Incorporate In Wyoming

To incorporate a new Wyoming Corporation, you must file Articles of Incorporation with the Wyoming Secretary of State by paper or online. Wyoming is routinely named one of the best states to start a corporation, thanks to our state’s lack of corporate taxes, inexpensive and quick incorporation filings, and minimal annual reporting requirements.

Use our guide to understand the ins and outs of Wyoming Corporations, including:

• The Advantages of a Wyoming Corporation
• How to Start a Wyoming Corporation
• Requirements for a Wyoming Corporation
• Benefits of Hiring Us to Incorporate for you

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Wyoming Corporation Advantages

Wyoming is best known as the birthplace of America’s most popular business entity, the LLC. But that doesn’t mean Wyoming corporations have less to offer. If you have flexibility in where you will incorporate your new business, Wyoming is a great choice. Here’s why:

1. No Corporate Tax
   Wyoming does not tax corporate profits. Wyoming has no personal income taxes. And Wyoming has no Inheritance or Estate Taxes. When you combine those policies, you find Wyoming is our nation’s best state for doing business.
2. Instant Incorporation
   Wyoming corporations are formed instantly with online filings. No waiting days or even weeks like other states. Wyoming businesses get incorporated fast. If you hire us, you have the option to have your corporation formed in 24 hours.
3. Prestige
   Even business owners who operate as an LLC will admit that there’s something special about a Wyoming corporation. If you incorporate in Wyoming, your business will automatically have that special something. No matter how small the business actually is, saying you own a corporation or are incorporated conjures a sense of awe in some folks’ minds, and usually to the same folks, image is everything.
4. Corporate Law
   Although the courts have plenty of LLC case law on which they can base legal decisions should your business be sued, that isn’t near the amount of history the corporation has behind it. Corporations are one of the oldest business entities in America, an if your Wyoming corporation is taken to court, your attorney will probably know what the outcome will be prior to your case being heard simply because there’s been a hundred other cases like yours that have already been heard.
5. Close Corporations
   The typical dig on corporations when comparing them to LLCs is that, with their annual shareholder meetings and corporate resolutions, corporations are tougher to maintain. But Wyoming has an option called the Close Corporation. Wyoming Close Corporations were introduced for family businesses where business decisions are often made at the breakfast table, and those maintenance requirements (like directors meeting and corporate resolutions) don’t require the typical formalities of corporate forms and meeting minutes. A Wyoming Close Corporation has the ability eliminate the Board of Directors, weight certain shareholders’ votes, and introduce buy-out provisions. Close Corporation requirements in Wyoming make corporations much more similar to the maintenance requirements of an LLC. However, Wyoming corporations that elect to be formed as a Close Corporation come with the following restrictions:
   • Limited Shareholders: Maximum of 35
   • Limited Transferability: Shareholder can’t sell shares to outside parties without consent of other shareholders
6. Keeping Money in the Company
   What’s also often counted as a negative against corporations is double taxation. Although Wyoming has no corporate tax, the federal government does, and the net profit of a corporation will be taxed by the IRS. Then, even though Wyoming has no personal income tax, the U.S. government will tax the profits distributed to the individual shareholder. That means profits will be taxed twice. However, a corporation is allowed to leave money in the corporation (something an LLC cannot do), and if profit isn’t distributed to an individual, the profit won’t be taxed a second time. That means you can leave money in the corporation to build what some people call a “war chest,” allowing that profit to be reinvested at a later date. That strategy doesn’t work for many small businesses, but if you’ve got world domination on your mind, incorporate in Wyoming.

How To Incorporate In Wyoming

The main step to incorporation in Wyoming is filing your Articles of Incorporation with the Wyoming Secretary of State. Before jumping into the incorporation, you’ll have a couple of steps to secure your name and registered agent so that information is set when you file with the state. After the state office approves your corporation, you’ll have a couple of steps to get your corporation legal at the federal level.

1. Name your Corporation

Before filing anything or jumping into business cards and a website, you’ll want to decide on a business name, and then make sure that name is available to be registered in Wyoming. Use the Wyoming Business Division’s How to Choose a Business Name guide to follow all the state criteria, and then search the Wyoming Business Database to ensure your selected name is distinguishable from other Wyoming businesses.

2. Hire a Wyoming Registered Agent

All Wyoming Corporations must appoint a Wyoming registered agent on their articles of incorporation to be approved. Your registered agent will be listed publicly for your corporation, and must have a physical address in Wyoming where they can accept legal and state notices on behalf of the corporation.

When you hire Best Wyoming Registered Agent, we commit to accepting your documents securely and professionally. But, we also go above and beyond by providing lifetime customer support, no-cost filing tools, address privacy options, the foundation for your company’s online presence, and more, all for just $50/year, and the option to cancel at any time.

