Start a US LLC From the Philippines: Steps and BIR

A Philippine resident can form a US LLC online in days — no US visit, no SSN, no minimum capital. The usual driver is commercial, not fiscal: agencies and senior freelancers who have outgrown Upwork want to invoice US clients as a US company, take card and ACH payments, and stop explaining wire instructions on every deal. That part works. The part to settle with a Philippine accountant first is whether the BIR will simply look straight through the arrangement to you.

Bottom line

• Formation plus EIN is realistic in one to three weeks. Year one typically runs roughly $150–$600 depending on state and provider.
• The Philippines taxes resident citizens on worldwide income. The LLC does not remove your personal BIR registration, filings or receipts.
• The live risk is not a controlled foreign company rule — ask your accountant, but a CFC regime has been proposed in tax reform bills rather than enacted. The risk is that a foreign company genuinely operated from Manila can be treated as doing business in the Philippines, which brings local tax and SEC registration questions with it.

Why Filipino founders form US LLCs

Payment rails that US clients expect. A US entity with an EIN and a US business account can take US-domestic card payments and ACH, run Stripe as a US business, and get paid on net-30 terms like any American vendor. That is a different experience from asking a US client to wire dollars to a personal account in Makati.

Contracting credibility on larger deals. For a marketing, design or development agency moving from $3,000 projects to $30,000 retainers, a US counterparty shortens procurement and legal review. The entity is a sales asset before it is anything else.

Keeping dollars as dollars. Earning in dollars and paying dollar costs — hosting, ads, software, overseas subcontractors — from the same balance removes a conversion step on every transaction.

Separation of liability. An LLC puts a company between your personal assets and a client dispute. A Philippine sole proprietorship does not.

What a US LLC does not do: cancel your BIR registration, exempt you from Philippine tax on income you earn, or let you stop issuing official receipts for work you actually perform in the Philippines.

The formation steps, in order

1. Choose the state. Wyoming and New Mexico are the standard non-resident picks: low fees, no entity-level state income tax on out-of-state activity, and no member names in the public filing. Wyoming files for $100 with an annual report license tax carrying a $60 minimum for LLCs holding $300,000 or less in in-state assets, due in your anniversary month. New Mexico files for $50 and requires no LLC annual report at all. Delaware charges a flat $300 LLC franchise tax due June 1 and earns the premium only if US investors are realistically in the plan. Compared in wyoming-vs-new-mexico-llc and best-state-to-form-llc-for-non-residents.

2. Appoint a registered agent. Required in every state — a physical in-state street address that accepts legal service for the company. You cannot be your own agent from Cebu, and a PO box does not qualify. Northwest Registered Agent is the pick when privacy matters, because it is notably disciplined about keeping client addresses out of public filings. See what-is-a-registered-agent.

3. File the Articles of Organization. Online in most states, generally approved within a few business days. Fees change, so read the current state schedule.

4. Get the EIN without an SSN. File Form SS-4 and write “Foreign” on line 7b if you have neither an SSN nor an ITIN. From outside the US, fax to 304-707-9471 — the IRS generally returns the EIN in about four business days by fax, against roughly four weeks by mail. Detail in how-to-get-an-ein-without-ssn.

5. Sign the operating agreement. Even as the sole member. Banks and processors ask for it, and it is the document proving who owns the company.

6. Get a real US business address. Registered agent addresses are commonly rejected as a business address during banking and processor onboarding — see us-address-for-your-llc.

7. Open the bank account, then the processor. In that order. Stripe onboarding runs far smoother with a US business account already in place, and the processor question is its own project — see payment-processing-for-non-resident-llc.

8. Diarise compliance. State annual report or franchise tax, registered agent renewal, and — for a foreign-owned single-member LLC — Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120. That filing carries a $25,000 failure-to-file penalty and is due even in a zero-revenue year. Checklist in us-llc-annual-compliance-checklist.

doola handles steps 2 through 6 as one flow, including the US address and bookkeeping, and is built specifically for founders outside the US. Firstbase is the leaner option if you want the entity and EIN and will manage compliance yourself — see doola-vs-firstbase.

The Philippine side: questions for your accountant

Everything below is a question to put to a Philippine CPA or tax lawyer with your actual contracts and numbers. None of it is advice.

