You have just applied to open a Mercury bank account for your Wyoming LLC. Three days later, an email arrives asking you to prove ownership. You pull up your Articles of Organization — but your name is not on it. What now?
This is the situation thousands of non-US founders run into every year. The good news: the right documents were generated the moment you formed your LLC. Most people just do not know which ones matter, or where to find them.
Seven documents establish LLC ownership: your Operating Agreement, EIN Confirmation Letter, Membership Certificates, Articles of Organization, Statement of Organizer, tax records, and state filings. This guide covers what each one proves, when you will actually need it, how to look up your LLC's public record online, and what a bank-ready ownership packet looks like for non-US residents.
The request rarely arrives on a quiet afternoon. It arrives when you are mid-way through a bank application, closing a deal, or — worst case — in the middle of a dispute with a co-founder. Here are the situations that trigger it most often.
Opening a US bank account. Under US anti-money laundering rules, banks must verify the identity of anyone with 25% or more ownership before approving an account. Mercury, Relay, and Wise Business will all ask. Most traditional US banks ask for even more.
Getting approved by payment processors. Stripe and PayPal run the same ownership checks as banks. Expect to provide at least your Operating Agreement and EIN Confirmation Letter, plus a passport if you are a non-US resident.
Securing financing or entering contracts. Any lender, landlord, or counterparty entering a significant agreement with your LLC will want to confirm that the person signing is authorised to bind the company.
Bringing in a new member or selling the business. A buyer or incoming partner will want to verify the ownership structure before putting anything in writing. Disputes about who really owns what are far more common when documentation was never properly formalised.
Resolving a co-founder dispute. If a member challenges your stake, clear and up-to-date documents are what you bring to mediation — or to court.
If you only keep one document in good order, make it this one.
The LLC Operating Agreement is the private contract between the members of your LLC. It establishes who owns what percentage of the business, what each member's rights and responsibilities are, how decisions get made, and what happens when someone wants to leave. Banks, lawyers, and courts treat it as the primary evidence of ownership — because it is.
Unlike your Articles of Organization, the Operating Agreement is not filed with the state. It does not appear in any public database. This makes it both more powerful (it can be as detailed as you need) and more fragile (if you lose it, you are in trouble).
A thorough Operating Agreement should cover member names and ownership percentages, initial capital contributions, voting rights, the process for admitting or removing members, and provisions for dissolution. If you want to understand what belongs in one, our guide on how to draft an LLC Operating Agreement walks through it section by section.
Update it every time ownership changes. An Operating Agreement that says you own 100% of the LLC when you sold a 30% stake six months ago will cause serious problems at exactly the wrong moment.
Your Employer Identification Number (EIN) Confirmation Letter is issued by the IRS when your LLC's tax ID is assigned. It arrives as Form CP-575, or as a 147C letter if you request a duplicate later.
For non-US residents, this is arguably the most important document in the ownership packet — and yet it appears in almost none of the guides written for a general audience.
Every US business bank requires it. Mercury, Relay, Wise Business, Stripe — all of them. The EIN letter confirms not just that you have a tax ID, but that your LLC is registered with the IRS and recognised as a legitimate entity. Think of it as the foundational "proof the company is real" document for anyone who did not watch you file the paperwork themselves.
Keep a scanned copy somewhere you can actually find it. If you lose it, you can request a replacement 147C letter from the IRS by calling the Business and Specialty Tax Line on 800-829-4933. From outside the US, dial +1-267-941-1099. A mailed replacement takes 10 to 14 days, but if a bank is waiting on it right now, you can ask the IRS agent to fax the letter to you instantly while you are still on the phone.
Recommended Reading: 147C Letter — What It Is and How to Get One
Non-resident note: Standard IRS processing for a non-resident EIN application takes 40–60 business days. StartFleet's Startup and Business plans include Express EIN processing, bringing that down to 11–14 business days.
Membership certificates are the LLC equivalent of stock certificates in a corporation. They are formal, single-page documents issued by the company to each member, stating their name, ownership percentage, and the date the interest was granted.
No US state requires an LLC to issue them — they are entirely optional. But they are worth creating, particularly in multi-member LLCs, because they are clean, self-contained, and easy to hand over in any situation that calls for a quick proof of ownership. For more on when and how to issue them, see our LLC certificates guide.
A membership certificate should include the member's full legal name, the percentage they hold, the date of issuance, and the signature of an authorised representative. That is it.
The Articles of Organization is the document filed with the Secretary of State that legally creates your LLC. Delaware calls it a Certificate of Formation; some states use Certificate of Organization. Different name, same document.
Banks and counterparties will ask for it because it confirms your LLC legally exists and is registered with the state.
Here is the breakdown for Wyoming, Delaware, New Mexico, and Florida:
For Wyoming, Delaware, and New Mexico, your name does not appear anywhere in the public record. The Articles confirm the company exists; your identity as the owner is in your private documents. If member privacy is a priority, our guides on how to keep your LLC ownership private and the best anonymous LLC states cover this in depth.
