LLC formed in Wyoming is protected by tough, business-friendly statutes. What’s unique to Wyoming is that these protections even extend to single-member LLCs in Wyoming, as outlined in the Wyoming Limited Liability Company Act (Wyo. Stat. § 17-29-503). If you’re concerned about maximizing asset protection in Wyoming, you may want to consider our Firm LLC.
2. Privacy
   You are not required to list the personal details of the LLC’s owner(s). This helps to ensure business privacy and personal security, as well as reducing the amount of solicitor phone calls and junk mail you get. If privacy is of interest to you, you’ll also want to be aware that we list our address as your Wyoming business address on your formation documents, helping to ensure your personal information stays off the public record. The US Postal Service can’t sell your address if they only have ours!
3. Ownership
   Owners of a Wyoming LLC are called members. Unlike a corporation, ownership of a Wyoming LLC is divided into percentages instead of stock shares. Ownership percentages should be indicated in the LLC’s operating agreement and members can be given membership certificates as documentation of their contributions to the company.
4. Taxes
   The Wyoming Limited Liability Company (LLC) is taxed like a partnership. All profits are passed onto the members and treated as personal income. This type of tax structure is sometimes called pass-through taxation. 
   
5. History
   In 1977, Wyoming became the first state to allow the formation of LLCs. Since that time, LLCs have become the preferred entity of choice by entrepreneurs and start-up companies, as they allow for all the protection of a corporation without any of the formality requirements like annual meetings and corporate resolutions.

How to Start an LLC in Wyoming

To start an LLC in Wyoming, you’ll need to register your business with the Secretary of State. Doing so entails meeting certain federal, state, and local requirements. You’ll also want to set your LLC up with the right business tools to build your brand, maintain your personal privacy, and maximize your asset protection.

Here’s the lowdown on how to do it all:

1. Appoint a registered agent
2. Name your LLC
3. Complete Articles of Organization
4. File Articles with the Secretary of State
5. Wyoming LLC Operating Agreement
6. What to Do After You Register a Wyoming LLC

At Buffalo Registered Agents, we believe the Wyoming LLC offers business owners and asset protection specialists the widest set of options and advantages. For that reason, we offer the least expensive LLC formation service in Wyoming! For only $149 total (state fees included!), we’ll form your LLC with the state and provide you with one year of our Wyoming registered agent service. We ARE the cheapest and fastest way to form your Wyoming LLC.

Skip the Paperwork. Hire Buffalo to Form Your LLC Today.

If you are committed to completing your Wyoming LLC registration on your own, we support that. Just follow the steps below to start an LLC in Wyoming:

Appoint a Registered Agent

To form an LLC in Wyoming, you are legally required to appoint a Wyoming registered agent (Wyo. Stat. § 17-28-101). A registered agent is an individual or business located in Wyoming that agrees to accept service of process (notice of a lawsuit) and other official documents on a business’ behalf. Your registered agent can be any entity or individual who:

• Is at least 18 years of age
• Resides in Wyoming
• Maintains a physical address in Wyoming (registered office)
• Operates during normal business hours

What should I look for in a registered agent?

Your registered agent should be someone who is reliable and can forward time-sensitive legal correspondence to you in a timely fashion. The last thing you want is to risk your business over missing an important communication from the state. You can always appoint yourself as your registered agent, but then you will need to list your personal information (for example, your name and address) on public filings for all to see.

As a local professional registered agent service, we provide our clients an online account where they’ll receive same-day mail scans of their registered agent mail. So if you’re forming your company on your own but still need reliable and experienced local registered agents, you can hire us for registered agent service today for only $49 a year. But if you want to start your company with the highest level of privacy, we suggest ordering our formation service. Since we only charge state fee that you’d have to pay anyway and our registered agent fee, you basically get FREE LLC filing with the highest level of security right off the bat. It’s the best bargain in the state!

