What nominee structures do
- Nominee is listed on documents instead of the actual owner
- Nominee agreement gives beneficial owner control
- Nominee has fiduciary duty to act per owner's instructions
- Nominee can be an individual or another entity
- Common in offshore jurisdictions; less common in US LLCs
Why WyomingLLC does not offer nominee services
- Wyoming members already not on public filings (Statute 17-29-201)
- Banks (Mercury, Relay) require KYC of beneficial owner regardless of nominee
- Stripe, Amazon, IRS all require beneficial owner identification
- FinCEN BOI was designed specifically to address nominee structures (currently exempted for domestic LLCs per March 2025 IFR but could return)
- Adds legal complexity without practical privacy benefit for Wyoming LLCs
- Higher risk of recharacterization (tax fraud, anti-money-laundering investigations)
When nominees might make sense
- Offshore jurisdictions with weak member privacy (not Wyoming)
- Specific commercial reasons (e.g., joint venture where one party wants to be hidden from competitors)
- Estate planning structures where a trustee acts as nominee
- Consult an attorney specializing in offshore structures for legitimate use cases