A consultancy will tell you a Delaware LLC costs a few hundred dollars and takes a week — and that is true. It is also the cheapest line in the whole story. Once the company exists, the annual tax filings, state fees, registered agent, bank-account maintenance, and your new status as a US tax-reporting enterprise are the real bill. Whether to incorporate should not be judged by how easy setup is, but by whether your business actually needs it now.
Written by SKYCARGO INC, a US logistics company shipping between the US and Taiwan since 2014 and incorporated in the US in 2023, with warehouses in Oregon, Los Angeles and Taoyuan; it serves as an FDA U.S. Agent and can assist clients with USDA registrations and inquiries. More on this topic: US Food & FDA Compliance: The Complete Guide Index.
Two roads solving the same problem
What blocks a Taiwanese company selling into the US is really three “US identities”: the importer Customs requires (IOR), the U.S. Agent and FSVP Importer FDA requires, and the US collection and after-sales window customers want. Two solutions:
Road A: set up a US company and hold all three identities yourself.
Road B: no US entity — your Taiwanese company acts as a non-resident importer, files through a licensed US customs broker and appoints an FSVP agent, while a logistics company can serve as your FDA U.S. Agent (a forwarder that only earns freight cannot lend its name as IOR, per CBP Directive 3530-002A).
The costs, side by side
| Item | Road A: own entity | Road B: non-resident importer |
|---|---|---|
| One-time | formation, EIN, bank account (often requires a US trip), initial legal and accounting | CBP Form 5106 (filed by a broker), a designated resident agent |
| Fixed annual | state fees and registered agent, federal and state filings (the CPA fee is usually the biggest line), corporate bank maintenance | resident-agent fee, bond cost (bond rules for foreign importers are tightening in 2026) |
| Per shipment | your own bond, your own broker, your own inspections | broker’s entry fee; an FSVP agent for food; logistics and inspection coordination can go to a logistics company |
| Hidden obligations | US tax filings (including Taiwan–US transfer-pricing files), state sales-tax registration and filing, litigation exposure | importer liability is yours (accurate entries, five-year records, penalties), but no US corporate tax filings; sales contracts stay with the Taiwanese company |
| Flexibility | winding up requires formal dissolution | stop any time, no exit cost |
For scale: a non-operating US company costs several thousand dollars a year just to keep compliant (filings + state fees + agent); an operating one scales with revenue through CPA and state-tax work. Road B has small fixed costs (resident agent, bond); the rest follows shipment volume.
When to switch to your own entity
Road B is not the permanent answer. These signals mean incorporation starts to pay:
- A US channel requires a contract with a US legal entity, or a W-9 that only a US tax person can sign
- Revenue is established and you need to hire, lease, or market locally in the US
- Collections are large and you want a US account for cash and credit management
- You need qualifications only a US entity can hold (government procurement, certain platforms)
Until then, acting as a non-resident importer to get the goods in and prove the market is the lowest-cost road. The two roads also hand over cleanly: run one or two years this way, let the numbers prove the market, then incorporate — with your import history and channel relationships already in hand.
The hybrid: non-resident importer, inventory in the US
The most common middle answer: no company yet, but inventory goes over. Your Taiwanese company acts as a non-resident importer (CBP Form 5106, a resident agent, a bond, plus an FSVP agent for food), entries go through a licensed customs broker, and the goods clear into SKYCARGO INC’s Los Angeles or Oregon warehouse; US customers get next-day dispatch, and the Hong Kong lane can even collect through E.SUN Bank’s Hong Kong branch. To your customer you have US stock, US shipping and fast after-sales — an experience indistinguishable from a competitor who incorporated, while your books carry only variable cost.
Tell us your annual volume, target channels and whether anyone is demanding a US entity and we will reply within one working day with the importer arrangement, the documents you will need and logistics fees — and when you genuinely reach the incorporation stage, we will say so.
Formation, tax and legal obligations differ by state and case. This article compares magnitudes and is not a quote; consult your accountant and lawyer. For reference only.
