US LLC from Belgium: Run It from Brussels and It Can Be Belgian

0:00Can a Belgian resident own a US LLC?

Lotte builds software in Brussels. A buyer in America wants to sign with a US company, not a Belgian one. So, can she have one from Belgium? As far as America goes, yes. No social security number, and no trip to the US. Cheyenne, in Wyoming, is usually eight hours behind Brussels. We're BaseAcross. We set up US companies for founders outside America, so we'll be straight with you.

The American side is simple. The Belgian questions are where the company is managed, the Cayman tax, and your accounts abroad. Let's draw it, panel by panel.

0:39Do you need a US company if Stripe already works?

First, do you need one at all? For card payments, maybe not. The big card processor already takes businesses in Belgium, and a Belgian BV or SRL is what banks and the tax office here understand. A US company is for other things. Selling as a US vendor, US investors, or a platform that wants one. A Belgian company can also own a US one. Deals between the two are priced as if they were strangers.

Lotte has the US buyer, so she has a

1:12Can Belgium tax your US company as Belgian?

reason. Now the rule that matters most. Belgium treats a company as Belgian if its seat of management is here, wherever it was formed. The seat of management is where its decisions are actually taken. So if Lotte runs her Wyoming LLC from her kitchen table in Brussels, Belgium can tax it as Belgian. A Delaware company is no different. Where its board meets and decides is the Belgian question.

That's why the first thing we ask is where the decisions will be taken. Keep minutes that show it.

1:46Forming it: Wyoming or Delaware, and the EIN

Forming it is the quick part. A Wyoming LLC for a business you run yourself, selling to US customers. A Delaware C-Corp if US investors want shares. The company needs a registered agent, an address in that state for legal papers, not where you work. Then the EIN. Without a social security number, it's a paper form to the IRS. You'll pay in US dollars, so check your card's exchange rate and fees.

2:16The bank, and telling the National Bank

The bank is the easy part from Belgium. One of the US fintech banks takes applications from founders here, and a multi-currency account can give the company US details. Each provider decides for itself, and can say no. But an account abroad comes with a Belgian duty. You report it to the National Bank's Central Point of Contact by the time you file your return. You do that once, plus any changes.

Then your return mentions it every year. Whether the company's own account counts as yours is a question for your adviser.

2:51What a Belgian-resident company would pay

So what would a Belgian company pay? Here's the guide's own illustration. Say Lotte's LLC makes a hundred thousand euros of profit, and she takes its decisions in Brussels. It's Belgian-resident, so its corporate tax comes to twenty-five thousand euros. If it qualifies as a small company, the lower rate makes it twenty thousand. How it then pays her, as salary or dividends, is a separate question.

That's an illustration, not a quote. The small-company conditions are for her

3:25The Cayman tax, the treaty and the IRS report

adviser. Then the Cayman tax. Belgium can tax you on the income of certain legal constructions you founded, including foreign companies that pay little or no tax. It can do that before any of it is paid out to you, and your return must mention it every year. A single-owner LLC pays no US tax of its own, so ask your adviser whether yours counts. There's a tax treaty between Belgium and the United States, and it's in force.

It cuts US withholding on interest, royalties and dividends. But pay for work you do in Belgium generally isn't US income, so for a services business it matters less. The company still files a report with the IRS every year, even without sales, and missing it is expensive. It's usually due in the spring, and there's a form to ask for more time, filed before the deadline.

4:20The order to do it in

So here's the order. Work out where it will be managed, and the Cayman question, with your adviser. Then form, then bank. Put the IRS report, the account report and your Belgian return on one calendar. Ask your adviser, too, whether you must register as self-employed and pay social contributions. The full guide, with every source and a checklist for your adviser in English and French, is linked below.

And Lotte? She settled where her company would be run before she signed a thing.