Country limits and slow payouts
Some networks limit which countries they pay or pay abroad slowly.
Cleared by the LLC
Built for · Affiliates
A US LLC for affiliate marketers and publishers outside the United States
Affiliate and ad networks pay publishers almost anywhere, but slowly and in the currency they pick. Publishers form a US company for a US bank account, a company networks can sign with, and one place for many payouts to land.
01 · Why a US company
What it does for affiliate marketers.
Amazon Associates, Awin, Impact and the ad networks each pay on their own schedule to their own list of countries.
Read the full explanation
Amazon Associates, Awin, Impact and the ad networks each pay on their own schedule to their own list of countries. A US LLC with a US bank account is paid by ACH, in dollars, on time, and gives networks that prefer companies one to sign with. It also puts the sites, domains and income in the company rather than your own name.
- 01
Commissions in dollars, on time
Networks pay the company's US account by ACH.
ACH payout+2,675.00 USD - 02
A company to sign with
Networks that prefer to sign with companies get one.
PublisherAster Media LLC - 03
Sites and domains in the company
The sites, domains and income belong to the company, not your own name.
Domain ownerAster Media LLC - 04
Many networks, one account
Payouts from every network land in one dollar account, apart from your own money.
Networks · YouSeparate accounts
02 · What stands in the way
Three things in the way, and one way through.
Withholding unless a treaty applies
Tax interviews withhold on US-source income unless you claim a treaty rate.
Cleared by the LLC
Dollars without a conversion at each step
You want an account that takes dollars without converting every payout.
Cleared by the LLC
A US LLC, with its EIN and a US bank account.
One set of documents the networks, their tax interviews and the bank accept.
Start a company03 · Your options
Three ways to run affiliate sites from abroad.
Commissions earned from abroad are usually taxed the same way in all three. What changes is how the networks pay and who owns the sites.
| You, as yourself | Your company at home | A US LLCWhat we set up | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network payouts | Neutral: Where each network pays your country | Neutral: Where each network pays your country | Works in your favour: ACH to a US account, in dollars |
| The networks' tax form | Neutral: W-8BEN, from you | Neutral: W-8BEN-E, from the company | Neutral: W-8BEN, from you as the owner |
| Commissions earned from abroad | Works in your favour: Usually not withheld | Works in your favour: Usually not withheld | Works in your favour: Usually not withheld |
| Selling your own products | A cost or a limit: Depends on your country | A cost or a limit: Depends on your country | Works in your favour: Stripe, as a US business |
| Who owns the sites | Neutral: You | Works in your favour: Your company | Works in your favour: The LLC, sold whole |
| Yearly US filing | Works in your favour: None | Works in your favour: None | A cost or a limit: Form 5472, and Wyoming's report |
Works in your favourNeutralA cost or a limitUS disclosure rules follow the reader, not the publisher: the FTC expects a clear note beside every affiliate link a US reader sees.
You, as yourself
- Network payouts
- Where each network pays your country
- The networks' tax form
- W-8BEN, from you
- Commissions earned from abroad
- Usually not withheld
- Selling your own products
- Depends on your country
- Who owns the sites
- You
- Yearly US filing
- None
Neutral:
Neutral:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Neutral:
Works in your favour:
Your company at home
- Network payouts
- Where each network pays your country
- The networks' tax form
- W-8BEN-E, from the company
- Commissions earned from abroad
- Usually not withheld
- Selling your own products
- Depends on your country
- Who owns the sites
- Your company
- Yearly US filing
- None
Neutral:
Neutral:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
A US LLCWhat we set up
- Network payouts
- ACH to a US account, in dollars
- The networks' tax form
- W-8BEN, from you as the owner
- Commissions earned from abroad
- Usually not withheld
- Selling your own products
- Stripe, as a US business
- Who owns the sites
- The LLC, sold whole
- Yearly US filing
- Form 5472, and Wyoming's report
Works in your favour:
Neutral:
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
Works in your favour:
A cost or a limit:
Works in your favourNeutralA cost or a limitUS disclosure rules follow the reader, not the publisher: the FTC expects a clear note beside every affiliate link a US reader sees.
04 · Step by step
From sites to a company that owns them, in seven steps.
Moving payees is the fiddly part. Check each network's rules before you switch.
