Doola — review
Doola's pitch: US LLC formation built specifically for non-US residents. They're the only mainstream service that handles the EIN-without-SSN process at scale, plus the bookkeeping and tax-filing flow that foreign founders actually need. The Wyoming or Delaware LLC, the EIN, the US business address, and the Mercury or Relay banking referral are bundled into a single annual subscription that starts at $297.
For a non-US founder who wants to bill US customers in dollars, accept Stripe, and run a clean US-tax-treaty pass-through entity, Doola removes the steps that block most foreign founders working solo: applying for an EIN with no SSN, getting a US bank account from outside the country, and staying compliant with Form 5472 in subsequent years. It is not the cheapest LLC service in the market — it is the only one that consistently delivers this full stack for non-residents.
Pricing tiers
Doola sells three plans. Each is an annual subscription rather than a one-time formation fee, which is the structural difference from ZenBusiness or Northwest where formation and registered agent are billed separately.
- Doola Starter — $297 per year. LLC formation in Wyoming or Delaware, one year of registered agent service, EIN application (with or without SSN), US business address that can be used as the principal office on bank applications, Mercury and Relay banking referrals. State filing fee ($100 Wyoming, $110 Delaware) is passed through separately. This is the entry tier that most non-US founders start on.
- Doola Total Compliance — $1,999 per year. Includes everything in Starter, plus bookkeeping software, annual federal tax return filing (Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120 for foreign-owned single-member LLCs, or Form 1065 for multi-member LLCs), sales-tax permit setup if needed, and quarterly compliance reminders. Tier intended for founders generating real revenue who can't risk the $25,000 Form 5472 penalty.
- Doola Premium — $5,000 per year and up. Concierge-level service: a dedicated US CPA assigned to the account, hands-on tax planning, multi-state sales tax filings, payroll setup if hiring US employees or contractors, S-corp election analysis where it makes sense, and direct phone access. Pricing scales with complexity. Aimed at established non-resident-owned businesses with five-to-seven-figure US revenue.
What's actually included
The line-item differences between tiers matter more than the headline price. The table below shows what is and is not included on each plan.
| Feature | Starter $297/yr |
Total Compliance $1,999/yr |
Premium $5,000/yr+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLC filing (Wyoming or Delaware) | Included | Included | Included |
| Registered agent (Year 1 + ongoing) | Included | Included | Included |
| EIN application with SSN | Included | Included | Included |
| EIN application without SSN (Form SS-4 fax/mail) | Included | Included | Included |
| US business address | Included | Included | Included |
| Mercury / Relay banking referral | Included | Included | Included |
| Mail forwarding / scan | Limited | Included | Included |
| Bookkeeping software access | Not included | Included | Included |
| Annual federal tax return (Form 5472 + 1120 or 1065) | Not included | Included | Included |
| State annual report filing | Add-on | Included | Included |
| Sales-tax permit setup | Not included | Included | Included |
| Dedicated US CPA | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Payroll setup (US contractors/employees) | Not included | Not included | Included |
| S-corp election analysis | Not included | Not included | Included |
One item on the table does most of the work in deciding which tier is correct: the Form 5472 filing. Every foreign-owned single-member US LLC owes this return every year, and missing it carries a $25,000 IRS penalty per missed year. Starter does not include it, so founders staying on Starter need to handle it manually or hire a CPA separately. BOI / FinCEN reporting used to be a second deciding factor, but it no longer applies — FinCEN's March 2025 rule exempts US-formed LLCs, which is what Doola creates.
The EIN-without-SSN process — Doola's real differentiator
This is the single feature that justifies Doola's existence as a separate product category from ZenBusiness or Northwest. The Employer Identification Number is the IRS-issued tax ID that every US business needs to open a bank account, file taxes, accept payments through Stripe, and hire contractors. The IRS issues EINs through three channels:
- Online (irs.gov/EIN) — instant, same-day issuance, but only available to applicants with a US Social Security Number, US ITIN, or a US-resident "responsible party." Non-residents with no US tax ID cannot use this channel.