Name the Limited Liability Company

When you start a Wyoming business, you’ll need to register a unique business name with the state (Wyo. Stat. § 17-28-108). Your Wyoming LLC name must include one of the following name endings: Limited Liability Company, LLC, L.L.C., Limited Company, LC, Ltd. Liability Company, Ltd. Liability Co., or Limited Liability Co.

In addition, your LLC name must NOT:

• Contain a word or phrase that suggests your company is organized for a purpose other than the one you listed on your Articles of Organization
• Be the same or similar to any name or trademark in Wyoming (your LLC name must be distinguishable from that of other businesses)
• Include language that suggests your company is organized under the Wyoming Business Corporation Act, the Wyoming Statutory Close Corporation Supplement, or the Nonprofit Corporation Act

You can conduct a business name search for your preferred Wyoming LLC name on the Secretary of State’s website to make sure it’s not already registered.

Can I reserve a business name?

Name reservations are not required before filing your Articles of Organization. However, if you have a name already but need time to before officially registering your LLC, you can submit an Application for Reservation of Name. This will allow you to reserve a name for your limited liability company for 120 days. The filing fee for name reservations is $60.

Can I register a trade name in Wyoming?

In Wyoming, businesses can register a trade name, also known as a DBA or “doing business as” name, if you want your LLC to conduct business under an alternative name. You can do this by filing an Application for Registration of Trade Name with the Wyoming Secretary of State. We created our Trade Name Service for clients interested in registering a DBA for their Wyoming LLC. You can sign up at checkout, and for $225 we’ll register your DBA for you.

Complete Wyoming Articles of Organization

The Articles of Organization is the official document filed with the Wyoming Secretary of State to form a Wyoming LLC. To complete the Wyoming Articles of Organization, you’ll need to provide the following information:

• Name of the limited liability company. As noted above, this name must be unique, include an identifier like “LLC,” and adhere to Wyoming naming criteria. You can consult How to Choose a Company Name for some points provided by the Wyoming SOS.
• This entity elects to be a close limited liability company. The Wyoming Close LLC is specifically designed for small, family-owned businesses and modifies the standard Wyoming LLC management structure. Most LLCs do not choose this option. To find out if this structure best suites your LLC, see our Wyoming Close LLC page.
• Name and physical address of its registered agent. This is where you list your registered agent’s name and physical address.
• Mailing and principal office address of the limited liability company. Wyoming requires you to list a mailing address* and principal address for your Wyoming LLC. This is information will end up on public records. That’s why we provide our clients free use of our business address to keep their personal information off of public records.
• Certification of registered agent consent. Your registered agent will check this box to certify that they consent to accept electronic service of process at the required email address provided Consent to Appointment form.
• Signature. This is where your Wyoming LLC organizer signs. The organizer is simply the person who was authorized to prepare and file these Articles of Organization. The signature must be signed in ink. If you’ve hired us, we sign this on your behalf to ensure your personal name does not end up on this public filing.
• Consent to Appointment by Registered Agent. Once your registered agent has either been hired or accepted the appointment, the individual or company must sign the consent form, as the Wyoming Secretary of State requires the agent to agree in writing to represent a given company. When filing online, we would provide you with the correct name you will need for filling out the online form, which now serves as our digital consent. For mailed filings, you must call and request a consent form, which we will send you.

* Free mail forwarding of non-registered agent mail (up to 3 documents per year) comes standard when you hire us to form your LLC or simply act as your registered agent. If you want to free yourself of business mail (and a lot of junk mail), you can check out our paid mail forwarding packages and get a unique suite number to list as your business mailing address. You can even go all in with a Wyoming Virtual Office that comes with unlimited mail forwarding and a tangible office lease to help you set up your Wyoming business bank account!

File Articles with Wyoming Secretary of State

You can file your Articles of Organization by mail or online. The fastest and easiest way to file is online through the Wyoming SOS. You can also submit your filing by mail by accessing a PDF of the Wyoming LLC Articles of Organization, completing it, printing it out, and mailing it to the Wyoming SOS.*

Online submissions can be paid by Visa, MasterCard, or an authorized debit card. For mail-in submissions, you will need to send a check or money order payable to “Wyoming Secretary of State” for paper filings.

