Run any ecommerce store through an anonymous LLC. Stripe / PayPal / Shopify in the LLC's name. Sales tax nexus handled cleanly.
By Shafwan Ahmed, Operations & Fulfillment Lead, Anonymousllc.co
Wyoming anonymous LLC, single-member disregarded entity by default. S-corp election above $60k/yr net profit. The LLC holds the Shopify / WooCommerce store, Stripe / PayPal merchant accounts, supplier contracts, and the business bank account. Foreign qualification only when you create physical nexus (warehouse, employee) in another state.
Ecommerce store owners are frequently targeted by chargeback fraud, copycat sellers, and aggressive returns-fraud rings. Customers and competitors regularly look up the legal entity behind a brand. An anonymous LLC means the WHOIS, Stripe records, and state filings do not surface the founder's home address or full identity.
Wyoming is the default for SaaS / ecommerce founders. No state income tax. Wyoming RA address replaces your home on filings. Best banking acceptance. Easy operating agreement amendments if you take on investors later.
| State | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Wyoming (recommended) | $397 | Best balance of cost, anonymity, banking acceptance. |
| New Mexico | $347 | Cheapest. No annual report. Banking is harder. |
| Delaware | $407 | Strong for outside-investor setups. $300/yr franchise tax. |
An anonymous LLC keeps your name and home address off the Secretary of State filings, WHOIS records, and merchant profiles that customers and competitors search. The LLC becomes the legal seller of record. Chargeback fraud rings, copycat sellers, and returns-fraud operators look up the human behind a brand to apply pressure or file harassment claims. When you form in Wyoming, your name never appears on the Articles of Organization, and the registered agent address replaces your home on every public filing. Pair that with WHOIS privacy on the domain, and passive searchers hit a wall. Stripe knows your identity through KYC and the IRS knows you through the EIN, so anonymity here means protection from public discovery, not from lawful process.
Form the LLC, get the EIN, open a Mercury or Relay business account, then update each processor's business profile to the LLC name, EIN, and new bank account. Approval is standard. Stripe, PayPal, and Shopify Payments each ask for the legal entity name, the EIN, the formation document, and a business bank account for payouts. You provide the Wyoming Articles of Organization and the EIN, then route payouts to the LLC's Mercury or Relay account instead of your personal account. The bank account is the gating step: it opens about 8-10 days after the EIN, and the EIN follows 5-7 days after the state accepts the filing. Do not move payouts before the business account is live, or Stripe holds funds it cannot deposit.
Economic nexus triggers when you cross a state threshold - $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions in a calendar year in most states. Physical presence like a warehouse or employee triggers it at once. After the 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair decision, states set economic nexus thresholds that force out-of-state sellers to register, collect, and remit sales tax, ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 depending on the state. Marketplace facilitators such as Amazon and Etsy collect on your behalf where required, so marketplace sales rarely create your own filing duty. Direct Shopify or WooCommerce sales count toward your own thresholds. A warehouse, office, or employee in a state creates physical nexus immediately and forces both sales-tax registration and foreign qualification of the LLC there.
Wyoming at $397 is the default: strong anonymity, no state income tax, and the best banking acceptance for Stripe payouts. New Mexico at $347 is cheapest but banking is harder; Delaware at $407 suits outside investors. Wyoming charges a $60 minimum annual report due in your formation-anniversary month and delivers the cleanest path to a Mercury or Relay account, which anchors most ecommerce setups. New Mexico costs $347 all-in ($297 service plus $50 state) and requires no annual report and no annual fee, but marketplace payout banking is tougher to secure with a New Mexico address. Delaware costs $407 ($297 plus $110 state) and carries a $300 flat annual franchise tax due June 1; it earns its premium when you plan to raise outside capital and want Court of Chancery familiarity.
Elect S-corp status once net profit consistently clears about $60,000 per year. Below that, payroll and compliance costs exceed the self-employment tax you save. A single-member Wyoming LLC starts as a disregarded entity, and all net profit flows to your personal return subject to 15.3% self-employment tax. Filing Form 2553 converts the LLC to S-corp taxation, letting you split income between a reasonable salary subject to payroll tax and distributions that escape self-employment tax. The savings begin once profit clears roughly $60,000, because you must run real payroll, file Form 1120-S, and pay for added bookkeeping. The IRS requires a reasonable salary; paying yourself only distributions invites reclassification of the entire amount as wages.
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