- Fax (Form SS-4 to IRS Cincinnati) — available to international applicants. Turnaround is typically 4 business days when the form is filled correctly, longer when there are errors.
- Mail (Form SS-4 to IRS Cincinnati) — available to international applicants. Turnaround is 4 to 6 weeks.
The challenge for non-residents is not the channel — it is the form. Form SS-4 has a line called "responsible party," which in the standard US flow requires an SSN or ITIN. For foreign founders with neither, the line gets filled with "Foreign" and the applicant's passport number, and the box for "reason for applying" gets checked as "Started new business" with "LLC, foreign-owned, single-member" written in. If any field is wrong, the IRS rejects the application by mail and the applicant restarts the clock. From outside the United States, this rejection-restart loop can stretch a 4-week process into 6 months.
Doola handles this in three steps. They prepare Form SS-4 with the non-resident-correct field values, they fax or mail it to the IRS on the applicant's behalf, and they handle the IRS follow-up correspondence (which arrives by US mail at Doola's address, not the founder's foreign address). The applicant receives the EIN confirmation letter electronically once Doola receives it from the IRS. Typical timeline from filing to EIN issuance is 4 to 8 weeks. That is the entire job. The resulting EIN is a standard IRS-issued employer identification number with no markers or restrictions; Mercury, Relay, Stripe, and any US bank will accept it the same way they accept an EIN obtained by a US resident.
For a non-resident trying to do this solo, the same work usually runs 2 to 4 months of calendar time and at least one wrong-form restart. Doola replaces that with a single intake form on their site.
Doola Starter — $297/yr with EIN-without-SSN
For non-US founders, $297 per year buys the four things you actually need: LLC formation in Wyoming or Delaware, the registered agent for Year 1 and ongoing, a US business address that works on bank applications, and the EIN-without-SSN service that competitors don't offer at this price point. Mercury and Relay banking referrals are included — both routinely open accounts for Doola-formed LLCs. State filing fee ($100 Wyoming, $110 Delaware) is passed through separately.
Banking referrals — Mercury, Relay, and Wise
A US LLC without a US bank account is a paperwork shell. The reason non-US founders form US LLCs in the first place is usually to access US payment rails: Stripe, US ACH, US-dollar invoicing. That requires a US business bank account, and US banks are the second hard problem for non-residents after the EIN. Doola has formal referral relationships with the two fintech banks that consistently open accounts for non-US-resident-owned LLCs.
- Mercury. Fintech bank backed by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust (FDIC-insured partner banks). Mercury opens accounts for Doola-formed LLCs once the LLC has been filed with the state, the EIN is issued, and the founder's passport ID has been verified. Application is filed on Mercury's own site after the Doola formation is complete. Approval is typically 2 to 5 business days when paperwork is complete.
- Relay. Fintech bank backed by Thread Bank (FDIC-insured). Slightly more conservative than Mercury on some country-of-residence lists but accepts a broader set of business types (Mercury declines crypto, adult, gambling, multi-level marketing; Relay's exclusions are narrower). Relay also includes free ACH and check-deposit features that Mercury charges for. Application flow is the same: file on Relay's site after Doola formation completes.
- Wise Business. No formal Doola referral, but works for the same paperwork. Wise is a multi-currency account oriented toward founders who need to receive in USD, EUR, and GBP simultaneously. The account is not a US bank account in the strict sense (it is held with Wise's partner institutions), but it gets a US routing number that works for ACH receipts.
None of these are traditional brick-and-mortar US banks. Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and similar institutions almost always require the account holder to physically visit a US branch with a US-state-issued ID. For non-residents that is rarely practical. Mercury and Relay built their entire onboarding flow around this gap, which is why Doola's referral relationships with both exist.
The formation experience
The Doola intake flow takes about 15 minutes once the founder has their passport and intended business name. The site asks for the LLC name and a backup name (in case the first is taken), the state (Wyoming or Delaware in most flows), the founder's home country and address, the founder's date of birth and passport details, the business activity description, and the desired tier. State filing fee is collected at the same time and remitted to the Secretary of State on the founder's behalf.
