9 states require no member or manager to be named on any routine public filing, so you can form anonymously in them without a holding entity. The other 41 name at least one member or manager somewhere, at formation, on a periodic report, or both. The standard route there: form an anonymous Wyoming LLC as the sole member of your home-state operating LLC. Select your state below for a complete guide.
Updated June 2026 · All 50 states covered
Direct States9
Require Double-LLC41
Holding State (Cost)Wyoming
What is an anonymous LLC?An anonymous LLC is a legally formed company where the owner's name doesn't appear in publicly searchable state business records. It's used by real estate investors, business owners, and professionals who want to separate their personal name from business activity, not to evade taxes (the IRS always knows who you are).
States Where You Can Form AnonymouslyNo holding entity needed
These states require no member or manager to be named on the formation document or on any periodic report. You can form directly without a holding entity in another state.
States Requiring a Wyoming Holding LLCTwo-LLC route
These states name at least one member or manager on a routine public filing. The usual route is a Wyoming holding LLC, though these states' own filings can still name who owns or manages it.
Neither Wyoming's Articles of Organization nor its annual report requires listing members or managers; only an organizer or signer appears, so use a third-party organizer, and check who signs the annual report, to keep your own name off them. Formation costs $100. Annual ongoing state cost is at least $60/year plus registered agent fees (~$125/year).
2
Register it as a Foreign LLC in your home state
File a foreign LLC registration in the state where you actually do business. The registering entity is the Wyoming LLC, but your home state's registration and annual filings can still ask who manages it. Check your state's page below for what it discloses before relying on the structure.
3
Operate through the structure
Open bank accounts, sign contracts, and hold assets through the operating entity. The Wyoming LLC's operating agreement, a private document never filed publicly, names you as the true beneficial owner. Banking and tax filings go through normal channels, and public business registries are private only to the extent each state's filings allow.
Frequently Asked Questions
An anonymous LLC is a limited liability company structured so that the true owner's (member's) name does not appear in publicly searchable state business records. Standard LLCs require member or organizer names in formation documents or annual reports. Information that ends up in Secretary of State databases searchable by anyone online. An anonymous LLC uses legal formation strategies (choosing a privacy-friendly state or using a holding entity) to keep the member's personal name off these public records. The LLC is fully legal, pays taxes, and complies with all regulations. The only difference is that the member's identity is not easily discoverable through a standard business entity search.
Nine do, on a strict test: no member or manager is required to be named on any routine public filing, at formation or on any periodic report. They are Wyoming, New Mexico, Delaware, Ohio, Missouri, Virginia, Iowa, Michigan and Nebraska. Indiana is often listed as a tenth and does not qualify: its Articles of Organization need no owner name, but the biennial Business Entity Report requires a governing person (a member if member-managed, a manager if manager-managed) and that name is publicly searchable. Wyoming requires no member or manager name on the Articles of Organization or the annual report, and costs $100 to form and at least $60/year to maintain. New Mexico files no annual report at all and costs $50 to form. Delaware requires no name on the Certificate of Formation and files no annual report, but owes a $400/year entity tax. Nevada is the state most often marketed as anonymous and is not: Nevada law requires the initial and annual list to name every manager, or every managing member if there are none, and imposes the same on a foreign LLC. In the other 40 states, the two-LLC route (a holding entity in Wyoming or New Mexico) is the usual approach, but the operating state's own filings can still name who owns or manages the LLC.
The double-LLC structure creates two entities: an anonymous holding LLC (formed in Wyoming or New Mexico) that serves as the sole member of an operating LLC in your home state. Your home state's public filings may list the Wyoming or New Mexico entity as the member, but many states also require the names of the people who manage it. The operating LLC is the entity that does business, holds property, and enters contracts. The holding LLC's only purpose is to own the operating LLC member interest. Your personal name appears in the Wyoming or New Mexico LLC's operating agreement (a private document never filed publicly) and in IRS filings, and it can also appear on an operating state's public filings where that state requires member or manager names.
No. A shell company typically has no active business operations and is used to move or obscure money, often in the context of tax evasion or money laundering. An anonymous LLC is a legitimately operating business that happens to use privacy-preserving formation structures allowed under state law. Anonymous LLCs pay taxes, operate real businesses, and comply with all regulations. The key distinction: anonymous LLCs are about privacy from public databases, not from the government. The IRS and law enforcement can still identify the true owner through tax filings, the beneficial ownership records banks are separately required to collect, and legal process. The anonymity is specifically from public Secretary of State databases and data broker sites. On the federal registry specifically: an interim final rule published March 26, 2025 exempted every entity created in the United States from Beneficial Ownership Information reporting, so a US-formed LLC no longer files one. That rule is interim rather than final. It also does not erase what was already filed, if your LLC reported before March 2025, FinCEN has published no way to withdraw or delete that report, so it remains on file.
No. Wyoming LLCs are commonly used as holding entities by people who live and work in other states. You form the Wyoming LLC, maintain a Wyoming registered agent (required), and use the Wyoming entity as the sole member of an operating LLC in the state where you actually do business. The Wyoming LLC itself does not need to conduct any business in Wyoming. Wyoming's Secretary of State does not require a Wyoming address, bank account, or employees. The only ongoing requirements are maintaining a Wyoming registered agent and paying the annual report license tax ($60/year minimum).
Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so. Where we hold the citation but no stable public link, the citation is printed on its own rather than pointed at a guessed address.
Nevada statute: NRS 86.263(1) (initial and annual list names managers)
Nevada statute: NRS 86.5461(1) (same list duty for a foreign LLC)
Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.
