Form a US LLC from Taiwan

As a non-resident without a US SSN or ITIN, you apply for an EIN via Form SS-4 by fax, listing 'Foreign' as your responsible party's identification type -- this process doesn't depend on treaty status and works identically for Taiwanese applicants as for founders from treaty countries. Fax processing typically takes 4-7 business days once the IRS confirms receipt. Taiwan's National ID number should not be entered in place of the 'Foreign' designation on the responsible-party field; it can serve as supporting identification only if separately requested.

Delaware is the more common choice for Taiwanese founders specifically because Taiwan's tech ecosystem -- heavily oriented around semiconductors and hardware, given TSMC's dominance -- produces a disproportionate number of startups targeting US venture capital, and Delaware remains the structure those investors expect. Wyoming stays the better fit for founders running e-commerce brands, digital products, or agencies with no fundraising plans, at $60/year with no franchise tax.

Wyoming's annual report and $60 fee are due by the first day of your formation anniversary month; Delaware's franchise tax (up to $400 under 2026 rates) is due every June 1. Form 5472 and the pro-forma 1120 are due April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15 via Form 7004. Given how actively the US-Taiwan tax agreement situation is developing, it's worth checking IRS and Treasury announcements at least once a year around your compliance review, since a ratified agreement could change your withholding position without much advance notice to individual filers.

Until a formal US-Taiwan tax agreement is concluded and ratified, your US LLC's filing obligations rest entirely on US domestic law rather than any bilateral relief. For a disregarded single-member LLC with no US trade or business, Form 5472 and a pro-forma Form 1120 are required annually regardless of income, with the standard $25,000 minimum penalty for missing it. If your LLC has US-source income subject to withholding, the current 30% statutory rate applies rather than a treaty-reduced rate -- this is the practical, near-term impact of the treaty gap, and it's worth tracking the H.R. 33 Senate process and AIT/TECRO negotiations if withholding on US-source payments is material to your business, since a rate reduction to 10% would meaningfully change your numbers once (and if) it takes effect.

Mercury and Relay both accept Taiwanese applicants post-EIN with no US visit required. Taiwan maintains no meaningful restrictions on ordinary capital movement for routine business purposes, and the New Taiwan Dollar trades freely, so funding your LLC's formation and operating costs carries no regulatory friction on the Taiwan side. Most founders use Wise for day-to-day TWD/USD conversion and Stripe for receiving US customer payments directly.

Taiwan is the only economy in this guide series where the absence of a US tax treaty has a specific, documented cause rather than simply being a gap nobody has gotten to. Under the US's One China policy, the US maintains formal diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China rather than with Taiwan, and a bilateral tax treaty requires formal diplomatic channels the US-Taiwan relationship doesn't use. That's not a dead end, though -- it's an active, moving situation. In October 2024, the US Treasury announced the start of negotiations on a comprehensive tax agreement with Taiwan, conducted through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) rather than through normal treaty channels. Separately, Congress passed the United States-Taiwan Expedited Double-Tax Relief Act (H.R. 33) through the House by a 423-1 vote in January 2025, which would reduce US withholding tax rates on Taiwanese residents' US-source income from 30% down to 10%, conditioned on Taiwan providing equivalent benefits to US persons. As of this guide's last update, the Senate companion legislation and the AIT/TECRO negotiations were both still in progress -- worth checking current status before assuming either has taken effect, since this is one of the more actively evolving pieces of US-Taiwan economic policy right now.