If you want to form an LLC without your name showing up in a state business registry, the three states that deliver on that are Delaware, Wyoming, and New Mexico. None of them require member or manager names on the public formation documents. Nevada is often grouped with these anonymous LLC states, but it requires every LLC to file a public list of managers or managing members at formation and every year after, so the privacy only holds if you add a nominee. Whichever state you pick, federal filings and your bank will still know who you are.
What “Anonymous” Actually Covers
An anonymous LLC is one whose owners’ names don’t appear in the state’s public business records. The LLC itself is never hidden. Its name, formation date, and registered agent are always searchable. What changes from state to state is whether the public filing also names a member or manager.
In a privacy-friendly state, the trail on the public registry stops at the registered agent. In most other states, at least one human being tied to the business has to be listed. That single distinction is the whole game.
Delaware
Delaware’s certificate of formation asks for two things: the LLC’s name and the name and address of its registered agent.1Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 6 18-201 – Certificate of Formation No members or managers are named anywhere in the public filing. Delaware also has no annual report requirement for LLCs, so there’s no yearly filing that could reintroduce your name later.
The cost is $110 to form, plus a flat $300 annual tax to stay in good standing. Delaware’s LLC statute and Court of Chancery are well developed, which matters more to companies expecting complex governance disputes than to someone forming a single-member LLC for privacy.
Wyoming
Wyoming’s articles of organization require the LLC’s name and the name and street address of the registered agent.2Justia Law. Wyoming Statutes 17-29-201 – Formation of Limited Liability Company The state’s official form has no fields for owner, member, or manager information.3Wyoming Secretary of State. Limited Liability Company Articles of Organization
Formation costs $100. Wyoming does require an annual report with a minimum fee of $60 based on the LLC’s Wyoming-based assets, but the report itself does not require member or manager names. Wyoming has no state income tax, though your home state may still tax income you earn there regardless of where your LLC is formed.
New Mexico
New Mexico is the cheapest of the three. The articles of organization must include the LLC’s name, the registered agent’s name and address, the principal place of business, whether the LLC is manager-managed, and whether it may operate as a single-member LLC. Owner names are not on that list.
Formation runs roughly $50, and New Mexico requires no annual report and no annual fee. Once formed, your only recurring cost is the registered agent. For plain, low-maintenance anonymity, it’s the most cost-effective choice.
Why Nevada Falls Short
Nevada markets itself heavily as a privacy state, and its articles of organization don’t require member names. The problem is a separate filing. Nevada requires every LLC to submit an initial list of managers or managing members at the time the articles are filed, and that list is public. Names and addresses of all managers, or of all managing members if there are no managers, must appear on it, and the list has to be refiled every year.4Nevada Legislature. NRS Chapter 86 – Limited-Liability Companies
You can preserve anonymity by structuring the LLC as manager-managed and hiring a nominee manager whose name goes on the public filing instead of yours. But that’s a workaround with extra cost that isn’t needed in Delaware, Wyoming, or New Mexico. Nevada also charges higher ongoing fees than the other three, including a state business license fee on top of the annual list.
The Tools That Make State Privacy Real
Choosing the right state is step one. A few practical pieces determine whether your name actually stays off the record.
Registered Agent Service
Because the registered agent’s name and address are always public, using a professional registered agent puts a company’s address on the state registry instead of your home address. This is the baseline privacy tool, and it’s essentially mandatory for an anonymous LLC. Professional services typically run between $35 and $350 per year depending on the provider and what’s bundled in.
Nominee Managers and Organizers
A nominee is someone hired to list their name on public documents in place of the actual owner. In Nevada, where manager names appear on the annual list, a nominee keeps the real owner’s identity off the public record. The nominee has no real control; a private agreement spells out that they act only as directed.
One important limit: the IRS does not allow nominees on the EIN application. The “responsible party” on Form SS-4 must be someone who actually owns or controls the business.5Internal Revenue Service. Responsible Parties and Nominees A nominee can keep you off the state registry. It cannot keep you off the IRS’s records.
The Operating Agreement Stays Private
The operating agreement is the internal document that spells out who owns the LLC, how profits are split, and how decisions get made. It’s not filed with the state. In a privacy-friendly state, this is the only document that names the owners, and it stays a private business record unless a court orders it produced.
Operating in Another State Undermines the Privacy
Forming in Wyoming doesn’t help much if your business actually operates in a state that requires member disclosure. When an LLC does business outside its formation state, most states require it to foreign qualify, meaning it registers with that state’s secretary of state and complies with its filing requirements. Many of those states ask for member or manager names as part of the foreign registration, which puts your information on a public record anyway.
