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When you need a US company that can sign a contract this week, a ready-made shelf company, an off-the-shelf Inc (Corporation) or LLC (Limited Liability Company), is the fastest legal route into the world’s largest economy. ShelfCompanies24 maintains a live inventory of clean, never-traded US entities registered in business-friendly states (Delaware, Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida), with paid-up share capital, EIN tax ID, and clean IRS records. Most transfers complete in 2 to 5 working days.
The USA combines a 21% federal Corporate Income Tax (since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act), state CIT varying 0 to 11.5% (with no state corporate income tax in TX, NV, WY, SD, OH and others), the world’s deepest banking and capital markets, English-language English-common-law tradition, and unmatched commercial credibility. Combined with the LLC pass-through option (taxed at member level rather than entity level), US entities offer extraordinary flexibility for international clients.
Our service covers Inc or LLC, state filings, registered agent, EIN application.
Off-the-shelf US entity + registered agent + US banking introduction + US accountant referral bundled.
Most transfers within 2 to 5 working days. English-speaking case manager.
US entity transfers can be executed remotely.
We file state amendments, IRS Form 8822-B for the change of responsible party, and ongoing compliance.
A US off-the-shelf company is an Inc or LLC incorporated by a registered agent purely to be transferred. From incorporation to sale, the entity has:
| Feature | Inc (C-Corporation) | LLC (Limited Liability Company) | Inc (S-Corporation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax treatment | Entity-level CIT 21% federal + state | Pass-through to members (or elect C-Corp) | Pass-through (US-resident shareholders only) |
| Members | Shareholders, any nationality | Members, any nationality | Shareholders must be US resident/citizen |
| Best fit | VC-backed startups, public-listing path, US holding | ~70% of buyers, flexibility, single-member or multi-member, foreign owners welcome | US small businesses with US shareholders |
| State | State CIT | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Delaware | 8.7% (CIT, only on Delaware-source for non-Delaware operations) | VC, public-listing path, complex governance, IP holdings, most established corporate-law jurisdiction; covered separately at /delaware/ |
| Wyoming | 0% | Asset-protection LLCs, cost-effective formation, privacy |
| Nevada | 0% CIT (Commerce Tax above $4M revenue) | Asset-protection, privacy, gaming-friendly |
| New Mexico | 4.8% (no state-level reporting required for foreign-owned single-member LLC) | Privacy-focused single-member LLCs |
| Florida | 5.5% (no PIT) | US-Latin America corridor business, real estate |
| Texas | 0% (Franchise Tax above $1.23M revenue) | Energy, manufacturing, South-Central US operations |
The US offers ~330 million population and the world’s largest consumer market. US-incorporated entities have unmatched commercial credibility for global counter-parties.
The US LLC is among the world’s most flexible legal forms. By default it is treated as a pass-through entity for US tax purposes (taxed at member level rather than entity level), but can elect C-Corp taxation if preferred. For foreign owners with no US-source income, a properly-structured LLC may have no US federal tax liability at the entity level.
Every US ready-made entity carries an EIN (federal tax ID), state registration, and clean IRS and state-revenue records.
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, plus regional banks and digital fintechs (Mercury, Brex, Relay, Wise USD). US banking has tightened post-2018 (BSA, Patriot Act, BOI Reporting); foreign-owned single-member LLCs face onboarding scrutiny but options exist.
Buying a shelf corporation in the USA is a purchase of the stock or the membership interest, not a new incorporation, so there is no name reservation queue and no wait for a certificate. You choose an entity from the live inventory, we run KYC, the stock or membership interest is assigned, the officer or manager change goes to the state, and IRS Form 8822-B records the new responsible party. There is no FinCEN beneficial ownership report to update, because entities formed in the United States are exempt. Most transfers complete in 2 to 5 working days.
Live inventory: Inc and LLC entities of various ages registered in Delaware, Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida and other business-friendly states.
US AML rules under the Bank Secrecy Act and Patriot Act are rigorous.