* If you choose to print out the form and fill it out by hand, be sure to do so in black ink.

Where do I submit my Articles of Organization?

How much does it cost to file Articles in Wyoming?

The filing fee is $100. For online filings, there is an additional $2 convenience fee.

How long does it take to process an LLC in Wyoming?

Online filings are processed instantly. The form takes about 30 minutes to complete. Right after you finish the filing, you can check the state records and see your company formed. Paper filings typically take up to 15 days to process following the date of receipt.

Extra filing tips:

• Send a copy for your original filing and keep at least one copy for your records
• Make check or money order payable to: Wyoming Secretary of State
• Be sure to provide an email address to ensure you get a confirmation
• Document must be legible and printed in black ink

Want to cut through all the bureaucracy? Hire us for $149 to do it for you. That fee includes the $100 state fee and a year of our registered agent service. We don’t charge you anything for filing your Articles, and you get all the benefits of our Wyoming LLC Filing Service, including address security (we list our professional business address instead of yours on public filings), an attorney-drafted Wyoming LLC Operating Agreement (and other key LLC documents), and complete Wyoming business presence (website, email, domain, security, and local phone service). This is hands-down the best value for Wyoming LLC registration you’ll find.

Wyoming LLC Operating Agreement

After you’ve filed your Articles of Organization with the state, your LLC has been formed, but it is essentially an entity without a skeletal structure or central nervous system. An Operating Agreement is what really gives your new Wyoming LLC an operational blueprint. An Operating Agreement addresses two specific issues: 1) who owns your LLC, and 2) how your LLC operates. At some point—before, during, or after—creating your Wyoming LLC, you’ll need to make an operating agreement (if we form your LLC for you, we include an operating agreement, resolutions, and membership certificates).

Some things to know about Operating Agreements:

• This is an internal document; it is not filed with any government agency
• An operating agreement is not a part of the public record
• There are no legal requirements for writing an operating agreement
• It is written to meet the specific needs of your company

We saved the most important thing to know about Operating Agreements for last. Your Operating Agreement is a document you can always use to prove ownership, which is especially important since your company is so well-guarded in terms of Wyoming’s privacy laws. If a situation arises in which you have to prove ownership, a well-crafted Operating Agreement with members’ signatures can help you settle any internal disputes or secure a bank account. It’s still an internal document, but consider it a card up your sleeve for any situations in which you have to confirm ownership or clarify company processes.

Who owns the LLC?

The Operating Agreement details ownership of your company. If there is ever any dispute about who owns your LLC, this is where ownership can be determined.

The owners of an LLC are called Members. The Operating Agreement will detail who are the initial members, what they contributed to the company to become a member (which usually determines their “ownership share” or what percentage of the company they control), what rights and responsibilities they have as members, and how they can transfer their share of the company or sell it outright to someone else.

The issue of ownership can be incredibly complex, or it can be incredibly simple. It depends upon the needs of your company.

How the LLC Operates

A well-written operating agreement outlines the management structure of the company. One of the main concerns here is whether the company will be Manager-Managed or Member-Managed. A Wyoming LLC that is Manager-Managed has appointed an individual or organization to run the day-to-day operations and oversee the company. This manager could be a member, but it doesn’t have to be. In a Member-Managed LLC, the daily business of the company is handled by the members.

The operating agreement should explain the duties, rights and responsibilities of management. It should address any major company policies. It should set out how member meetings will be conducted, where they will be held, and how voting procedures will be handled.

Finally, an operating agreement should also address the process for making amendments to itself.

What to Do After You Register a Wyoming LLC

Apply for an Employer Identification Number

An Employer Identification Number (also known as a Federal Employer Identification Number) is obtained through the IRS. The IRS uses an EIN (or FEIN) to identify a business, the same way it uses Social Security Numbers to identify individuals. An EIN is used specifically to track a company’s federal tax payments (Medicare and Social Security).

To obtain an EIN for your LLC in Wyoming, you’ll need to complete Form SS-4 with the IRS. You can file online. To get started, access the IRS online application portal. It is free to get an EIN.

