Register a company in Florida

Yes, fully. The Articles are filed online through Sunbiz and signed by typing a name. The registered agent in our package covers Florida's street-address requirement, and the IRS issues EINs to applicants abroad by fax, phone or mail, with no SSN required. Banking is the least predictable step: each platform runs its own KYC, and we prepare the file for it.

Formation starts from $2,400 all-in, including the Florida filing fee ($125), the registered agent for the first year, the EIN and the operating agreement. With a fintech or bank account set up, from $4,400. After that, Florida's own yearly charge is the annual report: $138.75 for an LLC filed between 1 January and 1 May, $538.75 after.

For a trading or service business that pays its profit out to you, usually an LLC. By default the IRS treats a one-member LLC as disregarded and a multi-member LLC as a partnership, and Florida taxes neither at entity level. A C-Corp pays 21% federal tax and Florida's 5.5% above $50,000, but it has shares to issue, and shares are what investors buy. S-corporation status is closed to non-resident alien shareholders, so for a non-US founder the real choice is LLC or C-Corp.

Federally, a C-Corp pays a flat 21%, and an LLC's profit passes to its owners unless it elects corporate treatment on Form 8832. Pass-through does not mean untaxed: income connected with a US business is taxed on an individual owner's federal return at graduated rates. Florida charges 5.5% on the net income of corporations and LLCs taxed as corporations, with the first $50,000 exempt, and has no personal income tax. Sales tax is 6% at state level plus any county surtax, and dividends paid to non-resident shareholders carry 30% withholding unless a treaty lowers it.

Florida publishes no standard processing time and offers no expedited service; Sunbiz examines online filings in the order received. The EIN comes next: by fax from abroad the IRS issues it generally within 4 business days, by post in about 4 weeks. Banking follows the EIN, at the pace of the platform's own review.

That is the job of our second package. We choose between a fintech platform and a traditional bank on your file, prepare the application for Mercury or Relay-class platforms, and take the traditional-bank route where you have a US footprint. ACH, wires and Stripe onboarding follow once the account is open. Each platform makes its own KYC decision and we do not promise approval; what we control is a complete, consistent file.

Not to form the company or to get its EIN: Form SS-4 accepts "foreign" on line 7b when the responsible party has neither and is not eligible for one, and the EIN is free. An ITIN matters later, once you have a US federal tax purpose - a personal US return for income from the LLC, for example - or to claim some treaty rates on Form W-8BEN, where a foreign tax number can also serve. The IRS allows 7 weeks for an ITIN, and 9 to 11 weeks for applications from abroad or in tax season. Our ITIN support starts from $900.

For an LLC, it applies when a single non-US person owns the whole company. For this reporting the IRS treats such an LLC as a corporation: every year it files a pro forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 attached, listing its transactions with you, including money you put in or take out. It cannot be filed electronically - fax or mail only - and it is due with the Form 1120, normally the 15th day of the fourth month after the tax year ends. Missing it costs $25,000. Our accounting and 5472 add-on starts from $800 a year.

If the business will operate in Florida - staff, an office, a shop - form it in Florida. A Delaware or Wyoming LLC doing business here registers as a foreign LLC, which in US law means an LLC formed in another state, whoever owns it. It files an application for a certificate of authority ($125 at Sunbiz) and keeps a Florida registered agent, so you pay for two states. If nothing happens in Florida, compare the three on our Delaware and Wyoming pages; investors and banking usually decide it, not the filing fee.

For an LLC the fee rises from $138.75 to $538.75 as soon as 1 May has passed, because Florida adds a $400 late fee; a corporation goes from $150 to $550. If the report is still missing by the third Friday in September, the company is administratively dissolved at close of business on the fourth Friday. Reinstating an LLC costs $100 plus the annual report fee for each year missed. Put 1 May in the calendar the day the company exists.