Florida is a different story. While Florida also omits member names from the initial Articles of Organization, it requires managers or authorised members to be listed on the mandatory Annual Report — which becomes permanent public record. If anonymity matters to you, Wyoming, Delaware, or New Mexico are the right choice.
One more point worth flagging: Articles of Organization and Articles of Incorporation are different documents for different entities. LLCs file Articles of Organization. Corporations file Articles of Incorporation.
A Statement and Resignation of Organizer is signed at formation and names the initial members or managers of the LLC. Where the Articles of Organization leave your name off the public record, the Statement of Organizer fills that gap — it is the private document that confirms who established the company and who the founding member is.
Some banks request it specifically when the Articles of Organization do not list member names (which, as we have seen, is most of the time for Wyoming, Delaware, and New Mexico LLCs). It is a clean, authoritative supplement to the Operating Agreement.
StartFleet includes a Statement and Resignation of Organizer in every plan. If you want to understand how the organiser role works, see our LLC organiser guide.
While neither replaces your primary legal documents, IRS filings and internal accounting records can strongly corroborate your ownership case. The documents you use will depend on whether you are a single-founder or multi-member LLC.
Recommended Reading: How to File Taxes as an LLC for a Sole Owner
In states that require them, annual reports update the state on your LLC's registered agent address and principal office. They are evidence of ongoing compliance and active status — but they are not ownership documents in any meaningful sense, and the requirements vary significantly by state.
New Mexico has no annual report requirement for LLCs at all. No ongoing state filings, which is one of the reasons it has become increasingly popular for cost-conscious founders.
Wyoming requires an annual report, but it does not list member names. The filing confirms the registered agent and principal office address — nothing more. The fee is $60, due on the first day of your LLC's anniversary month.
Delaware LLCs do not file an annual report at all. Delaware simply requires payment of a flat $300 Alternative Entity Tax, due by 1 June each year. No informational filing, no registered agent update, no address confirmation — just the payment.
Florida requires an annual report that includes the names and addresses of all managers or authorised members, and this information becomes permanent public record.
For a full breakdown of what compliance looks like year on year, see our annual compliance requirements guide for non-resident LLC owners.
Every US state maintains a public database of registered businesses. Searching yours takes about two minutes and tells you exactly what the public can — and cannot — see about your company.
Step 1: Go to the right state portal. Use the state where your LLC was formed, not where you operate.
Step 2: Search by name or entity number. Enter your LLC name in full, or try a partial match. The result will show your LLC's current status — active or inactive — along with its registered agent and filing history.
Step 3: Open the filed documents. Most state portals let you download the Articles of Organization as a PDF. Save it. You will need to attach it to bank applications repeatedly.
Step 4: Note what is not there. In Wyoming, Delaware, and New Mexico, your name will not appear anywhere in the public record. If a bank tells you they "looked you up" and could not confirm you as the owner, that is why — and it is exactly how these states are designed to work. Your identity as the owner is in your private documents, not the public filing.
Step 5: Request a Certificate of Good Standing if needed. If a bank, lender, or business partner wants formal confirmation that your LLC is active and compliant, a Certificate of Good Standing is what to provide. Most states issue these instantly online for a fee ranging from $0 (Wyoming) to $50 (Delaware).
Most guides on LLC ownership documentation assume the reader is a US citizen — one with a Social Security Number, a driving licence, and a local branch they can walk into. If that is not you, the process looks different.
When you apply for a US bank account as a non-resident, the bank needs to verify three things: that the LLC legally exists, that you are who you say you are, and that you actually own it. You cannot walk in with a passport and hand it to a branch manager. Everything happens remotely, by document.
The bank-ready document packet. For Mercury, Relay, Wise Business, and most US banks accessible to non-residents, the standard ownership packet looks like this:
Bank identifies all individuals with 25% or more ownership during account opening. For a sole-owner Wyoming LLC, that is you — and the six documents above cover everything they need.
Why Wyoming is the right call for most non-residents. Wyoming does not list member names anywhere in its public record. Your Articles of Organization, annual report, and SoS database entry all omit your name entirely. Ownership is documented in your private Operating Agreement and Statement of Organizer — documents you hold, not documents anyone can search.
For a full comparison of formation states, see our guide to best US states for foreigners to form an LLC. And for a complete walkthrough of the LLC formation process as a non-resident — from state selection through banking — see our US LLC for non-residents guide.
The 2025 BOI rule change: what it means for you. If you have been wondering whether you need to file a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) report with FinCEN for your US LLC, the answer — as of March 2025 — is almost certainly no.
FinCEN's March 2025 interim final rule removed the BOI filing requirement for all domestic US entities. A Wyoming LLC formed by a non-US resident is a domestic entity — it was created under Wyoming state law, in the United States. As a domestic entity, it is not required to file a BOI report with FinCEN.
