New York LLC vs Wyoming LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in New York.
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Compare New York LLC vs Wyoming LLC on filing fees, taxes, privacy laws, and annual costs. Find out which state is actually better for your business.
Last updated: September 23, 2026
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
Wyoming's $100 formation fee and $60 annual report are the usual pitch, but that $60 is a minimum. The report is a license tax equal to the greater of $60 or two-tenths of one mill on assets located in Wyoming, so $1,000,000 of in-state assets makes it $200. New York takes at least $29.50 a year and $200 to file, then wants six weeks of notices in two county-designated newspapers and a $50 Certificate of Publication. Wyoming's anonymity does not follow the company here, where registering costs $250 and LLC Law 802 repeats the publication duty.
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| Factor | New York | Wyoming |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $200 | $100 |
| Processing Time | Not published by the state | Instant online; up to 15 business days paper |
| Annual Report Fee | $9 (biennial) | $60 |
| Annual Report Due | Anniversary month (biennial) | First day of anniversary month |
| State Income Tax | Yes | No |
| Anonymous LLC | No | Yes |
| Publication Requirement | Yes | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $250 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: New York LLC cost and Wyoming LLC cost.
Business Climate: New York vs Wyoming
| Factor | New York | Wyoming |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 51.9% (#23 of 51) | 47.5% (#42 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +10.9% YoY (#4 of 51 by volume) | +13.3% YoY (#22 of 51 by volume) |
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)
Compare LLC Costs: New York vs Wyoming
New York
Wyoming
A figure shown as "from" is the least the state can charge, not a price. Tennessee's report is $300 for up to six members and $50 for each member above six, its franchise tax is the greater of $100 or 0.25% of Tennessee net worth, Wyoming's report is the greater of $60 or $.0002 per dollar of in-state assets, Kentucky's entity tax is $175 up to $3 million of gross receipts and graduated above it, and New York's annual filing fee is graduated on New York source gross income. A total that contains one of those is shown as "from" for the same reason. Costs include every mandatory state charge: the filing fee, the report fee (annualised where a state files biennially), any state entity-level tax shown in its own row above, a one-time publication cost where the state publishes a rate for it, and any one-time registration charge a state requires before the LLC may trade. Two exclusions follow from that wording. Arizona and Nebraska require publication and publish no rate, so no newspaper cost is carried for either and their totals are not the whole cost. Alaska's $50 annual state business licence is a separate charge from the Secretary of State fees and is not carried here either. Annualising makes the 1, 3 and 5 year rows a cost of ownership rather than a payment schedule: a biennial state charges its whole report fee in the years it falls due and nothing in between. Entity-level taxes that only apply after a corporate election, or above an owner or income threshold, are excluded and flagged on the state's own cost page. New York's publication cost is carried at a $250 floor, roughly $200 of newspaper cost in a low-cost county plus the $50 Certificate of Publication fee. No county-clerk-designated New York City newspaper publishes a rate card, so the four-figure NYC estimates in wide circulation cannot be traced to a primary source and are not asserted here; budget for materially more than the floor if you file in a NYC county. Every fee was verified against the state's own fee schedule, statute, or revenue authority on 29 July 2026. Excludes registered agent and legal fees. For informational purposes only, not legal or tax advice.
Filing Fees & Formation Costs
New York charges $200 to form an LLC, while Wyoming charges $100. Wyoming is $100 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Wyoming but operate in New York, you must also register as a foreign LLC in New York (a $250 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Wyoming (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Wyoming route at roughly $500, versus $200 for simply forming in New York. Only one side of this comparison is knowable: Wyoming publishes instant online; up to 15 business days paper, while New York publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed. Note that New York also requires newly formed LLCs to publish a newspaper notice (New York requires publication of the LLC's formation once a week for six successive weeks in two newspapers designated by the county clerk, within 120 days of formation, followed by a $50 Certificate of Publication. Newspaper rates are set by the newspapers and vary sharply by county), which adds to the true formation cost.
Taxes: New York vs Wyoming
Wyoming has no personal income tax while New York does, but forming your LLC in Wyoming won't change that. LLC profits pass through to you and are taxed where you live and operate (in New York), not where the LLC is registered, so a Wyoming LLC offers no income-tax savings for a New York-based business. New York LLCs with any income, gain, loss or deduction from New York sources owe an annual filing fee of $25 to $4,500, unless they have elected to be taxed as a corporation. An LLC taxed as a partnership pays by its NY-source gross income for the preceding tax year ($25 where that is $100,000 or less), and a disregarded single-member LLC pays a flat $25. Wyoming charges an annual report license tax of $60 minimum ($62 filed online), based on in-state assets; no franchise or privilege tax otherwise.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Wyoming allows anonymous LLC formation. Member and manager names don't appear on routine public filings. Neither the Articles nor the annual report requires listing members or managers; only an organizer/signer appears, so ownership stays off public filings. New York doesn't offer that same privacy. The NY LLC Transparency Act (effective 2026) requires beneficial-ownership reporting to the state, and formation requires newspaper publication of the LLC's existence. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and for most small businesses the practical difference in asset protection between the two is minimal. Wyoming's charging-order statute (W.S. 17-29-503) makes the charging order a creditor's exclusive remedy (including for single-member LLCs) and is widely regarded as the strongest in the country. One important caveat: if you register your Wyoming LLC as a foreign LLC in New York, that New York registration is itself a public record, which can undercut much of the privacy benefit for a business that operates in New York.
Annual Maintenance Costs
New York LLCs file a biennial report ($9, due in the anniversary month, every two years), and Wyoming LLCs file an annual report (at least $60, due in the anniversary month). If you form in Wyoming while operating in New York, you maintain filings in both states, Wyoming's report plus New York's equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a Wyoming registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Wyoming route to roughly $219 a year, versus at least $34 to keep a domestic New York LLC in good standing. The taxes inside those totals: New York LLCs with any income, gain, loss or deduction from New York sources owe an annual filing fee of $25 to $4,500, unless they have elected to be taxed as a corporation. An LLC taxed as a partnership pays by its NY-source gross income for the preceding tax year ($25 where that is $100,000 or less), and a disregarded single-member LLC pays a flat $25. Wyoming charges an annual report license tax of $60 minimum ($62 filed online), based on in-state assets; no franchise or privilege tax otherwise.
When Wyoming Actually Makes Sense
Forming in Wyoming makes sense in a few specific situations: you need anonymous ownership. New York puts owner or manager information on public filings and Wyoming doesn't (usually via a holding company, since operating in New York still requires a public foreign registration there), your business genuinely operates in Wyoming, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Wyoming in the near future, which would also move you out of New York's personal income tax. For a typical small business based in New York, none of these usually apply. Registering a Wyoming LLC to do business back home means $250 in New York foreign-registration fees, on top of Wyoming's $100 formation fee, while New York's own biennial report runs $9 and is due in the anniversary month, every two years. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.
Frequently Asked Questions
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<iframe src="https://www.incaca.com/tools/compare-states?embed=1&stateA=NY&stateB=WY" width="100%" height="720" frameborder="0" style="border:0;max-width:900px;display:block;margin:0 auto;" title="New York vs Wyoming LLC Cost Comparison" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p style="text-align:center;font-size:.8125rem;color:#6b7280">Source: <a href="https://www.incaca.com/llc/compare/new-york-llc-vs-wyoming-llc">IncACA, New York vs Wyoming LLC Comparison</a></p>