Form a Texas LLC from Finland: Complete 2026 Guide

Texas in one paragraph: $300 to file ($300 online), then $0 franchise tax for LLCs with revenue below the no-tax-due threshold ($2.65 million for the 2026-27 report years), but a Public Information Report (PIR) must still be filed every year by May 15 regardless of revenue — a full franchise tax return is only required above the threshold each year. The state imposes no personal or corporate state income tax. Texas requires a public information report but does not always require individual member names to be listed depending on management structure. For a Finland-based owner the state choice mainly decides cost, privacy and paperwork, not your home-country tax result. If a large home market and a clear no-tax-due threshold is what you are optimizing for, Texas deserves a close look.

The cost side of a Texas LLC: $300 state fee ($300 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 Texas: $0 franchise tax for LLCs with revenue below the no-tax-due threshold ($2.65 million for the 2026-27 report years), but a Public Information Report (PIR) must still be filed every year by May 15 regardless of revenue — a full franchise tax return is only required above the threshold. If you use EasyBrise, Global Launch is $295 for year one (registered agent included) and $149 per year after, and for a founder in Finland the whole first year typically comes in well under $500.

Texas fits if you expect meaningful revenue and want a state with no personal or corporate income tax and a straightforward no-tax-due threshold, and you don't mind a higher upfront filing fee. Check the comparison table above before you commit, as switching later is not a simple amendment: the Texas LLC would be dissolved and a new one formed elsewhere.

Your Texas 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 your Texas annual obligation ($0 franchise tax below the $2.65 million no-tax-due threshold, plus a Public Information Report every May 15 regardless of revenue) 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.

A Finnish founder expecting large US revenue may prefer Texas: no state income tax and no franchise tax below $2.65 million. The Public Information Report is due every May 15 even when no tax is owed.

Here is how Texas formation works for someone in Finland. File the Articles of Organization with the Texas Secretary of State, using a registered agent's physical Texas 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.

Over five years, the state-level cost of a Texas LLC is a $300 filing fee and nothing recurring, so $300 in total, before the registered agent. That makes Texas the second cheapest of the five states on this measure. The same arithmetic across the five states runs from $50 to $2,110. For a Finnish owner, the CFC threshold is low and the non-EEA exemption is narrow, so budget for a Finnish adviser's written view alongside the US costs.

Finland is not on Mercury's prohibited-countries list, which is based on country of residence, and it is not on Relay's list, which looks at the citizenship and residency of the owners. Both banks run their own reviews, so approval is never guaranteed. Neither bank's published rules restrict international wires involving Finland. Euros are converted to dollars when you fund the account, so compare the rate and any fee at your Finnish bank. Finland takes part in the Common Reporting Standard, so Finnish banks exchange account information automatically.

As a Finnish owner, your recurring dates look like this. State: the Texas Public Information Report is due every May 15, even when no franchise tax is owed. 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 1 p.m. to 6 a.m. Finnish time for most of the year (the gap shrinks to six 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.

EY's report says the Finnish bill lowered the control threshold from 50 percent to 25 percent, counting share capital, voting rights or entitlement to profits, and that only the ownership of related parties is taken into account. A sole owner of a single-member LLC holds 100 percent, so the ownership test is met at once. The questions that remain are the tax-rate test and the exemptions.

Finland appears among the partners with a US income tax treaty. 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, and the removal of the Finnish treaty-country exemption means it does not protect you from the Finnish CFC rules.

A foreign company is low-taxed in Finland where its effective tax rate is less than three-fifths of the Finnish corporate income tax rate, which the report puts at under 12 percent. A non-resident-owned single-member LLC earning only non-US-source income usually owes no US federal income tax, so its effective rate can sit well under that line. The US result alone therefore gives no comfort, and the exemptions decide the outcome.

EY's report on the Finnish government bill, effective from 1 January 2019, says the control threshold for a foreign entity to qualify as a CFC was lowered from 50 percent to 25 percent, and that a company is low-taxed where its effective tax rate is below three-fifths of the Finnish corporate rate, which is under 12 percent. It describes the rules as applying to Finnish resident taxpayers who control a foreign company, without saying explicitly whether individuals are included, so confirm your own position. For a non-EEA company, the exemption requires genuine establishment and economic activity, with income mostly from industrial or comparable production, shipping, related sales and marketing, or productive services, and adequate information exchange, and the earlier exemption for treaty-country companies was removed.