Form a Florida LLC from China: Complete 2026 Guide

What makes Florida worth a look for someone in China: the state fee is $125 on paper ($125 online), and after that the state-level upkeep is $138.75 mandatory annual report fee, due every year. The state levies no personal state income tax. Florida is the only one of these five states that discloses member names on its public annual report. None of this changes your China tax position, which sits on top of the US picture, but it does mean Florida itself adds little friction. Among the five states we cover, Florida is the only one of the five that publishes member names.

Choose Florida when you want a well-known state with strong US business infrastructure and don't mind that Florida is the one state on this list requiring member names on the public annual report. If your priorities lean another way, compare the other four states first, because moving a Florida LLC to another state later means dissolving it and forming a new one.

Checklist once the EIN letter arrives: (1) Operating Agreement signed and stored; (2) bank account application submitted; (3) Stripe and/or PayPal applications, subject to their own review; (4) your Florida annual obligation ($138.75 mandatory annual report, due every year) in your calendar; (5) Form 5472 with a pro forma 1120 on the federal calendar. 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.

The IRS international EIN line (267-941-1099) answers from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern. China does not observe daylight saving, so when the US is on daylight time China is 12 hours ahead and the window is 6 p.m. to 11 a.m. Chinese time; once US clocks go back it is 13 hours and the window becomes 7 p.m. to noon. A morning call from China falls inside the window in both periods. Allow 45-60 minutes.

Forming from China is a five-step job. One: choose and check the name. Two: appoint a registered agent with a physical Florida address. Three: file the Florida formation documents. Four: obtain the EIN, entering "Foreign" or "N/A" where Form SS-4 asks for an SSN or ITIN; by phone on 267-941-1099 it takes about 45-60 minutes, by fax or mail 4-6 weeks. Five: open the business bank account online. No US trip is needed at any point.

Florida is the one state of the five whose public annual report names members. A Chinese founder who prefers not to appear in a US public record should weigh that against the $138.75 annual fee and Florida's business infrastructure.

Here is the first-year budget for a Florida LLC owned from China. State filing: $125 ($125 online). Registered agent: typically $100-150 a year, or included in EasyBrise Global Launch at $295 for year one ($149 a year after that). EIN: free if you apply to the IRS yourself. Bank account: usually free at Mercury or Relay. Recurring state requirement: $138.75 mandatory annual report fee, due every year. Most founders land well under $500 all-in for year one.

Over five years, the state-level cost of a Florida LLC is a $125 filing fee plus $138.75 a year for five years, so $818.75 in total, before the registered agent. That makes Florida the second most expensive of the five states on this measure. The same arithmetic across the five states runs from $50 to $2,110. For a Chinese owner, the bigger variable is not this US state cost but how China's individual income tax rules and foreign-exchange quota apply.

As a Chinese owner, your recurring dates look like this. State: Florida's $138.75 annual report is due every year between January 1 and May 1. 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 6 p.m. to 11 a.m. Chinese time in US daylight time (7 p.m. to noon 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.

Since 2018 China's individual income tax rules have included controlled-foreign-company provisions aimed at individuals who control entities in low-tax jurisdictions. Whether a US LLC falls inside them is not clear-cut. The question turns on a whitelist-style treatment of countries with comparable tax levels, and whether the United States qualifies for individual owners is a genuine grey area rather than a settled answer. Enforcement against individuals has historically been light, but light enforcement is not the same as legal clarity, so treat the point as open and get Chinese tax advice. On the US side the LLC files Form 5472 and a pro forma Form 1120 each year, with a $25,000 minimum penalty for a missed or incomplete filing.

Ask a Chinese tax adviser four things before forming. Does your ownership level engage the IIT controlled-foreign-company provisions? Does the United States count as a comparable-tax jurisdiction for an individual owner? What must you declare and when, and in which form? And how will you lawfully remit profit, given the foreign-exchange quota? Get the answers in writing, because the whitelist point is a grey area.

If you hold more than one passport, the two banks test eligibility differently. Mercury's prohibited-countries list is based on country of residence, not citizenship, so someone living in China is judged on China. Relay's list looks at the citizenship or residency of the business owners. China is on neither list. The question only arises if you also hold citizenship in, or live in, a country that one of the lists does name, in which case check that bank's current page before you apply.

China is not on Mercury's prohibited-countries list, which is based on country of residence, and it is not on Relay's list of countries whose citizens or residents cannot be owners. Approval at either bank still depends on that bank's own review. The harder constraint is currency control: China has an annual foreign-exchange quota for individuals (currently USD 50,000 equivalent under State Administration of Foreign Exchange rules) and requires supporting documents for cross-border receipts. How profit moves from a US dollar account into China is a Chinese-law question, so confirm the route with your Chinese bank or adviser before you rely on it.