Open a Business Bank Account

After you form a Wyoming LLC, you will need a bank account for your company. This account will be kept distinct and separate from all personal accounts of you and other members. From this account, you can make purchases for the business, pay employees and taxes, and take in revenues from customers.If you hire us to form your Wyoming LLC, we guarantee you will be able to walk into any bank in the US and get a business bank account. Our LLC articles, LLC operating agreement, and LLC membership certificates are time tested and bank approved.

Generally, a bank will need at least the following: copies of your filed Articles of Organization, your EIN, a copy of your Operating Agreement, and a copy of your Initial Resolution. Anyone can file the free state provided Wyoming LLC articles of organization. You don’t list members or managers on this form. So if you do not choose a Wyoming LLC filing service that knows what they are doing when preparing your internal private documents, you will be stuck at a bank for hours, and forced to go back to the drawing board to create all this just so you can get a bank account.

A bank account must be opened in person, and the person opening the account must be authorized to do so. You can authorize an individual to open accounts in your Operating Agreement and Initial Resolution.

Put Your Business on the Map

Once you’ve completed your Wyoming LLC registration, everything’s in place to keep your business separate and distinct from you. Now it’s time to establish your business’s professional ethos. At the very least, you should shoot for a website, business phone number, and business email to establish your professional profile with potential associates.

That’s why we give all of our clients our Wyoming Business Presence package FREE upfront. Here’s what you get:

• Secure, easy-to-edit business website
• Unique domain name with linked email addresses
• Local WY phone number you can access on your electronic device

The domain is free for a year, and the rest we give clients 90 days of free use. Why? Because we know it’s what you’ll need to get in front of customers and clients, and it’s what you’ll need for others to begin recognizing your business as a professional and legitimate one. So we make sure it’s all there for you immediately. No additional upfront cost, cancel anytime.

Even if you don’t hire us, it’s crucial to be thinking of these things as early as when you’re choosing the name for your company. You could and should be looking for the right available domain name right then and there. You should also be thinking about your website and branding. You get the picture—when you’re ready to start your business, you’ll need to be ready to build out the company image.

File the Wyoming Annual Report

To maintain your LLC in Wyoming, you will have to file Annual Report each year, starting with the year after you register. The Annual Report is filed on the first day of the month in which your business was formed. If you formed your LLC on January 25, you will file your Annual Report each year by January 1. You can file your Wyoming Annual Report online. The Annual Report filing fee is $60, and there is an additional $2 online convenience fee. You can avoid the convenience fee by filling out the form online, printing it and sending the form by mail to the Secretary of State. For companies with assets in Wyoming totaling more than $300,000, the Annual Report fee is calculated by multiplying the total value of assets by $.0002.

Companies that fail to file an Annual Report will be involuntarily dissolved by the Secretary of State within 60 days.

File Your Beneficial Ownership Information Report

Federal law requires that most LLCs file a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) report with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). If you are forming a new LLC on or after January 1, 2024, this report is due within 90 days of the date your LLC was officially formed. Starting January 1, 2025 reports for new LLCs are due within 30 days of company formation. Reports for existing LLCs created before January 1, 2024 are due on January 1, 2025.

It is important to know that BOI report information is not made public and that filing is free. Some types of companies that are already highly regulated are exempt.

BOI reports must include the following identification information about your company, your beneficial owners, and your company applicants (new LLCs only):

Reporting company:

• Legal company name
• DBA or trade names
• Principal business address
• Jurisdiction of formation
• Tax ID (SSN, EIN, or TIN)

Beneficial owners and company applicants (if applicable):

• Full legal name
• Residential address
• Date of birth
• Copy of photo ID (for example, passport or driver’s license

A beneficial owner is any individual who exercises substantial control over your LLC such as a member/manager or any member who owns 25% of the company. A company applicant is the individual in charge of your formation filing and/or who files this paperwork (if different).

As part of meeting all of your filing needs, we offer $25 BOI report filing.

Wyoming LLC State Fees