Wyoming LLCs have been long regarded as private or anonymous offshore companies. Herein we will discuss and clarify how private or anonymous a Wyoming LLC is.
Secretary of State public records do not show who the owner or manager is
Wyoming LLCs do not show on public records who the manager or the members are, as that information is not even reported to the Wyoming Secretary of State when the company is formed nor requested in the annual report.
In comparison, in other States, this information is publicly available online for anyone to access.
Nonetheless, when registering the company or filling the annual report, if you want extra privacy, when providing your email address to the Secretary of State, we would recommend a generic email address that cannot be linked directly to you personally. For example, instead of using your personal and identifiable email address like firstname.lastname@gmail.com you could use an email address like hello@yourwebdomain.com or yourllcname@gmail.com, or any other type of generic email.
So, a Wyoming LLC can be considered anonymous before the eyes of the Wyoming Secretary of State, but the ownership is reported to the IRS and FinCEN, but this information is also not publicly available or accessible.
The IRS knows the name of the owner/responsible party
When requesting the EIN, on form SS-4, the name of the responsible party must be added, which has to be an individual.
In addition, if the company is a foreign-owned U.S. Disregarded entity, the LLC has to send the IRS form 5472 reporting the transactions between the LLC and the owner or its related parties. In this form, the full name of the owner is requested, including their address, and personal tax number in their country of tax residency (if any). In this form, another company can be listed as the owner.
This information is not publicly available and it is not on public records.
FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Report - Applicable to all States
Under the Corporate Transparency Act, all U.S. Companies, unless exempt, are required to report who the ultimate beneficial owner of the company is, who must be an individual.
Even if the LLC is owned by another company, the UBO has to be an individual who ultimately controls or benefits from the first LLC.
Foreign governments do not have direct access to FinCEN's beneficial ownership IT system, which securely stores Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI). Instead, they must go through U.S. Federal agencies to request this information for purposes such as law enforcement investigations, prosecutions, or activities related to national security. These requests can be made through international treaties, agreements, or conventions. If no such agreement exists, requests can still be made by law enforcement or judicial authorities from a foreign country that FinCEN, with the approval of the Secretary of State and in consultation with other relevant agencies, considers trustworthy. At present, FinCEN is not processing foreign requests for beneficial ownership information.