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Any person or company in the world can be an LLC Member in any state.
After you form an LLC, you elect Members (owners) of the LLC.
The following legal persons (ex: companies) and natural persons (ex: people like you and I) can be a Member of an LLC.
The following can be LLC Members (owners):
- US citizens
- US residents
- Non-US citizens
- Non-US residents
- US immigrants
- US foreigners
- Other LLCs
- Other Corporations (C-Corp and S-Corp)
- Other legal entities (besides LLCs and Corporations)
- Trusts
- Pension Plans
- Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs)
- Other legal entities
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What is an LLC Member?
An LLC Member is simply an owner of an LLC.
Any person or company can own an LLC, and that person or company is called an LLC Member. A person/company is still an LLC Member whether they own 100% of the LLC or 1% of the LLC (or less).
Can Non-US citizens and Non-US residents own an LLC?
Yes, any US foreigner (or foreign company) can form an LLC and be an LLC Member.
There are no citizenship or residency requirements to forming an LLC in the United States.
Can an LLC own another LLC?
Yes, one LLC or multiple LLCs (regardless of in what state they are formed) can own another LLC (in any state).
Can another company own an LLC?
Yes, one company or multiple companies (regardless of in what state they are formed) can own another LLC (in any state).
It does not matter what type of company (legal business entity) they are.
Can a minor be an LLC Member?
In most states, yes, but in some states, no. Overall this is a “gray area” and we have not fully done our comprehensive research yet. For that reason, we recommend speaking with a few attorneys in the state where you want to form an LLC.
How many LLC Members?
There are no restrictions to the number of LLC Members (owners) an LLC can have.
An LLC can be formed in any state with just 1 Member (called a “single-member LLC”) or an LLC can formed in any state with more than 1 Member (called a “multi-member LLC”).
Exception to the rule:If an LLC is taxed as anS-Corpwith the IRS it can’t have more than 100 shareholders (Members).
Who can’t be LLC Members?
If an LLC elects S-Corp tax statuswith the IRS, the shareholders must be individual people. The following cannot be LLC Members of an LLC taxed as an S-Corp:
• Partnerships, Corporations and Non-resident aliens
• Ineligible Corporations (ex: certain financial institutions, insurance companies, and domestic international sales corporations)
References
Matt Horwitz
Founder & Educator, LLC University®
Matt Horwitz has been the leading expert on LLC education for the past decade. He founded LLC University in 2010 after realizing people needed simple and actionable instructions to start an LLC that other companies weren't offering. He's cited by Entrepreneur Magazine, Yahoo Finance, and the US Chamber of Commerce, and was featured by CNBC and InventRight.
Matt holds a Bachelor's Degree in business from Drexel University with a concentration in business law. He performs extensive research and analysis to convert state laws into simple instructions anyone can follow to form their LLC - all for free! Read more about Matt Horwitz and LLC University.
