StartupOwl is reader-supported. We may earn a commission when you click links on this page - at no extra cost to you.

LLC Formation·Updated Aug 15, 2026

How to Start an LLC in Wyoming (2026)

Wyoming's $60 annual report fee is a floor. It is not a price. Hold more than $300,000 of assets in the state and it becomes a tax on what you own. Here is every step, fee and deadline in order.

Aug 15, 202612 min read
Daniel Wong
Written byDaniel Wong
Legal & Compliance Analyst

What You'll Learn in This Guide

This guide walks you through every step to legally form a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in Wyoming, from picking a name to staying compliant year after year. We've kept it practical, current, and free of unnecessary fluff.

Note

Wyoming LLC formation costs $100 in state fees. You can file DIY or through a formation service starting at $0.

Wyoming LLC: Quick Facts

Last Verified: Aug 2026
Filing Fee (Online)
$100
Processing Time
Immediate online, 15 days by mail
Expedited Available
No
Annual Report
$60*
State Income Tax
No
Sales Tax Rate
4%
Filed With
Wyoming Secretary of State
Last Verified
August 15, 2026

* Annual Report: $60, due First day of the anniversary month of formation

Why Wyoming Is a Top Choice for LLC Formation

A Wyoming LLC keeps your own money out of reach. Your home, savings and car sit behind a legal wall. If the business is sued, or cannot pay a vendor, creditors go after the business. That split is the point.

Two things pull founders to Wyoming. There is no state income tax, personal or corporate, so the LLC owes the state nothing on its profits. Filing costs $100, which is cheap. The annual report is where most guides get Wyoming wrong. It is not a flat $60. The state charges $60, or $0.0002 on each dollar of assets your LLC holds in Wyoming. You pay whichever is more. Under $300,000 in Wyoming assets you pay the $60 floor, and that covers most founders. Over it, you pay the sum. An LLC holding $2 million of Wyoming land owes $400 that year.

Privacy is the other pull, and it is narrower than anonymous LLC sounds. Wyoming does not ask for member or manager names on the articles. So ownership stays off the record. The rest of the form does not. The Secretary of State is blunt about it. Every field you type and every signature you give becomes public on filing, under the Wyoming Public Records Act. The organizer who signs is named. Sign your own articles and your name is searchable, whatever the ownership section leaves out.

The work itself is short. Pick a name. Appoint a registered agent with a Wyoming street address, file your articles, get a federal EIN, write an operating agreement and open a bank account. File online and the company is live the second you pay. File on paper and the state takes up to fifteen business days.Weighing Wyoming against Delaware? Our Wyoming vs Delaware LLC comparison sets the current fees side by side, and covers what changes if you trade somewhere else.

Almost every Wyoming guide prints the annual report as a flat $60. It is a floor. Past $300,000 of assets held in the state, the report turns into a tax on what you own, and the $60 stops being the answer.

Line chart of the Wyoming LLC annual report license tax against assets held in Wyoming. The fee sits flat at the $60 floor up to $300,000 of Wyoming assets, then rises in a straight line, reaching $400 at $2 million of assets.
Built from the Wyoming Secretary of State fee schedule revised June 2026 and the Annual Report License Tax Rules worksheet, both read 15 August 2026. The rule is $60 or two-tenths of one mill ($0.0002) per dollar of assets located and employed in Wyoming, whichever is greater. Only Wyoming assets count, so an LLC that banks and trades elsewhere generally stays on the floor.
Step 1

Choose a Name for Your Wyoming LLC

Your LLC name is how the state finds your business. Wyoming sets rules for it. You can hold a name for 120 days if you are not ready to file.

Your name must be clearly different from every business already on the Wyoming register. Search the state database at wyobiz.wyo.gov first. If your first pick is taken, change the wording enough to set it apart.

Search available names →

Wyoming LLC Naming Rules

Must include "LLC," "L.L.C.," or "Limited Liability Company"
Must be distinguishable from existing Wyoming business names
Cannot include words suggesting it's a bank, insurance company, or government agency without proper licensing
Cannot contain language that implies a purpose the LLC isn't authorized to pursue

Optional Name Reservation

  • You can reserve a name for 120 days before filing your articles of organization
  • The reservation fee is $60
  • File through the Secretary of State's office online or by mail

State Specific

Wyoming keeps owners off the articles, so member and manager names are never asked for. Your own name still appears if you sign as the organizer. The LLC name is public either way.

