Video · From Austria
US LLC from Austria: Does Austria Treat It Like a GmbH? (2026)
Running a US company from Austria? Austria compares a US LLC with its own company forms, case by case, and the owner has to supply the analysis. 4:52 long, published .
Transcript
What the video says
0:00Can an Austrian resident own a US LLC?
It's late afternoon in Vienna, and Katharina, an engineer, has a part printing on her bench. A buyer in America wants to sign her next contract with a US company. On the American side, she can have one. No social security number, and no trip to the US. We're BaseAcross. We set up US companies for founders outside America, so we'll be straight with you. From Austria, the harder part is at home.
Austria decides for itself what your LLC is, and a company run day to day from here is resident here.
0:32Do you need a US company for Stripe in Austria?
First, does she need one at all? For card payments, maybe not. The big card processor already supports Austrian businesses, and an Austrian GmbH gets you there too. A US company is for selling as a US vendor, US contracts, US investors, or platforms that need one.
Katharina's buyer wants a US contracting party, so she has a reason.
0:56Does Austria treat your US LLC as transparent?
Here's Austria's central rule, from the Finance Ministry's own written answer. In America, an LLC with one foreign owner is usually looked through for tax. Does Austria do the same? Not automatically. It compares a US LLC with its own company forms, case by case, from its structure and operating agreement. How the US taxes it doesn't decide the answer, and the owner has to supply the analysis.
So her adviser's first question is whether her LLC compares with a GmbH, or with a partnership.
1:29Wyoming LLC or Delaware C-Corp, and an EIN without an SSN
The American part is quicker. A Wyoming LLC suits an owner-run business selling to US customers, once you know how Austria will class it. A Delaware C-Corp suits raising from US investors. The company needs a registered agent, an address in that state for legal papers, not where you work. Then the EIN, the company's US tax number. Without a social security number or an ITIN, the application goes on a separate IRS form instead of the online tool. You don't need an Austrian company to form a US company.
Prices are in US dollars, so check your card's exchange rate and fees.
2:06Which US accounts work from Austria?
Where can the dollars land? Founders living in Austria can apply to a US fintech bank, because Austria isn't on its list of countries it doesn't serve. That list goes by where you live, and the bank decides each application. A multi-currency account can give a US company run from Austria US dollar account details, and it reviews each business. Another US bank doesn't bar Austria, but it asks every owner for a physical US address. Each provider decides for itself. With a US bank account and a website, her company can apply to the card processor as a US business.
It reviews the business and the person behind it, and it can decline.
2:46Can Austria tax your US company as Austrian?
Back home, a company is Austrian-resident if its place of effective management is in Austria. That's where it's actually run day to day, not where single board decisions are formally made. Here's the guide's illustration. Say Katharina's Wyoming LLC makes a hundred thousand euros of profit, run day to day from Vienna. If Austria classes it like a GmbH, it's resident, and corporate tax comes to twenty-three thousand euros. Paying the remaining seventy-seven thousand out to her costs another twenty-one thousand, one hundred and seventy-five. Classed like a partnership instead, the profit is taxed on her own return, at her personal rates. That's an illustration, not a quote.
And profit paid out to you into an account abroad still goes on your Austrian return.
3:31Do you pay US tax, and is there a US–Austria treaty?
On the American side, the US and Austria have an income tax treaty in force. It exempts interest and most royalties from US withholding, and it caps the rate on dividends. Pay for work you do in Austria generally isn't US income, so the treaty matters less for a services business. A single-owner LLC with no US office or staff often owes no US income tax on that pay. It still files a report with the IRS when it has reportable transactions with you. Money you put in, take out or are paid for your work can count, and missing it is expensive.
For a calendar-year company, it's usually due in mid-April.
4:08What to do first, in order
Put together, the order runs like this. Start with a Steuerberater: whether you need a US company at all, how Austria will class it, and where it will be run day to day. Then choose the name and registered agent, and file with the state. When the operating agreement arrives, check every name and share against your passport before you sign, and keep it for Austria's comparison. Then the EIN, then the bank accounts, with the same details everywhere. Keep the books and a record of where it's run, and put the IRS report and your Austrian return on one calendar. The full guide, with every source and a checklist for your adviser, is linked below. And Katharina?
Her part is finished, and her first call is to her Steuerberater.
The founder in the video is an example, not a customer. The rules in it were checked when it was made; the guide carries the current sources.
The guide
Costs, documents, timelines and the rules in Austria, with sources.
Read the guide for AustriaWatch on YouTube