Form a New Mexico LLC from Norway: 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 Norway 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 Norway-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.

Norwegian 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. Norway is outside the EU but inside the European Economic Area, and a Norwegian owner funds the LLC from kroner converted to dollars. Norway has controlled-foreign-company rules, called NOKUS, that cover individuals, so the Norwegian tax analysis is the main task.

Housekeeping for a new New Mexico LLC owned from Norway. 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.

The IRS international EIN line (267-941-1099) answers from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern. Norway is six hours ahead of Eastern Time for most of the year, so the window runs from noon to 5 a.m. Norwegian time, with a shorter gap for a few weeks when the US and Europe change clocks on different dates. Call in your afternoon or early evening and plan on 45-60 minutes.

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 Norway 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 suits a Norwegian founder who wants the lightest US paperwork: a $50 filing fee, no annual state report and no annual fee, leaving only the federal Form 5472 and pro forma 1120.

Skatteetaten says the NOKUS rules apply to Norwegian private individuals and companies that hold a foreign company, alone or with other Norwegian taxpayers, with control generally starting at ownership of at least half of the shares or capital. A Norwegian law firm's guide adds that the foreign entity's effective tax rate must be below two-thirds of the tax that would apply if it were resident in Norway, and that NOKUS does not apply to an entity resident in a treaty country, provided its income is not mainly of a passive nature. Where NOKUS applies, owners are taxed on their share of profit whether or not distributed. The United States is a treaty country, so the passive-income question is the one to put to a Norwegian adviser.

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 Norwegian owner, the NOKUS rules reach individuals and tax profit whether or not it is distributed, so budget for a Norwegian adviser's written view alongside the US costs.

If NOKUS applies, owners are taxed on their proportionate share of the profit, computed under Norwegian rules and converted to kroner, whether or not any dividend is paid. Losses can be carried forward only against future profits of the same entity. A foreign tax credit is available, limited to the Norwegian tax on that income, and for individuals only 78 percent of dividends from a NOKUS entity are taxable, adjusted by a factor of 1.44. These mechanics are a reason to model the numbers before you decide how to structure the business.

As a Norwegian 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 noon to 5 a.m. Norwegian 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.

Norway appears among the partners with a US income tax treaty, and that treaty is what makes the treaty-country exemption in NOKUS available. 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.