Form a Delaware LLC from Paraguay: Complete 2026 Guide

Delaware in one paragraph: $110 to file ($110 online), then $400 flat annual franchise tax (raised from $300 under Delaware House Bill 400, signed May 21 2026, effective retroactively for the 2026 tax year; first billed with payments due June 1, 2027), no separate annual report required each year. The state imposes no tax on LLC income earned outside the state, though the flat annual tax applies regardless of activity. Delaware does not require member names on the public formation certificate. For a Paraguay-based owner the state choice mainly decides cost, privacy and paperwork, not your home-country tax result. If investor familiarity and a well-known legal framework is what you are optimizing for, Delaware deserves a close look.

The cost side of a Delaware LLC: $110 state fee ($110 online), a registered agent at typically $100-150 per year, a free IRS EIN, and a bank account that is usually free. Annual state requirement in Delaware: $400 flat annual franchise tax (raised from $300 under Delaware House Bill 400, signed May 21 2026, effective retroactively for the 2026 tax year; first billed with payments due June 1, 2027), no separate annual report required. If you use EasyBrise, Global Launch is $295 for year one (registered agent included) and $149 per year after, and for a founder in Paraguay the whole first year typically comes in well under $500.

Delaware fits if you're planning to raise US venture capital or want the state most investors and legal counsel are already familiar with, and you're comfortable with the flat $400 annual tax (raised from $300 by 2026's House Bill 400) regardless of your LLC's size. Check the comparison table above before you commit, as switching later is not a simple amendment: the Delaware LLC would be dissolved and a new one formed elsewhere.

Paraguay is among the simplest home countries for a US LLC owner from a tax point of view. It taxes on a purely territorial basis, so income earned outside Paraguay is not taxed there, and the rate on foreign income is 0%. Freelancers, developers and online sellers in Paraguay form US LLCs to invoice in dollars through a US business bank account and to look like a domestic supplier to American clients, and the tax result is largely settled on the US side. The remaining work is mostly American: choosing the state, appointing a registered agent, getting the EIN and keeping up the annual filings.

Your Delaware LLC exists once the state accepts the filing, but it is only ready to trade after these steps: sign the Operating Agreement; get the bank account open; apply for payment processors; calendar your Delaware annual obligation ($400 flat annual franchise tax (House Bill 400, raised from $300), first billed with payments due June 1, 2027) and the federal Form 5472 and pro forma 1120. On BOI: FinCEN's rule in force since August 14, 2026 permanently exempts all US-formed LLCs, so there is nothing to file there.

The IRS international EIN line (267-941-1099) answers from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern. Paraguay stays on UTC-3 all year. In US daylight time that window is 7 a.m. to midnight Paraguayan time; in US standard time it is 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. A daytime call suits both periods. Allow 45-60 minutes.

Here is how Delaware formation works for someone in Paraguay. File the Articles of Organization with the Delaware Secretary of State, using a registered agent's physical Delaware address. Request your EIN from the IRS, writing "Foreign" or "N/A" in place of an SSN (phone: 267-941-1099, about 45-60 minutes; fax or mail: 4-6 weeks). Then apply for Mercury or Relay online. Every step can be done remotely.

Delaware is the pick for a Paraguayan founder planning to raise US capital. Since the home country adds no tax on foreign income, the $400 flat annual tax is effectively the only recurring state-level cost to weigh against investor familiarity.

Of the home countries we cover, Paraguay has one of the simplest answers: territorial taxation, 0% on foreign income and no CFC rules. That does not remove the need to keep records. Show that the income is foreign-source, keep the LLC's US filings current, and revisit the position if Paraguayan law changes, because territorial rules can be amended.

Over five years, the state-level cost of a Delaware LLC is a $110 filing fee plus $400 a year for five years, so $2,110 in total, before the registered agent. That makes Delaware the most expensive of the five states on this measure. The same arithmetic across the five states runs from $50 to $2,110. For a Paraguayan owner, Paraguay adds no tax on foreign-source income, so these US costs and the federal filings are the main recurring items.

As a Paraguayan owner, your recurring dates look like this. State: Delaware's $400 annual tax is first billed with payments due June 1, 2027, and there is no separate annual report. Federal: Form 5472 with the pro forma Form 1120 is due on the return due date, April 15 for a calendar-year LLC, extendable with Form 7004. For the one-off EIN call, the IRS line (6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern) is open 7 a.m. to midnight Paraguayan time in US daylight time (8 a.m. to 1 a.m. in US standard time). Put the state date and the federal date in your calendar when the EIN arrives, because a missed Form 5472 carries a $25,000 minimum penalty.

Paraguay applies 100% territorial taxation: foreign-source income is taxed at 0%, and the country has no controlled-foreign-company regime to attribute an LLC's profit to you. For an owner resident in Paraguay, the LLC's non-Paraguayan business income therefore generally does not create Paraguayan income tax. The point to keep clean is the source of the income, since income that is Paraguayan-source stays taxable at home. The compliance work that remains is American: the LLC files Form 5472 and a pro forma Form 1120 every year, with a $25,000 minimum penalty for a missed or incomplete filing.

It helps to see how simple the Paraguayan position is beside its neighbours and peers. An Israeli owner has to think about Section 75B and the Circular 05/2004 election. A Chinese owner faces individual controlled-foreign-company rules from 2018 and a grey-area whitelist. A Colombian owner is inside the ECE regime with accrual taxation, and a Uruguayan owner has the 12% rate introduced in 2026. A Paraguayan owner has territorial taxation, 0% on foreign income and no CFC rules.