Step 1: Form the Wyoming LLC
We file the articles online. Wyoming approves an online filing the same day it is filed.
Same dayWe do itStep 2: Get the EIN
Without a Social Security Number the IRS issues it by fax, which is the slowest step. The expedited EIN, $199, has us file the day the company exists and chase it.
The longest waitWe do itStep 3: Open the US bank account
In the LLC's name, for ACH payouts in dollars from every network.
Often days, after the EINYou, with the bankStep 4: Move each network to the company
Update the payee, the bank details and the tax interview, with a W-8BEN from you as the owner. Some networks treat a new payee as a new account, so read each one's rules and switch at a month's end.
A network at a timeYou, with each networkStep 5: Label every affiliate link
The FTC says "affiliate link" alone isn't enough; "paid link" right beside the link, or a plain sentence such as "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post", is. Near the link, not in a footer.
Every pageYouStep 6: Put the assets in the company
Domains, hosting, analytics and the email list, all in the LLC's name. A buyer of content sites buys the company, with the traffic history intact.
A weekendYouStep 7: Diary the filings
Form 5472 is due each 15 April, and Wyoming's annual report on the first day of the month the LLC was formed in.
Every yearOn your calendar
05 · The honest part
What to know before you order.
Are affiliate commissions withheld on?
Commissions are usually services income
Affiliate commissions for promoting products from a site run outside the United States are generally services income, foreign-source, and outside US income tax for a company with no US office.
Read more
Some networks treat some payments as royalties and withhold on them, and the tax interview and your country's treaty set the rate. A single-member LLC is looked through to you for that.
What does the LLC file every year?
Form 5472
A foreign-owned single-member LLC files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year, even a year with no income. It reports what moved between you and the company, and missing it carries a $25,000 penalty. It's on every plan's calendar.
Sources: FTC, the Endorsement Guides: what people are asking; IRS Publication 515, withholding of tax on nonresident aliens and foreign entities; IRS, tax treaty tables; IRS, Instructions for Form W-8BEN; Stripe, pricing; IRS, Instructions for Form 5472.
06 · What it costs
What the first year costs, line by line.
Ours from our price list, Stripe's from its own page.
| Cost | Amount | When | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch, with Wyoming's fee | $351.40 | First year | $249 to us and $102.40 to Wyoming, at cost. The LLC, the EIN and the registered agent. |
| Expedited EINOptional | $199 | Once | Gets the bank account, and the first payout switched, sooner. |
| Stripe, for your own productsOptional | 2.9% + 30¢ | Each sale | Courses, ebooks or templates sold beside the affiliate links. |
| From the second year | $309 | Every year | $249 for Launch and Wyoming's $60 minimum. Form 5472 is an accountant's fee on top. |
Set the yearly cost against what conversions and slow payouts cost you now, and what the sites would be worth as a company.
The plan that fits
Launch, usually.
A publisher's company is simple, and most of the income is payouts.
Launch
Fits publishersFor your first company, when it needs to exist and nothing more yet.
What it covers
- Your Wyoming LLC, filed, with the state fee at cost
- The EIN the networks' tax interviews ask for
- Form 5472 and the annual report on your calendar
Withholding on royalties is set by your country's treaty, not the company.
07 · Questions
Questions from affiliate marketers.
If yours is not here, email us at hello@baseacross.com before you order.
Yes, for readers in the US. The FTC expects a clear disclosure next to the link: "affiliate link" alone isn't enough, but "paid link" beside it, or a sentence such as "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post", is.
Yes, and they sell more cleanly as a company: the domains, hosting, analytics and network accounts in the LLC's name pass to the buyer with the company.
Wyoming, for most publishers abroad: $60 a year to the state, no owner on the public record, and the state banks are used to seeing.
A Wyoming LLC on Launch is $351.40 for the first year: $249 for Launch and $102.40 to Wyoming, at cost. After that it is $309 a year, $249 to us and $60 to Wyoming.
Ready when you are
Answer the questions. We do the filing.
It takes about four minutes. You see the whole order, Wyoming fee included, before anything is charged.
Step 1 of 10 · About four minutesNothing charged yet
You're startingLLC · WY
Start a companyLaunch · $351.40 · Wyoming fee included