3. File Wyoming Articles of Incorporation

The Articles of Incorporation is the form you file with the Wyoming Secretary of State to create a corporation in Wyoming. The form is filed with the Wyoming Secretary of State and can be filed online (recommended), in-person or through the mail. A Wyoming corporation’s Articles of Incorporation require the following information:

• Corporation Name
  Wyoming requires corporation names to have corporate name endings like Inc or Incorporated. Also, you can’t have words like “bank” or “university” in the name unless the corporation is actually that type of entity.
• Registered Name and Address
  A Wyoming registered agent can be an individual resident in Wyoming, or business authorized to do business in Wyoming. The registered agent must have a physical address in Wyoming. A P.O. Box or Drop Box is unacceptable. If the registered office includes a suite number, it must be included in the registered office address.
• Mailing and Principal Addresses
  List both the address where the business receives mail, and the address where the business is physically located (if you hire us, you can use our address for both).  
• Number and Class of Shares
  You must decide the initial number of shares you want to authorize (you can issue more stock at a later date, if required). Most people start with an easily divisible number like 1000. Not all authorized stock needs to be issued. After you’ve settled on a number, you can decide on class of stock. You can choose between common stock, which designates ownership and shareholder voting rights, and preferred stock, to which you can assign special rights.
• Incorporator Names and Addresses
  List the names and addresses of the individuals who are filing the articles of incorporation. Incorporators are not the same as officers, directors, or shareholders. An incorporator can be anyone who is authorized to file the incorporation documents. 
• Incorporator Signature
  Signatures must be in ink.

Submit Articles of Incorporation to the Wyoming Secretary of State
Online filings are processed instantly. By mail, the Wyoming Secretary of States takes 3 to 5 days to process articles and doesn’t have an expedite option.

4. Obtain Federal EIN

An Employer Identification Number (often called an EIN) isn’t required by the State of Wyoming, but most likely your corporation will need an EIN to conduct several aspects of business like opening a business bank account or filing federal taxes.

You can apply for an EIN for your corporation directly with the IRS at no cost, or simply add it to your order when you hire us to incorporate your new Wyoming business.

5. File Benefit Ownership Information (BOI) Report

Unless your corporation is exempt, you’re required to file a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) report with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). This is a federal filing that requires you to provide basic identification information about your business and its owners as part of an effort to fight financial crime in the US. There’s no cost to file, and your information will not be made publicly available.

BOI report due dates and the information you must provide will depend on when your corporation is formed.

Corporations formed before 2024:

• Reports due January 1, 2025
• Must include information on reporting company and beneficial owners

Corporations formed during 2024:

• Reports due within 90 days of company formation
• Must include information on reporting company, beneficial owners, and company applicants

Corporations formed after 2024:

• Reports due within 30 days of company formation
• Must include information on reporting company, beneficial owners, and company applicants

A beneficial owner is anyone who holds 25% or more of a reporting company’s ownership interest or who has substantial control over the company’s financial and organizational activities.

A company applicant is the individual responsible for company formation and/or for filing formation documents with the state.

To make sure your report gets filed by the due date and includes all of the necessary information, we offer a $25 BOI report filing service.

Corporation Requirements

Wyoming Corporate Bylaws

Wyoming statutes do not require corporations to adopt corporate bylaws, but if you incorporate in Wyoming, you’ll want bylaws to govern how your corporation operates and to show banks, credit agencies, and possibly the IRS that your corporation is operating above board on all fronts.

Corporate bylaws are the documents that govern your corporation in Wyoming. A corporation’s bylaws lay out the day-to-day operations of the business, addressing who does what, how the board of directors operates, when annual meeting will be held, conflict resolution protocol, and how rules can and will be changed.

Your typical small business corporation in Wyoming doesn’t need fancy bylaws; they could even be handwritten (though you may want to type them up if you are showing them to a bank or the IRS).

If you hire us to incorporate your new Wyoming business, we will also include a standard corporate bylaws template at no extra cost. Our bylaws packet is attorney-written, with blank spaces in all the right places so you can fill in the right details for your corporation. Our bylaws packet also includes handy internal documents like initial resolutions, and stock certificates.

Incorporation Restrictions

Anyone can incorporate in Wyoming. You don’t need to be a US citizen or have a residence or active business in Wyoming to incorporate here. However, if you don’t have a physical presence in our state, you will need to hire a Wyoming registered agent that has a registered office (physical Wyoming address) and can accept legal documents and official notices on behalf of your Wyoming corporation.

We incorporate foreign businesses in Wyoming every day. If you live in a different country and want to incorporate in Wyoming, we’re here to help.

Why Hire Us 

When you hire us to incorporate a company in Wyoming, you’ll get the best Wyoming incorporation service, which includes:

• Incorporation Expertise
  We register new companies every single day, and have for many years. We’re also here to answer your questions and support your business journey however we can.
• Privacy
  We respect your privacy and want others to as well. That’s why we allow our clients to use our Wyoming business address on incorporation filings to keep your home and personal information private, and we never share or sell your information.
• Fast Filings
  We know the folks doing the filings at the Wyoming Secretary of State, and they know us. We also know the fastest ways to incorporate your Wyoming company.
• Online Accounts
  Every order comes with an online account where you can track all your Wyoming corporation’s documents. Any service of process, annual report, or any other documents we accept on your corporation’s behalf will be found online in your secure account.
• Complete Online Business Presence.
  You’re starting a business, so it only makes sense that you’ll need to have a company website and business email address for marketing and business inquiries. We give you a domain, website, SSL security, email address at your domain, and a Wyoming business phone number. All at no additional cost so you can get the show on the road today. Your data is never sold, and you can cancel at any time.
• Mail and Office Services
  If you need Wyoming mail forwarding or Wyoming virtual office service for your corporation, we’ve got you and all your business’s mailing needs covered. We scan mail daily, and our office is across the street from the post office, so you can count on fast and reliable service.
• Access to Additional Business Services
  You’ll be able to add on additional services inside your client account, like our Trade Name Service. If you’re interested in registering a trade name, commonly known as a DBA, we’ll file for your trade name with the Wyoming Secretary of State for $225.