Worldwide income and your own registration. Resident citizens are taxed on income from all sources, inside and outside the Philippines. Ask how income you draw from the LLC is characterised — professional fees, dividends, or something else — and which BIR forms and deadlines that triggers. Ask whether your existing registration as a self-employed individual or professional stays open.

The 8 percent option and the VAT threshold. Self-employed individuals and professionals can elect an 8 percent tax on gross sales or receipts above the statutory deductible amount instead of the graduated rates, but only while gross sales or receipts stay within the VAT threshold, commonly cited as PHP 3,000,000. Ask how routing revenue through a US LLC affects both the election and the threshold calculation — it can help or hurt depending on how you draw the money.

“Doing business in the Philippines.” This is the one to take seriously. A foreign corporation that is actually doing business in the Philippines can be within the Philippine tax net and can face SEC registration questions as a foreign corporation. If the LLC has no US staff, no US premises and no US operations, and every client is managed from your condo in Taguig, ask your accountant and counsel directly: on my facts, is this entity doing business in the Philippines, and what follows if the BIR says yes?

Controlled foreign company rules. Ask whether any CFC or attribution rule can tax you on profits the LLC retains and does not distribute. A CFC regime has featured in tax reform proposals rather than in force, so confirm the position for the years you care about instead of assuming either answer.

Funding the company and the BSP. Residents may buy foreign exchange from banks for outward investment without prior BSP approval up to a ceiling far above anything an individual founder would ever remit for a formation package. The practical work is at the counter: your remitting bank will want a purpose and supporting documents. Ask what those are, and whether any post-transfer reporting applies even below the threshold.

Withholding on payments to the LLC. If Philippine clients pay the US LLC, ask about withholding tax on payments to a non-resident foreign corporation, and whether the Philippines–US treaty changes the rate and what documentation is needed to claim it.

What to bring to the meeting: state of formation, ownership percentage, whether clients contract with you or the LLC, expected annual revenue, where the work is physically performed, whether you have Philippine employees or contractors, and whether profits will be distributed or retained.

Banking and payments: the honest odds

Banking, not formation, is the bottleneck.

Several prominent US fintech business accounts publish lists of countries they will not serve based on the founder’s country of residence, and the Philippines has appeared on more than one of them. Those lists change in both directions. Read the provider’s own live support page on the day you apply, and never buy a formation package on the promise of a specific named bank account. Our survey is in us-business-bank-account-for-non-residents.

What improves your odds: a real US business address rather than your agent’s, identical details across the Articles, EIN letter and operating agreement, a plain description of what you sell and to whom, a live website that matches it, and complete honesty about your residence. Every processor asks that question deliberately, and a false answer is how balances get frozen.

Who should do this, and who should not

Go ahead if your clients are US or international, you are running an agency or a product rather than hourly freelancing, you need card and ACH rails, and you will budget for a Philippine CPA and a US tax preparer. That professional cost is part of the real price.

Reconsider if you are a solo freelancer paid through a marketplace that already works, your revenue is modest, and the appeal is a lower tax bill. On those facts the 8 percent option can be simpler and cheaper than a foreign entity plus two sets of advisers.

FAQ

Do I need to travel to the United States?

No. Formation, EIN and remote-friendly business accounts are all handled from the Philippines. Traditional branch banks generally want an in-person visit, which is why founders use the fintech route.

Do I still register with the BIR if the LLC invoices my clients?

Ask your accountant before you change anything. Your personal obligations turn on your own residence and on where the work is performed, not on where the invoicing entity is registered.

Will a US LLC reduce my Philippine tax?

Do not assume so. Resident citizens are taxed on worldwide income, and a foreign company run entirely from the Philippines invites a doing-business analysis. Get the answer on your facts.

Which state should a Filipino founder pick?

Wyoming for low ongoing cost, New Mexico to avoid annual reports entirely, Delaware only if US investors are genuinely likely. The state matters far less than your banking documentation and your BIR position.

This is general information, not legal, tax or accounting advice — confirm your position with a Philippine CPA and with a CPA or attorney in the US before you act.

If you want the US side handled in one pass — entity, EIN, US address, bookkeeping — doola is built for non-US founders. If you want the lean version and will run compliance yourself, Firstbase costs less. Start with us-llc-for-non-residents, and book the accountant before you file.