After submission, four things happen in parallel and one happens sequentially:
- Day 0 to Day 5. Doola files the Articles of Organization with the Wyoming or Delaware Secretary of State. Wyoming processing is typically 2 business days. Delaware processing for Doola filings is typically 3 to 5 business days for standard, same-day if expedited.
- Day 1 to Day 3. Registered agent service activates immediately at Doola's listed Wyoming or Delaware address. This is the address that appears on the state filing as the LLC's registered agent of record.
- Day 5 to Day 7. US business address is provisioned. This is typically a Doola-affiliated mail-receiving address in Wyoming, Delaware, or one of the partner mail-handling locations. The address is usable as the principal office address on bank applications and tax filings.
- Day 7 to Week 8. EIN application begins. Doola prepares Form SS-4 with the non-resident-correct field values and faxes or mails it to the IRS. For applicants with an SSN, online issuance is same-day. For applicants without an SSN, the fax route is typically 2 to 4 weeks; the mail route is 4 to 8 weeks. Doola monitors for the IRS response and forwards the EIN confirmation letter once received.
- Week 4 to Week 10. Banking application opens on Mercury or Relay's own site once the EIN is issued. The founder fills out the Mercury or Relay application using the Doola LLC name, the EIN, and the Doola-provided US business address. Approval is typically 2 to 5 business days from a complete application.
Wyoming and Delaware are the two states Doola specializes in, and there are good reasons foreign founders choose one or the other. Wyoming is cheaper to maintain ($60 annual report, no franchise tax, strong privacy protection through nominee filings) and is the default Doola recommendation. Delaware has stronger case law and is more familiar to US investors, so founders raising venture capital or planning a US corporate exit usually pick Delaware despite the $300 annual franchise tax.
Strengths
- Only mainstream service serving non-US founders at scale. ZenBusiness, Northwest, Bizee, and LegalZoom can technically form an LLC for a non-resident, but none of them reliably get the EIN-without-SSN done. Doola does this hundreds of times per month.
- EIN-without-SSN is a real product, not a checkbox. Form SS-4 prep, IRS faxing, US-address-based correspondence handling, and EIN confirmation letter retrieval are all included in the $297 Starter tier.
- Banking referrals that actually work. The Mercury and Relay relationships are operationally real, not just affiliate links. Doola-formed LLCs are recognized in both banks' onboarding systems.
- Wyoming and Delaware specialization. Doola has filed thousands of LLCs in both states; their filings rarely come back from the Secretary of State with rejection notices.
- No BOI / FinCEN filing to worry about. FinCEN's March 2025 interim final rule exempts entities formed in the US — which is what Doola creates — so beneficial-ownership reporting is not an ongoing obligation on any tier.
- Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120 filing included at Total Compliance. The annual return that foreign-owned single-member US LLCs owe; missing it is a $25,000 penalty per year.
- Annual-subscription model means renewals don't surprise. One price covers formation, RA, and EIN; no separate Year-1 trick like ZenBusiness's $0 Starter that flips to $199/yr in Year 2.
Caveats
- $297 per year is mid-tier expensive for the formation itself. ZenBusiness Starter is $0 plus state fee with a free Year-1 registered agent. Northwest is $39 plus state fee with $125-per-year ongoing RA. Doola's premium is paying for the EIN-without-SSN work, not for the formation.
- US residents should not use Doola. If you have an SSN, get the EIN yourself in 15 minutes on irs.gov for free, and form with Northwest or ZenBusiness for half the price. Doola is overkill and overpriced for US residents.
- Total Compliance at $1,999/yr is steep for early-stage businesses. Founders pre-revenue or with revenue under $30k/yr may find the price hard to justify versus hiring a CPA à la carte for Form 5472 (typical CPA fee $400 to $800 per year).
- Customer support response times are variable. Doola operates with concierge-style support; high-priority compliance questions get fast turnaround, but routine inquiries can wait 1 to 3 business days. Premium-tier customers get faster response.