The filing obligation now applies only to foreign entities — companies formed outside the US that have subsequently registered to do business in a US state. If you formed your LLC through StartFleet, you are forming a domestic entity. You are exempt.
That said, regulatory positions can shift. Check FinCEN.gov periodically or ask your StartFleet team at the time of formation for the latest status.
StartFleet's Startup plan ($599 all-in, state fee included) includes your Articles of Organization, Statement of Organizer, Operating Agreement, registered agent, and Express EIN — the complete document packet US banks ask for, prepared correctly from day one. View plans →
Most LLC ownership disputes trace back to one of three places: members disagree about what the Operating Agreement actually says, a member exits and others contest how their stake should be valued, or a financial disagreement escalates into a challenge of ownership itself.
The starting point for any of them is the same: return to the Operating Agreement. If it is clear, current, and signed, most disputes resolve at that point. If it is outdated or ambiguous, you have more work ahead.
When the Operating Agreement does not settle the question, mediation is the next step. A neutral third party helps facilitate a negotiated resolution — faster and far less expensive than court. Many disputes that look like litigation end at mediation.
Before filing any legal claim, check your Operating Agreement for an arbitration clause. Many include one, requiring disputes to go to a private arbitrator rather than a court judge. Filing a lawsuit without realising your agreement mandates arbitration first is a costly mistake.
Legal action — taking the dispute before a judge — is the last resort. It is slow, expensive, and unpredictable. If it comes to that, your complete ownership documentation (all seven document types) is what you present as your case.
Recommended Reading: How to Buy Out a Partner in an LLC | How to Remove a Partner from an LLC
Not updating the Operating Agreement after ownership changes. The most common and most damaging mistake. If you bring in a new member, adjust percentages, or execute a buyout, the Operating Agreement must be amended and re-signed. An outdated agreement creates the kind of ambiguity that takes months and thousands of dollars to untangle.
Confusing Articles of Organization with Articles of Incorporation. LLCs file Articles of Organization. Corporations file Articles of Incorporation. They are different documents for different entities. If a bank or counterparty asks for the wrong one, clarify the entity type first rather than submitting the wrong document.
Using Schedule K-1 as proof of ownership. K-1 reflects tax allocation for the year. It is not a legal ownership record, and the IRS says so explicitly. Lead with your Operating Agreement and EIN letter.
Losing the EIN Confirmation Letter. Bank applications stall while you wait for a 147C replacement. Keep a digital copy somewhere you will actually find it under pressure.
Skipping annual document reviews. Set a calendar reminder. Review your formation documents once a year and every time a material change happens. Catching a discrepancy before a bank application is manageable. Catching it during a funding round is not.
The Operating Agreement. It is the private, comprehensive record of who owns what percentage of the LLC, signed by all members. In any ownership dispute or verification request, it is the first document you produce.
In most cases, no. Wyoming, Delaware, and New Mexico do not list member names in the Articles of Organization — your identity as owner is established through separate private documents. Florida omits member names from the initial Articles of Organization, but requires managers or authorised members to be named on the Annual Report, which becomes public record. If member privacy matters, Wyoming, Delaware, or New Mexico are the stronger choices.
An Operating Agreement is typically 10–30 pages: member names, ownership percentages, capital contributions, governance rules, and exit procedures. A Membership Certificate is a single page with the member's name, percentage, issuance date, and an authorised signature. Your EIN Confirmation Letter is one page from the IRS confirming your LLC name, tax ID, and registration.
Your ownership percentage is in your Operating Agreement. If you are the sole member, you own 100%. If there are multiple members, each member's percentage is listed individually. If percentages change, amend the Operating Agreement and have all members sign the amendment.
Go to the Secretary of State website for the state where your LLC was formed — wyobiz.wyo.gov for Wyoming, icis.corp.delaware.gov for Delaware, search.sunbiz.org for Florida, portal.sos.state.nm.us for New Mexico. Search by name or entity number. In Wyoming, Delaware, and New Mexico, you will not find member names in the public record — that is by design.
Not from public records. Wyoming does not list member names in its Articles of Organization or annual reports. Ownership is in your private Operating Agreement — not filed with the state, not publicly searchable. Only a court order could compel disclosure.
As of March 2025, domestic US LLCs — including Wyoming LLCs formed by non-US residents — are exempt from BOI reporting. Only foreign entities registered to do business in the US must file. If you formed your LLC through StartFleet, you have no current BOI filing obligation. Always verify the current position at FinCEN.gov before making compliance decisions.
Your Articles of Organization, EIN Confirmation Letter, and government-issued photo ID (passport for non-residents) for all individuals with 25% or more ownership. Depending on your country of residence, Mercury may also request a proof of address — a utility bill or bank statement dated within the last 90 days.
Whether you are at the formation stage or trying to get your existing LLC bank-ready, having the right documentation — and having it prepared correctly — matters far more than most founders realise until they hit a snag.
StartFleet handles LLC formation, registered agent, EIN, and the complete ownership document packet from $449 all-in. View plans →
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