Form a New Mexico LLC from Colombia: Complete 2026 Guide

New Mexico state fees are $50 to file ($50 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 New Mexico that is $0 ever — New Mexico is one of the only states with no ongoing annual report or annual fee for LLCs. With EasyBrise Global Launch ($295 in year one, registered agent included; $149 a year to renew) the typical first year stays well under $500.

Start with the numbers. A New Mexico LLC costs $50 to file (or $50 online), and the recurring state cost is $0 ever — New Mexico is one of the only states with no ongoing annual report or annual fee for LLCs. State tax treatment: no tax on LLC income earned outside the state for non-resident owners. Privacy treatment: New Mexico does not publicly disclose member or manager names in its formation records. For a founder in Colombia the practical reading is that New Mexico is the only one of the five with no annual filing at all, so the question to ask is whether that trait matches how you plan to run the business.

A Colombia-based founder should lean toward New Mexico if minimizing ongoing paperwork is the top priority — no annual report, ever, is unique among these five states — and strict privacy matters more to you than name recognition. 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.

Colombian freelancers, agency owners and online sellers form US LLCs to bill clients in dollars, accept US payment processors and operate through a US business bank account. Colombian tax residents are taxed on worldwide income, so the LLC does not shelter profit from Colombian tax. What it does give you is a US operating entity, and the key Colombian question is whether the LLC counts as an entity controlled from abroad under the country's ECE rules, because that decides when profit is taxed to you.

Housekeeping for a new New Mexico LLC owned from Colombia. 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, there is no New Mexico annual filing to calendar and the annual federal Form 5472 and pro forma 1120.

Accrual taxation is easiest to grasp with an example. Suppose the LLC earns passive income in a given year and leaves it in the US bank account. Under the ECE regime that income can still be taxed to you in Colombia for that year, even though you took nothing out. Active business income is analysed differently, which is why classifying the LLC's income before the first invoice is more useful than reacting after the year ends.

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

New Mexico is the lowest-maintenance route for a Colombian owner: a $50 filing fee and no annual report or fee afterwards. With accrual taxation under the ECE regime already creating Colombian reporting work, cutting US-side filings to Form 5472 and the pro forma 1120 helps.

Bring three questions to your Colombian accountant. Does your ownership level reach the 10% threshold that engages the ECE regime? Is the LLC's income passive or active business income for ECE purposes, since passive income is taxed on accrual? And how will you evidence US tax paid so that Colombia credits it? A short written opinion before formation avoids a surprise at your first Colombian filing.

Over five years, the state-level cost of a New Mexico LLC is a $50 filing fee and nothing recurring, so $50 in total, before the registered agent. That makes New Mexico the cheapest of the five states on this measure. The same arithmetic across the five states runs from $50 to $2,110. For a Colombian owner, the bigger variable is not this US state cost but how the ECE regime treats the LLC's income, since passive income can be taxed on accrual.

As a Colombian owner, your recurring dates look like this. State: New Mexico adds no state annual filing at all. 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 a.m. to 10 p.m. Colombian time in US daylight time (6 a.m. to 11 p.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.

Mercury and Relay test eligibility in different ways. Mercury's prohibited-countries list is based on country of residence, not citizenship, and a citizen of a listed country who lives elsewhere may still be eligible after review. Relay looks at the citizenship or residency of the owners. Colombia is on neither list, so a Colombian citizen resident in Colombia is not excluded by country. If you hold another passport or live in a third country, check whether that country appears on either list before you apply.

Colombia's Controlled Foreign Entities regime (Entidades Controladas del Exterior, or ECE), introduced by Law 1819 of 2016, can apply when a Colombian resident holds 10% or more of a foreign entity. The practical consequence is the part that surprises founders: passive income of an ECE can be taxed to the Colombian owner on an accrual basis, in the year it arises, rather than only when you take money out. Whether your LLC's income is passive or active business income is therefore central, and a Colombian accountant should classify it before the first invoice. 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.