Video · From Egypt
Can Egypt Treat Your US Company as Egyptian? (2026)
Can you run a US company from Egypt? A foreign company is resident in Egypt if it's effectively managed there, and any two of four facts are enough: daily decisions are made in Egypt, the board meets there, half the managers live there, or owners of more than half the shares live there. 4:36 long, published .
Transcript
What the video says
0:00Can you own a US LLC while living in Egypt?
It's evening in Alexandria, and Mariam's shop is ready, apart from the part that takes cards. The big card processor doesn't serve Egypt, so she asks a simple question. Can I have a US company from Egypt? We're BaseAcross. We set up US companies for founders outside America, so we'll be straight with you. On the American side, yes. No social security number, and no trip to the US. But there's one rule most guides leave out.
Egypt can look at a US company run from Egypt, and treat it as Egyptian.
0:31Do freelancers in Egypt need a US company?
So first, do you need one at all? If you freelance for clients abroad, you may not. When your business centre is in Egypt, your pay is taxed here either way. A US company adds US filings, and one run from Egypt can be taxed as Egyptian, so it needs a reason.
Good ones are card payments on your own site, a US client who wants a US company to contract with, or a platform that asks for one. Mariam needs to take cards, so she has her reason.
0:59Can Egypt treat your US company as Egyptian?
Our guide doesn't cover the Central Bank of Egypt's rules on sending money abroad, so ask your bank what it needs. The rule that matters most is a tax one. A foreign company is resident in Egypt if it's effectively managed here. Any two of four facts are enough. Daily decisions are made in Egypt. The board meets here. Half the managers live here. Or owners of more than half the shares live here. Now take Mariam. She runs it from home, she's the only manager, and she owns all of it. That's three.
So Egypt can treat her company as resident, unless management really sits elsewhere. Your adviser confirms how the Egyptian Tax Authority reads it.
1:40Wyoming LLC or Delaware C-Corp, and an EIN without an SSN
A Wyoming LLC suits a business you run yourself. A Delaware C-Corp suits raising from investors who want shares. Either way, where it's managed decides whether Egypt sees it as resident. It needs a registered agent, an address in that state for legal papers, not where you work. Then the EIN, its US tax number. Without a social security number or an ITIN, the application goes on a separate IRS form instead of the online tool. Your Egyptian tax card isn't part of it.
You'll pay in dollars, so ask your bank or card issuer how it handles payments abroad, and the fees.
2:16Which US accounts work for founders in Egypt?
Then, where the dollars land. Founders living in Egypt can apply to a US fintech bank, and it decides each application. A well-known multi-currency account gives no US account details to people living here. Another US fintech doesn't bar Egypt, but it asks every owner for a physical US address. Each provider decides for itself, and can decline.
With the company and a US account, Mariam can apply to the card processor. It reviews her, and it can say no.
2:46Is income you earn abroad taxed in Egypt?
Now Mariam herself. She's resident in Egypt if she has a permanent home here, or lives here for more than a set number of days in twelve months. As a resident, income she earns abroad is taxed in Egypt when the centre of her business is here. Ask your adviser whether running a US company from Egypt puts your business centre here. Bringing money home goes through a bank or provider that pays out in Egypt, so ask yours how it handles foreign currency coming in.
And write down whether each payment to you is pay for work or profit, because they're taxed differently.
3:22Do you pay US tax, and is there a US–Egypt treaty?
Then tax, on both sides. Egypt has a tax treaty with the United States, and most of Egypt's treaties give a credit or a deduction for income taxed in both countries. Your adviser confirms which. In America, work you do in Egypt generally isn't US income, so a one-owner LLC with no US office or staff often owes no US income tax on it. The treaty caps some US withholding, but for services it matters less. A one-owner LLC still files a report with the IRS when it has reportable transactions with you, and missing it is expensive.
It's usually due in the spring, and there's a form to ask for more time, filed before then.
4:01What to do first, in order
So here's the order. See your tax adviser first, about whether you need a US company, and where it'll really be run. Then form it, get the EIN, and apply to the US fintech bank that takes applications from founders here. Keep a record of where decisions are made and where the board meets. Put the IRS report and your Egyptian return on one calendar. The full guide, with every source and a checklist for your adviser, is linked below. And Mariam?
Before she ordered a thing, she and her adviser settled where her company is really run.
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 Egypt, with sources.
Read the guide for EgyptWatch on YouTube