Video · From Ecuador
Can an Ecuadorian Own a US LLC? The 5% Tax on Money Sent Abroad (2026)
Running a US company from Ecuador? Ecuador's remittance tax takes a share of money sent abroad, and its rules on controlled foreign companies can reach a US company you own. 4:56 long, published .
Transcript
What the video says
0:00Can an Ecuadorian resident own a US LLC?
It's early evening in Quito, and Daniela is closing her laptop. She sells a subscription app to customers around the world, and she wants them to pay by card. The big card processor doesn't take Ecuadorian businesses, so she's looking at 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. Ecuador uses the US dollar, but sending money abroad still pays a tax, and Ecuador's rules can reach a US company she owns.
So we'll start at home.
0:38Do you need a US company for Stripe in Ecuador?
First, does she need one at all? For card payments from customers worldwide, the guide's answer is a US company, after advice. A US company with an EIN and a US bank account can apply for a US account with the card processor. Some US buyers and platforms want a US contracting party too, though work done here can still be a permanent establishment. US investors usually want a Delaware C-Corp. And an Ecuadorian company can own a US company as its subsidiary.
Daniela's reason is the cards.
1:10Can you move money freely because Ecuador uses the dollar?
Here's Ecuador's money rule. Its remittance tax takes a share of money transferred abroad, and that includes money sent from a bank account outside Ecuador. So funding a new US company from your Ecuadorian bank pays it. Ecuador uses the dollar, which saves you the exchange. The tax still applies. When it applies to money moving between you and the company, and when a transfer is exempt, is a question for your tax adviser.
Keep a record of every transfer abroad.
1:41Wyoming LLC or Delaware C-Corp, and an EIN without an SSN
The American part is simpler. A Wyoming LLC suits an owner-run business that needs card payments or sells to US customers, once you know how Ecuador's rules treat 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 Ecuadorian company to form a US company. Prices are in US dollars.
Paying by card from Ecuador, check whether the remittance tax applies.
2:22Which US accounts work from Ecuador?
Where can the dollars land? Founders living in Ecuador can apply to a US fintech bank, because Ecuador isn't on its list of countries it doesn't serve. It decides each application. A multi-currency account gives no US dollar account details to founders living here. Another US bank doesn't bar Ecuador, but it asks every owner for a physical US address. Each provider decides for itself. With the EIN and a US account, her company can apply to the card processor.
It reviews the business and Daniela, and it can say no.
2:57Does Ecuador tax your US company, and do the CFC rules reach it?
Then Ecuadorian tax. Residents are taxed on income from abroad too, with a credit for tax paid abroad. A foreign company with a fixed place here, where it does its work, has a permanent establishment, taxed at Ecuador's corporate rate. And the controlled foreign company rules can put some of a low-taxed company's income on your return. An LLC that pays no US tax of its own would be below their line. The guide works one example through. Say Daniela sends ten thousand dollars to fund her LLC. The remittance tax is five hundred. The LLC makes eighty thousand dollars of profit from work she does in Quito. If a fixed place here makes it a permanent establishment, that's twenty thousand in tax.
That's an illustration, not a quote.
3:46Do you pay US tax, and is there a US–Ecuador treaty?
On the American side, there's no income tax treaty between the US and Ecuador. So US-source dividends, interest and royalties paid to you are withheld at a set rate, unless a US exemption applies. Pay for work you do in Ecuador generally isn't US income, so a single-owner LLC with no US office or staff often owes no US income tax on it. It still files a report with the IRS when it has reportable transactions with you, and missing it is expensive.
For a calendar-year company, it's usually due in mid-April.
4:19What to do first, in order
Put together, the order runs like this. Start with an Ecuadorian tax adviser: whether you need a US company at all, how the controlled foreign company rules treat it, and what the remittance tax costs you. Then form the company, get the EIN, and apply to the bank before the card processor. Keep a record of where the work is done and of every transfer abroad. Put the IRS report and your Ecuadorian return on one calendar. The full guide, with every source and a checklist in English and Spanish for your adviser, is linked below. And Daniela?
Before she closed the laptop, she booked the adviser.
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 Ecuador, with sources.
Read the guide for EcuadorWatch on YouTube