How to Set Up a US LLC from Austria (2026 Guide)

Setting up a US LLC from Austria is straightforward on the US side, but the Austrian tax treatment of your LLC is the part most guides skip. Here is the full picture.

Why Austrian founders set up a US LLC

If you sell software, services, or digital products to US customers, invoice in USD, or want a Stripe or Mercury account without friction, a US LLC solves a real problem. It gives you a US legal entity, a US business bank account, and a US mailing presence that many American clients and platforms expect. None of this requires you to move, hold a US visa, or spend time in the United States. You can form the LLC, get an EIN, open a bank account, and start invoicing entirely from Vienna, Graz, or Salzburg.

What a US LLC does not do is remove your Austrian tax obligations. Austria taxes residents on worldwide income. A US LLC is a US legal wrapper, not an escape from Austrian tax residency. The two systems need to be reconciled properly, which is the part this guide focuses on.

The exact steps to set up a US LLC from Austria

1. Choose your state

Most non-US founders do not need Delaware. Unless you plan to raise venture capital from US investors, a low-cost, low-maintenance state is usually the better default.

2. Form the LLC

You file Articles of Organization with the state through a registered agent (required, since you need a US address for legal notices). This step is fast, usually a matter of days, and can be done entirely online.

3. Get an EIN (Employer Identification Number)

Your LLC needs an EIN from the IRS to open a bank account and file taxes. As a non-US resident without an SSN, you apply using Form SS-4 by fax or mail rather than the online portal, which is reserved for SSN holders. This step often takes several weeks and is where many DIY applications get delayed due to small errors on the form.

4. Get an ITIN if you need one

An ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) is issued to individuals who need a US taxpayer number but are not eligible for a Social Security Number. You do not need a US visa to get one. As the owner of a foreign-owned single-member LLC, you will generally need an ITIN to file the personal-side tax paperwork tied to your LLC's information return.

5. Open a US business bank account

With your EIN and formation documents in hand, you can open an account with providers like Mercury, Wise, or Relay, all of which onboard non-US founders remotely. You do not need to fly to the US or hold a US address personally, though your LLC's registered agent address is part of the application.

6. File your annual US paperwork

A foreign-owned single-member LLC that is treated as a disregarded entity must file Form 5472 along with a pro-forma Form 1120, even if the LLC had zero revenue that year. This is an information return, not a tax calculation. Skipping it is one of the costliest mistakes founders make: the penalty for not filing is 25,000 USD, even for a dormant company.

Founders Credit handles this entire sequence, LLC formation, EIN, ITIN, business bank account, and the ongoing compliance filings, as a done-for-you service, so you are not chasing the IRS by fax from Austria.

How Austria treats your US LLC (the part that actually matters)

This is where founders get tripped up, because the US and Austria do not automatically agree on what your LLC is for tax purposes.

In the US, a single-member LLC is a disregarded entity by default, meaning the IRS looks through it to you personally unless you elect otherwise. Austria does not simply adopt that US classification. Austrian tax authorities apply their own comparison test (Typenvergleich), looking at the LLC's actual features, limited liability, management structure, capital contributions, against Austrian entity types to decide whether it more closely resembles a partnership (transparent, profits taxed directly in your hands as earned) or a corporation (opaque, taxed more like a GmbH, generally only relevant to you personally when profits are distributed).

This distinction changes:

• When and how the LLC's profits show up on your Austrian tax return
• Whether Austria's controlled foreign company (CFC, Hinzurechnungsbesteuerung) rules can pull certain low-taxed passive income back into your Austrian tax base even before distribution
• Whether double taxation relief under the US-Austria tax treaty applies cleanly or needs extra structuring

Because the classification depends on the specific facts of how your LLC is set up and run, not on a generic rule of thumb, this is not something to guess at from a blog post. Get advice from an Austrian Steuerberater who has actually handled US LLC structures before you start invoicing at volume. It is a much smaller cost than restructuring after two years of filings.

The practical takeaway: form the LLC for the US-side benefits (banking, invoicing, credibility with US clients), but treat the Austrian tax side as a parallel project that needs its own professional, from day one rather than at tax season.

Glossary

LLC (Limited Liability Company): A US legal entity that separates your personal assets from business liabilities. EIN (Employer Identification Number): The IRS's tax ID number for your business, required for banking and filing. ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number): A tax ID for individuals who need one but cannot get a Social Security Number; requires no US visa. Disregarded entity: The IRS default treatment of a single-member LLC, where the LLC's activity is reported as if it were the owner's directly. Form 5472: An annual IRS information return required for foreign-owned single-member LLCs, filed with a pro-forma Form 1120, with steep penalties for missing it. Registered agent: A person or company with a physical address in your LLC's state who receives legal and state notices on your behalf. CFC rules (Controlled Foreign Company): Home-country rules, including Austria's Hinzurechnungsbesteuerung, that can tax certain foreign entity income to a resident owner even before it is distributed. Tax treaty: The US-Austria agreement designed to prevent the same income being taxed twice, though it interacts with entity classification rather than replacing it.

Frequently asked questions