Pro Tip

Search the database before you settle. A quick search now beats a rejected filing later.

Step 2

Choose a Registered Agent in Wyoming

Every Wyoming LLC needs a registered agent with a street address in the state. The job is not optional. The agent takes legal papers and state mail on your behalf.

A registered agent is your LLC's official contact with the state. They take service of process, meaning lawsuit papers and legal notices. They also pass on state mail. The agent must live in Wyoming, or be a company cleared to do business here. They need a real street address in the state. A P.O. box will not do. Wyoming asks more of this role than most states. Your agent has a legal right to see your company records. Refuse to hand them over and the state can void your articles. Losing the agent is worse. You get sixty days from the state's notice, then the LLC is dead. Reviving it costs $350. No other Wyoming entity pays that much.

Your Three Options

  • Be your own registered agent (free, but your address is public and you must be available during business hours)
  • Ask a trusted person in Wyoming to serve (free or low-cost, but they take on a real responsibility)
  • Hire a professional registered agent service (typically $50 to $300 per year, keeps your address private and ensures reliable handling)

Pro Tip

Live in Wyoming and happy to take legal papers at home? Then serve as your own agent. It is free. Your address goes on the public record.

Step 3

File Your Articles of Organization with Wyoming

This step creates the LLC. You send articles of organization to the Wyoming Secretary of State with the $100 fee.

Filing Fee (Online): $100
Processing: Immediate online, 15 days by mail

Your articles are the paper that brings the LLC into being. Wyoming keeps the form short. You give the LLC name, the registered agent's name and address, a mailing address, and the name of the organizer filing it. Members and managers are not asked for. Few states leave that out.

File Online

Submit through wyobiz.wyo.gov Active as soon as you pay Immediate confirmation of submissionMust pay by credit card or electronic payment

File by Mail

Can pay by check or money order Use the downloadable PDF form from sos.wyo.gov Send to: Wyoming Secretary of State, Herschler Building East, Suite 101, 122 W 25th Street, Cheyenne, WY 82002-0020Takes up to 15 business days to processNo instant confirmation

The $100 covers the state's review of your articles. Filing online adds a card fee at checkout that the state does not publish beforehand, so budget a little over $100. Then the LLC exists. Every field and every signature on that form becomes public.

State Specific

Wyoming does not ask who owns the LLC. Members and managers stay off the articles. The organizer who signs does not, so that one name is on the public record.

NW logo

Recommended: Northwest Registered Agent

$39 + state fee. Includes registered agent, business address, domain, website, email, and phone. No upsells.

4.8
Form Your LLC →
Step 4

Get an EIN from the IRS

An EIN is your LLC's federal tax number. You need one for the bank. It is also required to hire staff and file business tax.

Apply on the IRS website. It costs nothing. The form takes about ten minutes and your EIN comes back at the end of it. Have the LLC's legal name, its formation date and the responsible party's Social Security Number ready. Single member LLCs should get one too, rather than putting a personal SSN on business paperwork.

Apply for your EIN on IRS.gov →
Step 5

Create an Operating Agreement for Your Wyoming LLC

An operating agreement sets out who owns the LLC and how it runs. Wyoming does not require one. Skip it and important calls are left undecided.

Wyoming does not make you have an operating agreement. Write one anyway. Without it the state's default rules decide how your LLC works, and those rules may not be what you want. The agreement stays in your own files and never goes to the state, so you can keep it private and change it as the business grows.

Key Sections to Include

Ownership percentages and capital contributions of each member
How profits and losses are divided among members
Management structure (member-managed vs. manager-managed)
Voting rights and decision-making procedures
Rules for adding new members or handling a member's departure
Dissolution procedures if the LLC needs to close

Pro Tip

Single member LLCs need one too. It hardens the line between you and the business, and some banks ask to see it before they open an account.

Step 6

Open a Business Bank Account for Your LLC

A business bank account keeps company money apart from your own. That split protects your liability shield.

Once the LLC is approved and the EIN is in hand, open a business checking account. It keeps tax time clean. More to the point, it holds the legal line between you and the company. If you are ever sued, a clear money boundary makes it far harder to argue the LLC is just you under another name.

