Form a Delaware LLC from Switzerland: Complete 2026 Guide

Start with the numbers. A Delaware LLC costs $110 to file (or $110 online), and the recurring state cost is $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. State tax treatment: no tax on LLC income earned outside the state, though the flat annual tax applies regardless of activity. Privacy treatment: Delaware does not require member names on the public formation certificate. For a founder in Switzerland the practical reading is that Delaware is the state most recognised by US investors and lawyers, so the question to ask is whether that trait matches how you plan to run the business.

Delaware state fees are $110 to file ($110 online where available). The other line items are the same wherever you form: a registered agent at roughly $100-150 a year, a free EIN straight from the IRS, and a free business bank account at Mercury or Relay. What differs by state is the recurring cost, and for Delaware that is $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. With EasyBrise Global Launch ($295 in year one, registered agent included; $149 a year to renew) the typical first year stays well under $500.

Swiss freelancers, developers, consultants and online sellers form US LLCs to invoice international clients in dollars, hold a US business bank account and present a domestic US vendor to American customers. Switzerland is outside the EU and uses the franc, so a founder funds the LLC from francs converted to dollars. The Swiss tax result depends on how the canton classifies the LLC, which is not settled by one national rule.

A Switzerland-based founder should lean toward Delaware 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. Weigh it against the other four states on cost, privacy and reporting now, since a later switch is a dissolve-and-reform exercise, not an amendment.

Housekeeping for a new Delaware LLC owned from Switzerland. Federal Beneficial Ownership Information reporting is not something you need to do: FinCEN's rule in force since August 14, 2026 permanently exempts all US-formed LLCs. What you do need: an Operating Agreement, a business bank account, payment-processor accounts if you will take cards, and two recurring dates, 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 annual federal Form 5472 and pro forma 1120.

A Swiss founder planning to raise US capital or sell to a US acquirer may choose Delaware despite the $400 annual tax, because investors know the law. The $400 is a fixed amount for a Swiss budget.

Nothing about Delaware formation requires you to be in the US. Your registered agent supplies the Delaware address and receives official mail, the Articles of Organization go to the Delaware Secretary of State, and the EIN comes from the IRS afterwards. Since a Switzerland resident has no SSN, Form SS-4 gets "Foreign" or "N/A" in the SSN line. The international phone line (267-941-1099) takes roughly 45-60 minutes and is the quickest route; fax and mail take 4-6 weeks.

A Swiss tax firm's guide says Swiss law treats a foreign entity like the domestic entity it most resembles, and that the Swiss Tax Conference generally treats a US LLC as a GmbH, so as a corporation, even though it is usually transparent in the US. The Federal Supreme Court in 2015 applied a mixed method that weighs the US tax treatment, and the guide says the court has not clarified the point since. In practice cantons mostly follow the Swiss Tax Conference, and partnership treatment is possible case by case. The guide recommends obtaining binding information from the Swiss tax authorities.

As a Swiss 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 noon to 5 a.m. Swiss time for most of the year (the gap shrinks to five hours for a few weeks when US and European clock changes fall on different dates). 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.

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 Swiss owner, how the canton classifies the LLC decides whether it counts as a company or a partnership, so get a ruling before you start.

If the LLC is treated as a partnership, the guide says income is self-employment income and losses can be offset against other income, subject to a limit it cites in the federal tax act. The taxpayer carries the burden of proof for any tax-reducing partnership treatment, so keep the operating agreement and US filings in good order and ask the authority for a binding view.

Switzerland appears among the partners with a US income tax treaty. It covers dividends, interest, royalties and tie-breaker rules for residency, and you can confirm the details in the IRS treaty tables. For a typical founder whose LLC earns only non-US-source income, the treaty changes little for US tax because there is usually no US federal income tax for it to reduce.

The guide says that where the LLC is transparent in the US, which is common, profits are attributed pro rata to the owner and taxed in Switzerland, generally as investment income when distributed. It adds that if the US taxes the LLC as a separate entity, distributions can be taxed in Switzerland with US withholding tax credited under the treaty. A foreign-owned single-member LLC is usually disregarded for US income tax, so ask an adviser which case applies to you.