Inc: stock-purchase agreement + stock certificate endorsement. LLC: assignment of membership interest. No notarisation required at the entity level.
Inc: outgoing officers/directors resign; new appointments. LLC: outgoing manager/managing-member resigns; new appointments. Filed with state Secretary of State for officer changes.
Articles of Incorporation (Inc) or Certificate of Formation (LLC) amended by state-specific procedure.
The membership or stock ledger and the registered agent’s records are updated to show you as the owner. No FinCEN filing falls due: entities formed in the United States were taken out of the Corporate Transparency Act reporting net by the interim final rule of March 2025, and the final rule of 11 August 2026 made that permanent.
Change of responsible party filed with the IRS within 60 days.
An aged corporation is a shelf entity that has been held for longer before sale, and the distinction matters more in the United States than almost anywhere else because American counterparties look at formation dates. A landlord, a wholesale supplier, a payment platform or a tender process may want to see that the entity was not registered last week, and an older entity answers that without any explaining.
What age does not do is equally worth stating plainly. The Secretary of State publishes the real incorporation date and it cannot be altered, so nothing can be backdated. An aged shelf entity has no trading history, no filed revenue, no credit file and no payment record, because it has never traded, and any seller offering an aged corporation with an established credit profile is selling something that would not survive the first check. Our US stock carries honest dates running from a few months to several years, and we tell you the exact formation date before you commit.
Most buyers of our US stock are outside the United States, in Britain, India, the Gulf and across the EU. The entity transfer itself is remote: the assignment of membership interest or the stock endorsement needs no notarisation, the state amendment is filed by the registered agent and the IRS forms go in electronically. What you should plan for is the KYC pack under the Bank Secrecy Act, and the bank step afterwards, since some US banks want to meet a director while the fintech platforms onboard remotely.
| Tax | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Federal CIT (C-Corp / Inc) | 21% | Flat rate since 2018 TCJA |
| State CIT | 0 to 11.5% | Varies: no state corporate income tax in TX/NV/WY/SD/OH; 8.7% Delaware; 5.5% Florida; 7.49% Pennsylvania; 11.5% New Jersey is the highest |
| Combined effective Inc | 21 to 30% depending on state | Most international clients use 0%-CIT states |
| LLC default treatment | Pass-through (no entity-level US tax) | Taxed at member level if member is US tax-resident |
| Sales tax | 0 to 9.5% (state + local) | Varies enormously by state |
| Withholding tax on US-source dividends to non-US | 30% | Reduced under DTTs (typically 5 to 15%) |
| FinCEN BOI Reporting | Not applicable | Entities formed in the United States are exempt, permanently since August 2026; only entities formed abroad and registered in a state report |
| Pillar Two | Not implemented federally as QDMTT | Many US states impose related GILTI conformity |
A shelf corporation is a US Inc or LLC that a registered agent incorporated with a state and then left unused, so that a buyer can take it over rather than wait for a fresh filing. It has never traded, never employed anyone and never run an operating bank account, and it has filed only nil returns where returns were due. The transfer is a purchase of stock or membership interest and completes in 2 to 5 working days.
An aged corporation is the same thing held longer. Age is useful because American counterparties read formation dates, so an older entity saves you explaining yourself to a landlord, a supplier or a payments platform. It is not a trading record and not a credit file: a shelf entity has never traded, so it has neither. The Secretary of State publishes the true date, so nothing can be backdated, and we tell you the exact date before you buy.
Ask our US desk for the current inventory and tell us the state and the form you want. You complete KYC, we draft the stock purchase agreement or the assignment of membership interest, the outgoing officers or managers resign and yours are appointed, the state filing goes in, and the FinCEN and IRS updates follow. Two to five working days from KYC completion, with the corporate kit delivered digitally.
No, and treat any offer of one carefully. Our shelf entities have never run an operating bank account, which is part of what makes them clean. A US bank has to identify the new beneficial owner anyway, so an account inherited from a previous owner would be re-papered or closed. We introduce you to a bank or a fintech platform once the transfer is filed and the ownership record matches your KYC file.
