Form a New Mexico LLC from Sweden: Complete 2026 Guide

The cost side of a New Mexico LLC: $50 state fee ($50 online), a registered agent at typically $100-150 per year, a free IRS EIN, and a bank account that is usually free. Annual state requirement in New Mexico: $0 ever — New Mexico is one of the only states with no ongoing annual report or annual fee for LLCs. If you use EasyBrise, Global Launch is $295 for year one (registered agent included) and $149 per year after, and for a founder in Sweden the whole first year typically comes in well under $500.

New Mexico in one paragraph: $50 to file ($50 online), then $0 ever — New Mexico is one of the only states with no ongoing annual report or annual fee for LLCs each year. The state imposes no tax on LLC income earned outside the state for non-resident owners. New Mexico does not publicly disclose member or manager names in its formation records. For a Sweden-based owner the state choice mainly decides cost, privacy and paperwork, not your home-country tax result. If the least ongoing paperwork of any of the five states is what you are optimizing for, New Mexico deserves a close look.

Swedish 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. Sweden is an EU member but uses the krona, so a Swedish owner funds the LLC with an ordinary international transfer in kronor converted to dollars. For a founder in Sweden the central question is Chapter 39a of the Income Tax Act, which taxes Swedish owners of low-taxed foreign entities.

New Mexico fits 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. Check the comparison table above before you commit, as switching later is not a simple amendment: the New Mexico LLC would be dissolved and a new one formed elsewhere.

Your New Mexico LLC exists once the state accepts the filing, but it is only ready to trade after these steps: sign the Operating Agreement; get the bank account open; apply for payment processors; calendar there is no New Mexico annual filing to calendar and the federal Form 5472 and pro forma 1120. On BOI: FinCEN's rule in force since August 14, 2026 permanently exempts all US-formed LLCs, so there is nothing to file there.

The IRS international EIN line (267-941-1099) answers from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern. Sweden is six hours ahead of Eastern Time for most of the year, so the window runs from noon to 5 a.m. Swedish 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.

Here is how New Mexico formation works for someone in Sweden. File the Articles of Organization with the New Mexico Secretary of State, using a registered agent's physical New Mexico address. Request your EIN from the IRS, writing "Foreign" or "N/A" in place of an SSN (phone: 267-941-1099, about 45-60 minutes; fax or mail: 4-6 weeks). Then apply for Mercury or Relay online. Every step can be done remotely.

New Mexico suits a Swedish 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.

Sweden does not exempt trading income from its controlled-foreign-company rules. A founder who sells services or software through an LLC cannot argue that the income is active and therefore outside the regime. Sweden does give a credit for foreign tax paid by the entity, which matters mainly if the LLC owes US tax on US-source income.

As a Swedish 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. Swedish time for most of the year (the gap shrinks to six hours when US and European clock changes fall on different dates for a few weeks). 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 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 Swedish owner, the controlled-foreign-company question outweighs every state fee, so budget for a written opinion from a Swedish adviser alongside the US costs.

A comprehensive income tax treaty between the United States and Sweden has been in force since the mid-1990s. It covers dividends, interest, royalties and tie-breaker rules for residency. For a typical founder whose LLC earns only non-US-source income, the treaty changes little in practice because there is usually no US federal income tax for it to reduce.

Sweden's controlled-foreign-company rules in Chapter 39a of the Income Tax Act cover Swedish shareholders, whether individuals or companies. The first condition is a holding of 25 percent or more of the capital or votes in a foreign legal entity at the end of the year, which a sole owner meets. The second is that the income is untaxed or taxed at a rate more than 55 percent below the Swedish corporate rate. At the 20.6 percent corporate rate that puts the cut-off at about 11.33 percent. Sweden has no exemption for active trading income, although a credit is given for foreign tax paid by the entity. A whitelist and an exemption for EEA entities with real activity exist, so ask a Swedish adviser whether either applies to a US LLC.