Wyoming LLC vs South Carolina LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Wyoming.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
South Carolina charges $110 once and asks for nothing annually, provided the LLC is not taxed as a corporation. The Department of Revenue is explicit that a pass-through LLC escapes both the annual report and the License Fee; elect C-corp or S-corp treatment and a CL-1 with a $25 initial License Fee falls due within sixty days of doing business. Wyoming costs $100 to form and charges an annual report license tax with a $60 minimum every anniversary month. A South Carolina LLC run from Wyoming needs a $150 registration here.
Based in South Carolina? Read South Carolina LLC vs Wyoming LLC →
Compare Wyoming LLC vs South Carolina LLC on filing fees, taxes, privacy laws, and annual costs. Find out which state is actually better for your business.
By Edmond Hui · Last updated: October 1, 2026
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| Factor | Wyoming | South Carolina |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $100 | $110 |
| Processing Time | Instant online; up to 15 business days paper | Not published by the state |
| Annual Report Fee | $60 | None |
| Annual Report Due | First day of anniversary month | None required |
| State Income Tax | No | Yes |
| Anonymous LLC | Yes | No |
| Publication Requirement | No | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $150 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: Wyoming LLC cost and South Carolina LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Wyoming anonymous LLC guide and South Carolina anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: Wyoming vs South Carolina
| Factor | Wyoming | South Carolina |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 47.5% (#42 of 51) | 55.9% (#2 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +13.3% YoY (#22 of 51 by volume) | +14.7% YoY (#19 of 51 by volume) |
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)
Compare LLC Costs: Wyoming vs South Carolina
Wyoming
South Carolina
A figure shown as "from" is the least the state can charge, not a price. Tennessee's report is $300 for up to six members and $50 for each member above six, its franchise tax is the greater of $100 or 0.25% of Tennessee net worth, Wyoming's report is the greater of $60 or $.0002 per dollar of in-state assets, Kentucky's entity tax is $175 up to $3 million of gross receipts and graduated above it, and New York's annual filing fee is graduated on New York source gross income. A total that contains one of those is shown as "from" for the same reason. Costs include every mandatory state charge: the filing fee, the report fee (annualised where a state files biennially), any state entity-level tax shown in its own row above, a one-time publication cost where the state publishes a rate for it, and any one-time registration charge a state requires before the LLC may trade. Two exclusions follow from that wording. Arizona and Nebraska require publication and publish no rate, so no newspaper cost is carried for either and their totals are not the whole cost. Alaska's $50 annual state business licence is a separate charge from the Secretary of State fees and is not carried here either. Annualising makes the 1, 3 and 5 year rows a cost of ownership rather than a payment schedule: a biennial state charges its whole report fee in the years it falls due and nothing in between. Entity-level taxes that only apply after a corporate election, or above an owner or income threshold, are excluded and flagged on the state's own cost page. New York's publication cost is carried at a $250 floor, roughly $200 of newspaper cost in a low-cost county plus the $50 Certificate of Publication fee. No county-clerk-designated New York City newspaper publishes a rate card, so the four-figure NYC estimates in wide circulation cannot be traced to a primary source and are not asserted here; budget for materially more than the floor if you file in a NYC county. Every fee was verified against the state's own fee schedule, statute, or revenue authority on 29 July 2026. Excludes registered agent and legal fees. For informational purposes only, not legal or tax advice.
Filing Fees & Formation Costs
Wyoming charges $100 to form an LLC, while South Carolina charges $110. Wyoming is $10 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in South Carolina but operate in Wyoming, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Wyoming (a $150 filing) and maintain a registered agent in South Carolina (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the South Carolina route at roughly $410, versus $100 for simply forming in Wyoming. Only one side of this comparison is knowable: Wyoming publishes a standard turnaround (instant online; up to 15 business days paper), while South Carolina publishes no standard processing time, so the two can't be ranked against each other on speed.
Taxes: Wyoming vs South Carolina
Wyoming has no personal income tax, while South Carolina taxes individual income. Since pass-through LLC profits are taxed where you live and operate, a Wyoming-based owner keeps Wyoming's no-income-tax benefit either way. Forming in South Carolina adds no tax advantage. Wyoming charges an annual report license tax of $60 minimum ($62 filed online), based on in-state assets; no franchise or privilege tax otherwise.
Privacy & Asset Protection
Wyoming, your home state, actually offers more formation privacy than South Carolina: Wyoming allows anonymous LLC formation, while South Carolina requires owner or manager information on public filings. South Carolina requires managers to be listed on the Articles of Organization when the LLC is manager-managed, a public record. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and for most small businesses the practical difference in asset protection between the two is minimal. Wyoming's charging-order law makes the charging order a creditor's exclusive remedy (including for single-member LLCs) and is widely regarded as the strongest in the country. From a privacy standpoint there's no reason for a Wyoming-based business to form in South Carolina.
Annual Maintenance Costs
Wyoming LLCs file an annual report (at least $60, due in the anniversary month), and South Carolina LLCs file no annual report at all. If you form in South Carolina while operating in Wyoming, you maintain filings in both states, South Carolina asks for no report, but Wyoming still wants its equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a South Carolina registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the South Carolina route to roughly $210 a year, versus at least $60 to keep a domestic Wyoming LLC in good standing. The tax inside those totals: Wyoming charges an annual report license tax of $60 minimum ($62 filed online), based on in-state assets; no franchise or privilege tax otherwise.
When South Carolina Actually Makes Sense
Forming in South Carolina makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in South Carolina, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to South Carolina in the near future and accept taking on South Carolina's personal income tax, which Wyoming doesn't levy. For a typical small business based in Wyoming, none of these usually apply. Registering a South Carolina LLC to do business back home means $150 in Wyoming foreign-registration fees, on top of South Carolina's $110 formation fee, while Wyoming's own annual report runs at least $60 a year and is due in the anniversary month. Wyoming already allows anonymous formation, so the privacy argument for South Carolina doesn't apply to a Wyoming-based owner. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources
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.
- Wyoming statute: W.S. 17-29-503 (charging order remedy)
- sos.wyo.gov/Business/Default.aspxWyoming Secretary of State: business entity filings
- sos.wyo.gov/Business/docs/BusinessFees.pdfWyoming LLC filing fees
- sos.sc.gov/online-filings/business-entitiesSouth Carolina Secretary of State: business entity filings
- scstatehouse.gov/code/t33c044.phpSouth Carolina LLC filing fees
Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC
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.