Form a Florida LLC from Indonesia: Complete 2026 Guide

Start with the numbers. A Florida LLC costs $125 to file (or $125 online), and the recurring state cost is $138.75 mandatory annual report fee, due every year. State tax treatment: no personal state income tax. Privacy treatment: Florida is the only one of these five states that discloses member names on its public annual report. For a founder in Indonesia the practical reading is that Florida is the only one of the five that publishes member names, so the question to ask is whether that trait matches how you plan to run the business.

Florida state fees are $125 to file ($125 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 Florida that is $138.75 mandatory annual report fee, due every year. With EasyBrise Global Launch ($295 in year one, registered agent included; $149 a year to renew) the typical first year stays well under $500.

An Indonesia-based founder should lean toward Florida if 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. 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 Florida LLC owned from Indonesia. 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 Florida annual obligation ($138.75 mandatory annual report, due every year) and the annual federal Form 5472 and pro forma 1120.

The IRS international EIN line (267-941-1099) answers from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern. Jakarta and the rest of Western Indonesia are on UTC+7 all year. In US daylight time that window is 5 p.m. to 10 a.m. in Jakarta, and in US standard time it is 6 p.m. to 11 a.m. A morning call from Indonesia works in both periods. Plan on 45-60 minutes.

Nothing about Florida formation requires you to be in the US. Your registered agent supplies the Florida address and receives official mail, the Articles of Organization go to the Florida Secretary of State, and the EIN comes from the IRS afterwards. Since an Indonesia 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.

Florida costs $125 to file and $138.75 every year, and its public annual report names members. It suits an Indonesian founder who values Florida's business infrastructure and accepts that disclosure.

Indonesia's controlled-foreign-company rule (Ministry of Finance Regulation PMK-93/2019) applies to Indonesian residents who hold at least 50% of the paid-up capital of a non-listed foreign company, which a sole LLC owner meets. When it applies, a deemed dividend arises in the fourth month after the end of the foreign company's fiscal year, whether or not any money was distributed. Since 2019 the rule has covered five kinds of passive income: dividends (other than from another CFC in the same chain), interest, related-party rent, royalties and certain capital gains. Active business income such as software, e-commerce or consulting is generally outside the calculation, whereas before 2019 all after-tax profit was captured. On the US side 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.

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 an Indonesian owner, the bigger variable is not this US state cost but whether the LLC's income is passive or active under Indonesia's CFC rules, and where the founder lives for Mercury.

Indonesia's foreign-exchange system is reporting-based rather than quota-based: there is no hard dollar cap on personal investment transfers abroad. Banks may ask for the purpose of a transfer and report significant transactions to Bank Indonesia. Indonesia also takes part in the Common Reporting Standard, so foreign account information is shared automatically with its tax authority. Keep documents for the LLC's capital and for any money you bring back.

As an Indonesian 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 5 p.m. to 10 a.m. Jakarta time in US daylight time (6 p.m. to 11 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.

The line between passive and active income is where most Indonesian founders' analysis happens. Consulting fees, software subscriptions and product sales are active business income and are generally outside the deemed-dividend calculation. Interest, royalties, related-party rent and certain capital gains are passive and inside it. If your LLC mixes the two, keep the revenue lines separate so each can be classified.

Mercury's prohibited-countries list is based on country of residence, and Indonesia is on it, so a founder who lives in Indonesia cannot open a Mercury account. Mercury says a citizen of a listed country who lives elsewhere may still be eligible after review. Relay's published list, which looks at the citizenship or residency of the owners, does not name Indonesia, so a Relay application is possible, though approval is never guaranteed and Relay notes its list can change without notice. Check Mercury's and Relay's current pages before you apply, and do not assume a bank that works for one founder will accept another.