For most international clients: LLC. The LLC offers pass-through taxation, foreign-owner flexibility, simpler governance, and lower compliance burden. For VC-backed startups, complex governance, public-listing path, or international tax structures requiring C-Corp characteristics: Inc.
For most international SME clients: Wyoming (0% state tax, asset-protection LLC features, low-cost) or New Mexico (privacy single-member LLC). For corporate-law sophistication: Delaware. For Latin-America corridor: Florida. For energy/manufacturing: Texas.
2 to 5 working days from KYC.
By default, a US LLC is a pass-through entity, no entity-level federal tax. Tax flows through to members. For a non-US-resident foreign-owned single-member LLC with no US-source income, federal tax may be effectively 0% (subject to specific facts).
Most steps can be completed remotely. US banking onboarding may require physical presence at a US branch; some fintechs (Mercury, Wise) onboard remotely.
No. The Corporate Transparency Act required most US entities to file Beneficial Ownership Information reports from January 2024, but the interim final rule of March 2025 removed every entity created in the United States from the definition of a reporting company, and the final rule of 11 August 2026 made that permanent. A change of owner on a US formed shelf company therefore triggers no FinCEN filing. Form 8822-B still goes to the IRS.
Want today’s US inventory? Contact our US desk.
United States is one of several jurisdictions where ShelfCompanies24 maintains pre-formed entities and active formation services. Why pick United States for your LLC specifically? No FinCEN beneficial ownership report for an entity formed in the United States, in a Delaware or Wyoming LLC is the headline reason, but it pays to understand the trade-offs against the alternatives. Below are concrete differentiators that matter when you are weighing a structure decision against the actual operating profile of your business.
Cross-border corporate structuring in 2026 is governed by a tighter web of rules than in any previous decade. Three forces shape every decision:
For United States specifically: 21% federal + 0-9.99% state, with the LLC pass-through by default. Entities formed in the United States are exempt from FinCEN beneficial ownership reporting, permanently since the final rule of 11 August 2026, and only entities formed abroad and registered to do business in a state still report.
Issues we routinely see when prospects come to us after attempting the process directly with local providers in United States:
Yes. A name change is filed with the state SoS via a directors’ resolution and a routine filing, typically clears in 24 hours. We include up to one name change as standard for both shelf-company purchase and new formation.
The EU directives do not apply to an American company. The United States runs its own income tax treaty network covering about 67 jurisdictions, listed by the IRS, and most of those treaties carry a limitation on benefits article. One point catches owners out: an LLC treated as fiscally transparent is not itself a treaty resident, so benefits pass through only to members who are US residents. A foreign owned LLC usually cannot claim under a US treaty at all.
Client information is held under contractual non-disclosure plus the professional-secrecy obligations applicable to corporate-service providers in our home jurisdiction. We do not share client identity or transaction details with third parties beyond what is statutorily required (KYC reporting, beneficial-owner-register filings, AML/CTF reporting where triggered). Our internal access to client files is logged and access-restricted by need-to-know.
No, and you should not engage anyone who claims otherwise. The State Secretary of State filings (state SoS) records the actual incorporation date, which is publicly searchable and immutable. The shelf LLCs we offer have honest incorporation dates ranging from a few months to several years old; for buyers who want a longer corporate trading history, we recommend purchase rather than fabrication, since fabricated history would expose you to fraud, tax-evasion, and money-laundering charges in any reputable jurisdiction.
Engaging us for your US shelf LLC purchase covers the following deliverables under one service:
The deliverable scope is identical regardless of whether you are based in the EU, the US, the UK, the Middle East, or APAC, we operate the same service globally for US corporate setup. Optional add-ons (virtual office, accounting retainer, payroll, sector licences, transfer-pricing documentation) are scoped separately, so the incorporation or transfer work stays exactly as agreed.