Video · From Kazakhstan
Can a Kazakh Founder Own a US LLC? Managed Here, It's Resident Here (2026)
Running a US company from Kazakhstan? A company with its place of effective management in Kazakhstan is resident there and pays corporate tax at 20%. 4:48 long, published .
Transcript
What the video says
0:00Can a Kazakhstan resident own a US LLC?
It's early evening in Almaty, and Aigerim has customers abroad who want to pay for her software by card. The big card processor doesn't take Kazakh businesses, so she's wondering about 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 Kazakhstan, the hard part is deciding where the company will be managed.
A US company effectively managed from here is resident here, and Kazakhstan taxes it.
0:34Do you need a US company for Stripe in Kazakhstan?
First, does she need one at all? It depends on why. Card payments from customers worldwide are one reason. A US company with an EIN and a US bank account can apply for a US account with the card processor. It reviews the business and the person behind it, and can decline. Selling into the US is another, because some US buyers and platforms want a US contracting party. US investors usually want a Delaware C-Corp. And a Kazakh company can own a US subsidiary. For each of these, the guide says to get advice first.
Aigerim has the first reason.
1:09Can Kazakhstan tax your US company as Kazakh?
Here's the rule the guide leads with. A company incorporated in Kazakhstan, or with its place of effective management here, is Kazakhstan-resident, and it pays Kazakh corporate tax. So if Aigerim runs her US company from Almaty, Kazakhstan can tax it as Kazakh. She's resident herself after a set number of days here in any twelve months, or when her centre of vital interests is here. One more rule is about money. Individuals register capital-flow contracts, such as investments, with the National Bank when they're above a set amount, or have no stated sum.
Whether her stake counts is for her tax adviser.
1:46Wyoming 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 the card processor or sells to US customers, once you know where it will be managed. 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 a Kazakh company to form a US company.
Prices are in US dollars, so check your card's exchange rate and fees.
2:25Can you open a Mercury account from Kazakhstan?
Where can the dollars land? This part is easier. Founders living in Kazakhstan can apply to a US fintech bank, because Kazakhstan 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 gives no US dollar account details to founders living here. Another US bank doesn't bar Kazakhstan, but it asks every owner for a physical US address. There's no US sanctions programme for Kazakhstan as a country. People and companies anywhere can still be listed, and banks screen every owner.
Each provider decides for itself.
3:00How are the company and its dividends taxed in Kazakhstan?
The guide works the Kazakh tax through one example. Say Aigerim's Wyoming LLC makes forty million tenge of profit, and she manages it from Almaty. Managed here, it's resident here, and corporate tax comes to eight million tenge. Paying the remaining thirty-two million to her as a dividend costs one million six hundred thousand more. That's an illustration, not a quote. And if it weren't managed from here, Kazakhstan's controlled foreign company rules could still matter, because the LLC itself pays no US tax. They can reach a low-taxed company owned from Kazakhstan.
How Kazakhstan classes her LLC, and whether an exclusion for treaty countries covers it, are for her adviser.
3:41Do you pay US tax, and is there a US–Kazakhstan treaty?
On the American side, the income tax treaty between the US and Kazakhstan is in force. It caps the rates on interest, royalties and dividends paid to you. Pay for work you do in Kazakhstan generally isn't US income, so a US company with no US office or staff often owes no US income tax on it. A single-owner LLC still files a report with the IRS when it has reportable transactions with you. Missing it is expensive.
For a calendar-year company, it's usually due in mid-April.
4:11What to do first, in order
So here's the order. Start with your tax adviser: whether you need one at all, where it will be managed, and whether the controlled foreign company rules reach it. Then choose the name and registered agent, file the company, sign the operating documents, and get the EIN. Then apply for the accounts, starting with the US fintech bank. Keep the books, and minutes that show where decisions are made. Put the IRS report and your Kazakh return on one calendar. The full guide, with every source and a checklist for your adviser, is linked below. And Aigerim?
Before she orders anything, she's deciding where the company will be 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 Kazakhstan, with sources.
Read the guide for KazakhstanWatch on YouTube