- Banking is not guaranteed. Doola's Mercury and Relay referrals are referrals, not approvals. Both banks can decline based on country of residence, business activity, or KYC concerns. Sanctioned-country residents and certain high-risk activities (crypto, adult, MLM) are still excluded.
- The state filing fee is on top of the Doola price. Add $100 for Wyoming or $110 for Delaware at checkout, plus the state's annual fees ongoing.
How Doola compares
Doola sits in a different competitive set from the mainstream US-resident-oriented formation services. Below is how it stacks up against both groups.
- vs ZenBusiness, Northwest, Bizee. These are the leading US-resident formation services. They are cheaper ($0 to $39 plus state fee for formation, $125 to $199 per year for registered agent), but they do not reliably handle the EIN-without-SSN process. Some will attempt it as an add-on; few succeed without the founder doing the IRS follow-up themselves from abroad. For a non-resident, the saved $200 of formation cost evaporates the first time the IRS bounces an SS-4 back to a Lagos or Karachi address.
- vs Stripe Atlas. Stripe Atlas charges $500 one-time plus approximately $100 per year for ongoing services. Atlas is engineered around using Stripe as the payment processor and defaults to Delaware C-corp, though LLC formation is offered. Atlas handles EIN-without-SSN and bank-account setup similarly to Doola. The big gap: Atlas does not file Form 5472 for you in subsequent years. If you want one bundled service that covers formation plus ongoing tax compliance for non-resident-owned LLCs, Doola's Total Compliance tier covers what Atlas does not.
- vs Firstbase.io. Firstbase is the closest direct competitor. Pricing is $399 for formation plus $79 per year ongoing compliance, with a similar EIN-without-SSN flow and Mercury/Relay referrals. Firstbase offers Form 5472 filing as a paid add-on rather than bundled. Doola's bundled approach is cleaner at the Total Compliance tier; Firstbase's lower entry price wins for founders confident they can DIY ongoing compliance. Both products are legitimate; the choice is about whether you want bundled or à-la-carte.
Best for
Doola is the right tool for non-US residents forming a US LLC for one of these specific use cases:
- Online business with US customers. SaaS, info products, e-commerce, services billed to US clients. A US LLC plus Stripe plus a Mercury or Relay account converts to a clean USD-billing operation.
- US-payment-processor access (Stripe). Stripe requires a US entity, a US bank account, and an EIN for full functionality at non-resident-friendly pricing. The Doola bundle is purpose-built for this.
- Dropshipping serving US customers. US-resident customers prefer dealing with US entities for returns and disputes. A Wyoming LLC plus a Mercury account is the typical setup.
- US-tax-treaty optimization. For founders in tax-treaty-eligible countries (Canada, UK, Germany, India, and many others), a single-member US LLC operated by a foreign owner can be a tax-efficient pass-through if structured correctly. Doola does not give tax advice but provides the infrastructure that makes the structure operable.
- IP holding entity. Some founders hold trademarks, copyrights, or patents in a US entity for jurisdiction reasons. A bare-bones Wyoming LLC under Doola Starter handles this cheaply.
Doola is the wrong tool for: US residents (use Northwest or ZenBusiness), founders forming a corporation rather than an LLC (Stripe Atlas is purpose-built for C-corp formation), founders raising US venture capital who need Delaware C-corp from day one (use Atlas or Clerky), and founders in sanctioned or high-risk jurisdictions where the Mercury and Relay referrals will not result in approval anyway.
Bottom line
For non-US founders, the math is simple. The EIN-without-SSN process is the bottleneck that stops most foreign founders from completing a US LLC setup, and Doola is the only mainstream service that productizes this work at a fair price. Doola Starter at $297/yr — includes formation, RA, EIN-without-SSN, US address, plus warm Mercury and Relay referrals that actually result in approved bank accounts. That covers the entire critical path for a non-resident founder in one purchase.
If revenue scales past $30,000 per year or you need Form 5472 compliance handled (which you will, every year you exist), upgrade to Total Compliance at $1,999/yr. If you reach the size where a dedicated US CPA pays for itself, Premium starts at $5,000/yr. But the entry point at $297 is the right place to start for most non-US founders. For US residents: this product is not for you — pick Northwest or ZenBusiness instead.