What to Bring to the Bank

  • Your approved articles of organization from the Wyoming Secretary of State
  • Your EIN confirmation letter from the IRS
  • Your operating agreement (some banks require this)
  • A valid government-issued photo ID
  • An initial deposit (amount varies by bank)

Important

Mixing personal and business money can break your liability shield. Courts call it piercing the corporate veil. You can end up owing the company's debts yourself.

Federal Requirement

Federal BOI Reporting

No for domestic LLCs. FinCEN's interim final rule of March 2025 exempted companies formed in the United States from beneficial ownership reporting. Only foreign companies registered to do business in a US state still file.

Top 3 LLC Formation Services

We've independently reviewed the top LLC formation services in Wyoming. Here's how they compare.

Feature
Northwest Registered Agent
Best Overall
ZenBusiness
Best for LLC Formation
Tailor Brands
Best for Branding
Starting Price$39 + state fees$0 + state fees$0 + state fees
Formation SpeedSame-day filing7-10 days, 1 day on Pro2-14 business days
SupportLifetime Corporate GuidesPhone, Chat, EmailPhone, Chat, Email
States Covered50 states50 states50 states
In Business Since199820152014
Get StartedGet StartedGet Started

Frequently Asked Questions

The state fee for articles of organization is $100. Online filings add a card fee at checkout that the state does not publish in advance. A professional registered agent runs $50 to $300 a year. The annual report is $60 for most founders, more if the LLC holds over $300,000 of assets in Wyoming. Year one lands around $160 to $460.

File online and the company is active the second you pay. Paper is slower. The Secretary of State takes no longer than fifteen business days from the day your envelope lands, working filings in the order received. Your copy, certificate and receipt download at once online, or come by email on a paper filing.

No, and the reason catches people out. Wyoming does sell expedited service, $700 for next business day and $1,400 for same business day, per document. Its own instructions rule out anything that can be filed online, and initial formations are named on that list. Online filing is instant already. There is nothing to buy.

Ownership is. Members and managers are not asked for on the articles, so those names never reach the state. The rest of the form is public, including the signature of the organizer who files it. Sign your own articles and your name is searchable. Founders who want it off the record have someone else act as organizer.

Yes. Wyoming fully supports single member LLCs. You can be the sole owner, the registered agent if you live in Wyoming, and the organizer who files the paperwork. There is no rule that you find a second member, and no extra fee for going it alone.

No, Wyoming does not require one. Write one anyway. It sets ownership, profit split and management structure. Without it, Wyoming's default statutes govern your business, and those defaults may not match what you want. The document stays in your own files and never goes to the state.

Wyoming charges no personal income tax and no corporate income tax. Federal tax still applies. What you owe depends on the IRS classification, whether sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation. Sell taxable goods or services and you need a Sales and Use Tax License, then collect the 4% state rate. Counties and cities can add to it.

Yes, every year. It falls due on the first day of the month you originally filed. The fee is a license tax, $60 or $0.0002 per dollar of assets the LLC holds in Wyoming, whichever is greater, so most founders pay $60. Miss it and the state sends a notice. You then have sixty days before the LLC is deemed defunct. After that you get two years to revive it by paying what you owe.

The state gives notice and sixty days to appoint a replacement. Miss that and the LLC is dead. Getting it back costs $350, a $100 fee plus a $250 statutory penalty, which is the steepest reinstatement of any Wyoming entity type. A corporation pays $250. Your LLC does keep its name through the two year revival window.

What to Do Next

Once your Wyoming LLC is approved, take these steps to set your business up for success.

NW logo

Ready To File?

Start your Wyoming LLC with Northwest Registered Agent. $39 + state fee includes registered agent, business address, domain, and more.

Start Your LLC →

About the Author

Daniel Wong

Legal & Compliance Analyst

Daniel grew up in the shadow of Silicon Valley but chose the legal route over engineering, working as a paralegal for a corporate law firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions. He realized that early-stage founders were constantly making catastrophic legal mistakes because they couldn't afford a $500/hour attorney, prompting his move to B2B media.

Was this article helpful?

Questions about forming an LLC in Wyoming

No comments yet. Ask the first question and a member of our team will answer.

Leave a comment

Comments are reviewed before they appear. We never publish your email address.