Is it worth it to set up a Wyoming LLC as holding company

[Zehua Zhou]

I currently have a WA LLC, with myself being the owner and manager. As a result, in a public search, the governor name would be me.

If I set up a Wyoming LLC and modify the Operating agreement to have my WA LLC to be 100% owned by my Wyoming LLC, I assume I would still have to list a natural person as the governor of the WA LLC, and my name would still show up there. So would this extra layer give me any help?

If I set it up this way, then the monthly distribution would go to the Wyoming LLC's business account first before going to my personal account, which is fine but another layer of trouble. Also some extra logging and annual fee.

Does this give me any extra benefits? For example, is the charge order protection only valid in Wyoming but not in WA LLC?

[Chris Seveney]

@Zehua Zhou

Sounds like a lot of extra work and money?

What type of businesses are you running?

[JASON V.]

Generally, I think this setup would be to have a Wyoming LLC INSTEAD of a WA, not both. Then you would register the Wyoming LLC as a "foreign llc" doing business in WA. This is usually done under the assumption that laws are more favorable where the LLC is formed, then the persons home state. (Wyoming and Nevada, are popular for this)

This still doesn't solve your "privacy issue" though, that would generally be done by holding title in a real estate privacy trust. Then if someone looks up the owner of the property it shows up as the trustee(which in this case should not be you).

[Zehua Zhou]

Quote from @JASON V.:

Generally, I think this setup would be to have a Wyoming LLC INSTEAD of a WA, not both. Then you would register the Wyoming LLC as a "foreign llc" doing business in WA. This is usually done under the assumption that laws are more favorable where the LLC is formed, then the persons home state. (Wyoming and Nevada, are popular for this)

This still doesn't solve your "privacy issue" though, that would generally be done by holding title in a real estate privacy trust. Then if someone looks up the owner of the property it shows up as the trustee(which in this case should not be you).

I paid an attorney to consult. She said the best LLC protection is only offered to LLCs in their own states. A Wyoming LLC registered to do business in WA will not get the same level of asset protection as a WA LLC. Also you have to pay more fees because you are paying WA and WY state fees. She said I should register one WY LLC as the holding company and have all my WA LLCs as the subsidiaries. Since it is just one WY LLC, it won't cost too much more.

[Zehua Zhou]

Quote from @Chris Seveney:

@Zehua Zhou

Sounds like a lot of extra work and money?

What type of businesses are you running?

 I agree. It makes sense for apartments but probably too much work for single houses.