Country guide · Spain
What it really takes, what it costs every year, what you file with the IRS even with zero revenue, and the two Spanish obligations almost nobody mentions before you form it: Modelo 720 and the controlled-foreign-company rules.
Written by an Argentine public accountant who is a Florida notary public and an IRS-registered tax preparer. We handle and sign the US side; your Spanish adviser closes the Spanish side, and this page tells you what they will ask for.
What you do not need: a visa, a trip, a US partner, your own US address or an ITIN. The ITIN comes later and only in some cases, quoted separately.
This has to come first, because it is what gets promised most in ads and costs the most to believe. If your tax residency is in Spain, you are taxed in Spain on your worldwide income. The company can be registered in Wyoming, invoice in dollars and collect through Stripe: you remain a Spanish taxpayer and that income belongs on your return.
So what is it for? Three concrete things, none of them fiscal: collecting from US platforms and clients without friction, separating your personal assets from the risk of the business, and presenting yourself to the US market as a company based there.
Modelo 720. Reports assets and rights located abroad once they exceed EUR 50,000 per information block. A holding in a foreign entity falls within that count, and depending on the structure so do the company accounts. It is an informational return, not a tax — but its penalty regime was historically severe enough that the Court of Justice of the European Union forced Spain to amend it in 2022, and even after the reform it is not a form to overlook.
Controlled-foreign-company rules. They let the Spanish tax authority attribute to your own return the income of a foreign entity you control, even undistributed, when that entity is lightly taxed and its income is largely passive: interest, dividends, rents, royalties. If your LLC invoices services you personally perform, the analysis is different from an entity that merely accumulates passive income.
Where the line sits. We handle and sign the US side: formation, EIN, operating agreement and the IRS filings. How the LLC is characterised in Spain, Modelo 720 and the CFC analysis belong to your Spanish tax adviser, who knows your return and carries the professional responsibility. What we do is hand them, in writing, everything they will ask you for.
| Item | Year 1 | Year 2 onward |
|---|---|---|
| Wyoming state fee Charged by the state, not by us | USD 102 | USD 60 annual report |
| Registered agent Mandatory under state law | Included | Annual renewal |
| Full formation LLC, EIN, operating agreement, banking guide | Quoted on your case | — |
| Mandatory federal filing Form 5472 + pro forma 1120 | Quoted per tax year | Quoted per tax year |
Wyoming charges no state income tax, so that annual floor is everything the state will ask of you. Run the numbers by state in our free calculator, no signup.
One obligation does not depend on revenue: Form 5472 with the pro forma 1120, every year, starting with the first. The penalty for not filing starts at USD 25,000 and is automatic. It is filed on paper or by fax, not online.
With the EIN and your passport you can open an account remotely at Mercury or Relay. It is not automatic: they review what the business does and sometimes decline, especially when the activity is described vaguely. That is why the banking guide is included and, if you are declined, we give you the fallback plan in writing.
Based somewhere else? There are country guides for Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru.
Your passport and little else. No visa, no US residency, no local partner and no travel. The state requires a registered agent with a physical address there, included for the first year, and the EIN is issued without a Social Security number, as a foreign owner.
Full formation is quoted on your case and includes the first-year Wyoming state fee (USD 102), the EIN, the operating agreement and the registered agent for year 1. From year two the floor the state charges is USD 60 for the annual report, plus the registered agent renewal. The mandatory federal filing is separate and quoted per tax year.
No, and it is worth knowing before you spend a euro. If your tax residency is in Spain, you are taxed in Spain on your worldwide income: the company can be registered in Wyoming and you are still a Spanish taxpayer. An LLC solves how you get paid and how the US market sees you, not where you are taxed. Anyone selling it as a tax-saving tool is selling you a future problem.
Very likely yes, and it is the obligation most often missed. Modelo 720 reports assets and rights held abroad above EUR 50,000 per category, and a holding in a foreign entity falls within that count, as do the company bank accounts depending on how it is structured. It is an informational return, not a tax. Who files it and how the holding is valued is defined by your Spanish tax adviser; what we provide is the LLC documentation they will ask you for.
Spanish controlled-foreign-company rules let the tax authority attribute to your own return the income of a foreign entity you control, even if nothing has been distributed, when that entity is lightly taxed and its income is largely passive — interest, dividends, rents, royalties. If your LLC invoices services you personally perform, the analysis differs from an entity that merely accumulates passive income. That is exactly the review your Spanish adviser has to run, which is why it is worth running it before you form, not after.
It depends on where the income is earned, not where the company is registered. If you work from Spain with no US office or staff, the usual answer is no federal income tax and only the informational filings. If your operation physically touches the United States — warehouse inventory, an office, people on payroll — Form 1040-NR comes into play. The Spain-US tax treaty is the instrument that prevents the same income being taxed twice.
This page is informational and is not individualized legal or tax advice. Your Spanish tax position is determined by your adviser in Spain.
Two or three lines: what you will invoice from Spain, whether there are partners, and whether you have spoken to your tax adviser. I answer personally with the diagnosis and a fixed quote, in writing. If an LLC is not what you need, I will say so.
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