Why do you need to open a company in the USA?
In terms of having clients and investors, the States are the world's number one market. A company in the USA will greatly simplify your business operations. What benefits does opening a company in the States bring to a startup? Firstly, you can issue shares and attract investors in a corporate law that is understandable to them. Secondly, you can protect all intellectual property (domains, trademarks, patents). For a service business, registering a company in the USA makes it possible to work not only with small, but also medium and large businesses. In addition, having an American company is a plus for marketing and sales. In addition, any company will be able to connect PayPal and Stripe payment systems. But remember that when working in the USA, you must pay taxes and fees, this is far from offshore!
If you heard the phrase "the company is registered in the USA, but does not operate there, therefore, you do not need to pay American taxes" - then ask yourself - why then actually open it in the USA, what benefits does this provide?
Which form of company registration to choose (C-corp, LLC, S-Corp).
For non-resident founders, C-Corporation and LLC are available, but C-Corporation is more convenient both operationally and in terms of reporting. The main difference is that LLC can be taxed in several ways, while C-Corporation is similar to Ukrainian LLC (TOV).
Choosing a state in the USA to open a company.
For startups, the gold standard is the state of Delaware (DE), since it has the best corporate law for issuing shares, distributing shares, relations between investors and founders, etc. For a service company, there are two ways: if a physical office in the USA is planned, then it is better to open an office in the same state. You still need to register and pay taxes at the place of physical presence. If sales will be made from Ukraine, then the simplest and most convenient states are Nevada (NV) and Wyoming (WY). According to the annual State Business Tax Climate Index, Wyoming has long held the first place, and Nevada is constantly in the top 5 (this year the state took third place).
So, the logical scheme looks like this:
Who will help open a company and how much does it cost?
There are three basic options:
Do everything yourself (cheap, a lot of time to read and study the procedures)
Open a company using an online service, and open an account yourself (the middle option)
Do everything with the help of an intermediary (an option several times more expensive to save time)
In my subjective opinion, the golden mean is better here. For example, with the help of the legalzoom.com service and the express gold package, you can open a company in Delaware in 10 days, get a tax number and a folder with many useful and necessary documents for $508. You need to pay $159 per year separately for the legal address service (registered agent). In addition, the owner gets a convenient interface with a calendar (compliance calendar) and other goodies. Other similar services where you can also chat with a lawyer: startuplawyer.com, rocketlawyer.com