Skipping foreign qualification carries real risk. An unregistered LLC can lose the right to file lawsuits in that state’s courts, and it may face back taxes, penalties, and interest for the years it operated without registering. In cases involving fraud or intentional evasion, courts may hold owners personally liable for business debts, which defeats the purpose of forming an LLC in the first place.
The privacy advantage of an anonymous LLC is strongest when the business runs primarily online or entirely inside the formation state. Employees, physical offices, or in-person operations in another state shrink the advantage considerably.
Federal Filings the State Can’t Hide
State-level privacy is one layer. Federal law adds several requirements that put your name in government records even when it stays off public ones.
EIN Application
Any LLC with employees, certain tax filings, or a business bank account needs an Employer Identification Number. Form SS-4 requires the name and Social Security number or ITIN of a responsible party, defined as someone who owns or controls the entity and manages its funds.6Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 – Application for Employer Identification Number This information goes to the IRS and is not publicly searchable.
Corporate Transparency Act
The Corporate Transparency Act, codified at 31 U.S.C. § 5336, originally required most LLCs and corporations to report their beneficial owners’ names, dates of birth, addresses, and identification documents to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 5336 – Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirements
As of March 2025, FinCEN issued an interim final rule exempting all entities formed in the United States from the beneficial ownership reporting requirement. Only foreign entities registered to do business in a U.S. state must now file. FinCEN has also said it will not enforce BOI reporting penalties against U.S. citizens or domestic companies.8FinCEN. Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting The exemption was created by interim rule, not by repealing the statute, and FinCEN has signaled further rulemaking. The underlying law still authorizes the reporting requirement, so watch FinCEN for changes before relying on the current status.
Bank Accounts
Federal anti-money-laundering rules require banks to identify the beneficial owners of any legal entity that opens an account. Under 31 C.F.R. § 1010.230, a covered financial institution must identify every individual who owns 25% or more of the entity or who exercises substantial control over it.9eCFR. 31 CFR 1010.230 – Beneficial Ownership Requirements for Legal Entity Customers This applies no matter where the LLC was formed. Your bank will know who you are even when the state registry doesn’t show it.
When Courts and Law Enforcement Can Pierce It
Anonymous LLC privacy holds up against casual public searches. It does not hold up against a determined litigant or law enforcement.
In civil litigation, a plaintiff can subpoena the LLC directly for its business records, operating agreement, and bank records to identify the people behind the company. A registered agent can also be subpoenaed, though they usually hold only basic contact information rather than ownership details. The more common path is a court order requiring the LLC to produce its internal documents, which contain the owner names that never made it to the public filing.
Nevada’s statute specifically allows the Secretary of State to require an LLC to turn over its member and manager list to law enforcement during a criminal investigation within three business days.4Nevada Legislature. NRS Chapter 86 – Limited-Liability Companies Other states have similar mechanisms. The privacy of an anonymous LLC is privacy from the general public, not from the courts.
What It Costs
Direct state costs across the four states most often used for this purpose:
- New Mexico: about $50 to form, no annual report, no annual fee.
- Wyoming: $100 to form, annual report starting at $60.
- Delaware: $110 to form, $300 annual tax, no annual report.
- Nevada: higher formation and annual costs than the other three, plus a state business license fee and the annual list filing that may require a nominee manager to keep privacy intact.
Add a professional registered agent service on top of state fees, at $35 to $350 per year. If you need a nominee manager, particularly for a Nevada LLC, that’s another recurring cost. And if your business operates outside the formation state, expect foreign qualification fees and compliance costs in that state too.
How to Form One
Once you’ve picked a state, the formation itself is straightforward. Choose a name that meets the state’s naming rules; every state requires the name to include “LLC” or “Limited Liability Company” and to be distinguishable from existing entities on file. Appoint a registered agent with a physical address in the formation state. If you don’t have a presence there, a professional service handles it.
File the articles of organization (called a certificate of formation in Delaware) with the state’s secretary of state or equivalent office. In Delaware, Wyoming, and New Mexico, that document contains only the LLC’s name and the registered agent’s information. Pay the filing fee. Processing usually takes a few business days, faster with expedited handling.
Draft an operating agreement even where the state doesn’t require one. This private document establishes who owns the LLC, how it’s managed, and how profits and losses are allocated. It is your primary proof of ownership, and because it is never filed, it is where your identity actually stays protected. Then apply for an EIN through the IRS, remembering that the responsible party’s identity will be on file with the federal government even though it won’t appear in any state business registry.