South Dakota does not require member or manager names in its own public LLC filing. South Dakota already omits member names from its Articles of Organization and its own charging-order statute (SDCL 47-34A-504(g)) is already flagship-tier — a Wyoming parent here is mainly about the organizer field, not about compensating for a weak South Dakota statute the way it would in a state like Colorado or Utah. See our Wyoming holding company guide and full list of anonymous LLC states for more.
$150
Articles of Organization filing fee
Members hidden
No member names required; managers named if manager-managed
§ 47-34A-504(g)
Exclusive-remedy charging order, explicit single-member inclusion
$0
No state personal income tax
South Dakota is a standout in this series because its privacy and its asset protection are both genuinely strong on their own terms. Its Articles of Organization ($150) never require a member's name — only the organizer, and manager names if the LLC is manager-managed — and SDCL § 47-34A-504(g) explicitly extends exclusive-remedy charging-order protection to single-member LLCs, a rare, flagship-tier statute shared with only a handful of other states. A Wyoming holding LLC above a South Dakota entity is less about fixing a gap and more about the organizer field, tax and geographic diversification, and combining South Dakota's series-LLC option with Wyoming's own filing privacy.
South Dakota's Articles of Organization, confirmed directly against the form and SDCL 47-34A-203, never require a member's name. What the statute does require is the organizer's name and address, and — only if the LLC is manager-managed — the name and address of each initial manager; a separate 'Beneficial Owners' field on the same form is explicitly optional. That makes a member-managed South Dakota LLC meaningfully more private than a manager-managed one, since only the manager election puts an individual's name on the record.
Because South Dakota already keeps member names off the Articles of Organization for a member-managed LLC, a Wyoming holding LLC doesn't solve a privacy problem here the way it does in Illinois or Texas — South Dakota simply never asks for a member's name in the first place. Where a Wyoming parent still helps is the organizer field, which SDCL 47-34A-203 always makes public, and the manager field if the South Dakota LLC is ever structured manager-managed. What makes South Dakota unusual in this series is that its own charging-order statute is already flagship-tier: SDCL § 47-34A-504(g) explicitly extends exclusive-remedy protection to single-member LLCs, putting South Dakota alongside Wyoming, Nevada, and North Dakota rather than needing a Wyoming parent to compensate for a weak statute. That means a Wyoming layer above a South Dakota LLC is more about the organizer field, geographic/tax diversification, or combining South Dakota's series-LLC option with Wyoming's own privacy filing than about fixing an asset-protection gap South Dakota doesn't really have.
South Dakota not requiring a member's name doesn't change federal law: beneficial owners of the South Dakota LLC — and of any Wyoming holding LLC above it — must still be reported to FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act, which is not a public database.
SDCL § 47-34A-504(g) — exclusive remedy, explicitly extended by statute to single-member LLCs — among the strongest and most explicit protections in the country, on par with Wyoming and Nevada. SDCL § 47-34A-504 makes the charging order the exclusive remedy a judgment creditor may use against a member's interest, barring foreclosure and other legal or equitable remedies against the interest. Subsection (g) explicitly states this applies to single-member LLCs the same as multi-member LLCs — one of only a handful of statutes nationwide with that express single-member language, matching North Dakota's parallel clause. Two cases, Brockley v. Ellis (2023) and Farmer v. Farmer (2022), have surfaced in this area, though their specific holdings should be confirmed before being cited as directly on point; the statutory language itself is the confirmed, reliable basis for South Dakota's strong reputation here.
South Dakota has no state personal income tax of any kind, for individuals or corporations. The recurring state obligation is an Annual Report fee of roughly $50 to $70 depending on filing method (online versus mail) as of the most recent fee schedule — confirm the exact current amount directly with the Secretary of State, since sources report slightly different figures for each method.
Note: Confirm the exact current Annual Report fee directly at sdsos.gov — sources give a range of roughly $50 to $70 depending on online versus mail filing, and this is the single least-settled dollar figure on this page. Also confirm the specific holdings of Brockley v. Ellis (2023) and Farmer v. Farmer (2022) before citing either as directly on point for single-member LLC charging-order protection; the statutory text (§ 47-34A-504(g)) is the reliable basis, not the case law.
No. South Dakota's Articles of Organization require the organizer's name and address under SDCL 47-34A-203, and manager names only if the LLC is manager-managed. A member-managed South Dakota LLC never puts a member's name on the public filing, and a separate Beneficial Owners field is explicitly optional.
Mainly for the organizer field, since South Dakota's own charging-order statute (SDCL § 47-34A-504(g)) already explicitly covers single-member LLCs and is flagship-tier on its own — comparable to Wyoming and Nevada. A Wyoming parent adds convenience and diversification more than it fixes a gap.
Yes — SDCL § 47-34A-504(g) explicitly states the exclusive-remedy charging order applies to single-member LLCs the same as multi-member LLCs, one of the most explicit statutes of its kind in the country, matching North Dakota's parallel clause.
Bottom line: South Dakota already keeps member names off its filing and backs that with one of the country's most explicit single-member charging-order statutes — a Wyoming parent here is a refinement, not a fix for a gap South Dakota doesn't really have.