Wyoming
- Why choose Wyoming as a Jurisdiction?
- Limited Liability Companies (LLC)
- Individual Owner LLCs
- Multi-Owner LLCs
- Advantages
- Paying Income Taxes
- No State Income Taxes
- No information collected to be shared with IRS
- Privacy allowed
- Shareholders are not listed with the state
- Best Asset Protection Laws
- Bearer Shares are allowed
- Nominee officers are legal
- Citizenship not required
- State tax not being considered
- Wyoming draws little attention
- No Nevada "Stigma"
- Lower Startup Costs
- Maximum anonymity can be yours—." Many business people have found it advantageous to maintain financial privacy simply to avoid looking like a good litigation "target." In Wyoming you may use "nominee officers/directors" meaning that anyone you designate can appear on the public record in your stead offering you valuable financial privacy. Furthermore, you may also be interested in using nominee or "third party" shareholders who can be the owners of record of the stock which you control.
- Enjoy anonymity and privacy in Wyoming—The more information about you that appears in the public record the easier it is for you to become a target. Wyoming has no requirement for the names of shareholders to be filed with the state. It asks only for a simple "Annual Report" which requires disclosure of only those assets located within the state of Wyoming and the name of one person, usually the one who submits the report.
Limited Liability Companies (LLC)
An LLC has characteristics of a corporation, but it is not. It does offer some of the benefits of a corporation, particularly the limitation of an owner's liability.
The main reasons to form a Wyoming LLC are lawsuit protection, credibility, tax savings, deductible employee benefits, asset protection, anonymity, the ease of raising capital, creating a separate legal entity for personal protection. A Wyoming LLC has a broad range of powers beyond that of a Sole-Proprietorship, small claims court benefits, separate liability for corporate debts, and perpetual duration.
When you form an LLC, you create a separate legal person. You are a shareholder.
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Individual Owner LLCs
The IRS treats one member LLCs as sole proprietorships for tax purposes. This means that the LLC itself does not pay taxes and does not have to file a return with the IRS. As the sole owner of your LLC, you must report all profits or losses of the LLC on Schedule C, and submit it with your 1040 tax return. If you leave money in the company's bank account at the end of the year, to cover future expenses or expand the business you must pay taxes on that money.
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Multi-Owner LLCs
The IRS treats co owned LLCs as partnerships for tax purposes. Co owned LLCs themselves do not pay taxes on business income; instead, the LLC owners each pay taxes on their lawful share of the profits on their personal income tax returns, with Schedule E. Each LLC member's share of profits and losses, which is called a distributive share, is set out in the companies' operating agreement.
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Wyoming LLC and Income Taxes
The IRS treats your LLC like a sole proprietorship or a Business Partnerships, depending on the number of members in your LLC. If you've already done business as a sole proprietorship or partnership, you are aware, because you know many of the basic rules.
If you are looking for state tax savings, an LLC passes the tax through to the members. So if the member(s) are in a state where you pay state taxes, you still pay state taxes on the profits that are passed through the LLC.
Also, in an LLC you can allocate the way you want the profits to be distributed and it does not have to be based upon the percentage of ownership. Here is an example: There are two members in an LLC that own it 50/50. But one member is an investor only, who wants to protect their investment by controlling 50% of the company. But the other member is the one doing all the work and who wants more than 50% of the profit. Just write in the agreement that the working member gets 75% of the profits, even though they only own 50% of the business.
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Advantages
Owners have limited personal liability for business debts even if they participate in management
Profit and loss can be allocated differently than ownership interests
IRS rules now allow Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) to choose between being taxed as partnership or corporation
If your LLC will regularly need to retain an amount of profits in the company, you can save money by electing to have your LLC taxed as a corporation.
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Paying Income Taxes
Because LLC members are not considered employees of the LLC, but rather Self Employment business owners, they are not subject to withholding taxes. Instead, each LLC member is responsible for setting aside enough money to pay taxes on his share of the profits. You must estimate the amount of tax you will owe for the year and make payments to the IRS each quarter -- in April, June, September and January. Table of benefits Benefits Wyoming No state corporate income tax No tax on corporate shares No franchise tax Minimal annual fees One-person corporation is allowed Stockholders are not revealed to the State No annual report is required until the anniversary of the incorporation date Unlimited stock is allowed, of any par value Bearer stock can be used Nominee shareholders are allowed Share certificates are not required Minimal initial filing fees No minimum capital requirements Meetings may be held anywhere Officers, directors, employees and agents are statutorily indemnified Continuance procedure (allows Wyoming to adopt a corporation formed in another state) Doesn't collect corporate income tax information to share with the IRS
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