We touch this question first, because many of the prospects looking for US company registration are vaguely aware of the costs involved in launching a US business.
Initial Investment
It is crucial to understand that formal company registration is only a small part of the budget needed for launching your US business. Depending on the state of registration, entity type, and specific business needs, registration costs can run from as little as $300 to as high as $1000 and over. On average our European clients spend between $600 and $700 on registration formalities.
Then there is a question of banking, and for many entrepreneurs also the question of merchant account (what many confusingly refer to as "payment gateway"). We discuss both further in this article, but if we consider the option of traveling to the US in order to open the bank account, or using a managed service, you should prepare an additional budget of $2000 minimum, with about half or it to be spent on the fees, and the rest to be kept as balance in the account.
To summarize, for proper company registration only, without opening a US bank account, prepare a budget of $600-$700. With banking your budget needs to be between $2,600 and
$3,000. Keep in mind - this is just the initial investment needed to properly set up the company. Your business would need more money for the actual business activity, so make sure to take that into consideration when preparing your startup budget.
Running Costs
Beside initial investment, you would have monthly and annual costs, related specifically to maintaining your company. If you plan to lease a US address expect to pay between $20 and
$99 each month (we offer our own professional solution called MyUSAOffice that offers addresses for as low as $299/year). Another recurring cost is the cost of Registered Agent service (we provide it for a competitive $99 a year). Banking would cost you another $20-$100 a month in bank fees and management fees if you opt for managed bank account services.
Most states have recurring maintenance fees, taxes and reports. For example, Wyoming has Annual Report of $52, while Delaware has franchise tax for LLCs ($300 a year) and both annual report and franchise tax for corporations, calculated based on some formula. Some states have no annual fees, but its rare.
And finally, depending on your company structure and activity, you might be required to file annual tax return (and in some cases - pay taxes), which means you need to hire the services of CPA (certified public accountant) and maybe even a bookkeeper. Filing simple tax returns should not cost more than $300-$500, however more complex cases would result in higher