FAQ
Does Doola actually get an EIN without an SSN?
Yes. Doola's core differentiator is the EIN-without-SSN workflow. For founders with no US Social Security Number and no ITIN, the IRS will not issue an EIN through the online portal. Doola files Form SS-4 by fax or mail using the founder's passport as the identity document, lists the LLC as a foreign-owned single-member entity, and handles the IRS follow-up correspondence. The Starter plan at $297 per year includes this service. Timeline is typically 4 to 8 weeks from filing to EIN issuance, versus same-day for applicants with an SSN. The EIN that results is a normal IRS-issued employer identification number with no restrictions; it can be used to open Mercury, Relay, Wise Business, and Stripe accounts.
What is included in Doola's $297-per-year Starter plan?
The Doola Starter plan at $297 per year bundles five services that non-US founders need together: LLC formation with the state (Wyoming or Delaware are the two specializations), one year of registered agent service, the EIN application via Form SS-4 fax or mail for applicants without an SSN, a US business address that can receive mail and serve as the principal office on bank applications, and warm referrals to Mercury and Relay for business banking. State filing fees ($100 for Wyoming, $110 for Delaware) are passed through and paid separately. There is no per-document fee for the EIN follow-up correspondence; it is included in the annual price.
Should US residents use Doola?
No. Doola is engineered for founders without a US Social Security Number and prices accordingly at $297 per year. US residents with an SSN can apply for the EIN themselves on irs.gov in 15 minutes at no cost, can open business bank accounts at any US bank without a referral, and can use much cheaper formation services. ZenBusiness Starter is $0 plus state fee with one free year of registered agent; Northwest Registered Agent is $39 plus state fee with a $125-per-year registered agent renewal. For a US resident, paying Doola's $297 buys nothing they cannot get for under $50.
How does Doola compare to Stripe Atlas and Firstbase?
Stripe Atlas charges a one-time $500 fee plus $100 per year for ongoing services and is structured around founders who plan to use Stripe for payments. Atlas defaults to Delaware C-corp but offers LLC formation as well. Firstbase.io operates on a model very similar to Doola at $399 for formation plus $79 per year for compliance, with comparable EIN-without-SSN handling and Mercury and Relay referrals. Doola's edge is the bundled Total Compliance tier at $1,999 per year that adds tax filing and bookkeeping for non-resident foreign-owned LLCs subject to Form 5472. Atlas does not file Form 5472 for you; Firstbase offers it as a paid add-on; Doola includes it in the Total Compliance tier.
What banks will open accounts for a Doola-formed LLC?
Mercury and Relay are the two banks Doola has formal referral relationships with, and both routinely open accounts for non-US-resident-owned LLCs that have been formed in Wyoming or Delaware, have an EIN, and have a valid US business address. The application is filed on Mercury's or Relay's own site after the LLC is formed; Doola does not open the account directly. Wise Business is a third option that does not have a formal Doola referral but accepts foreign-owned LLCs with the same paperwork. None of these are FDIC-insured banks in the strict sense; Mercury and Relay are fintech accounts backed by FDIC-insured partner banks. Traditional US banks (Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo) will generally not open accounts without the owner physically visiting a US branch.
What ongoing compliance does a Doola-formed LLC have?
A foreign-owned single-member US LLC has three recurring obligations. First, state-level annual report and franchise tax: Wyoming charges a $60 annual report; Delaware charges a $300 franchise tax. Second, IRS Form 5472 plus pro-forma Form 1120, required for any US LLC owned by a non-US person with reportable transactions; the penalty for missing this is $25,000. Third, registered agent renewal. BOI / FinCEN beneficial-ownership reporting no longer applies: FinCEN's March 2025 rule exempts all US-formed LLCs, which is exactly what Doola creates. Doola Starter covers state filing and registered agent. Form 5472 is included only on the Total Compliance plan at $1,999 per year; founders who stay on Starter must handle 5472 themselves or hire a CPA separately.