Video · From Kenya
Can Kenya Treat Your US Company as Kenyan? (2026)
Can you run a US company from Kenya? Kenya taxes a resident on pay for work done in Kenya or abroad, and a company formed abroad is resident in Kenya if its management and control is exercised in Kenya in the year. 4:34 long, published .
Transcript
What the video says
0:00Can you own a US LLC while living in Kenya?
It's evening in Nairobi, and Wanjiru is looking at her sign-up page. She's built an app, and her customers abroad want to pay for it by card, in dollars. A US company would help, and 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.
The surprise is at home. Run that US company from Kenya, and Kenya can treat it as Kenyan.
0:29Do freelancers in Kenya need a US company?
First, does she need one at all? Not every founder here does. If you freelance for clients abroad, you may not need a US company. Your pay for work done anywhere is taxed in Kenya either way. A US company adds US filings, and one run from Kenya can be treated as Kenyan, so it needs a reason. For local payments, the big card processor already works in Kenya, through a company it owns.
Good reasons are card payments in dollars from abroad, a US contract, or a platform that asks for one. Wanjiru's customers are abroad, so she has hers.
1:03Can Kenya treat your US company as Kenyan?
Now the rule to read twice. A company formed abroad is resident in Kenya if its management and control is exercised in Kenya in the year. So the question isn't where the company was formed. It's where the decisions are made. That's why the guide asks you to write down where decisions will be made, before anything is filed. If you're one founder running a US company entirely from Kenya, have a tax adviser look at this early.
The same test applies to a Delaware C-Corp you raise money through. Where it's managed decides whether Kenya treats it as resident.
1:39Wyoming LLC or Delaware C-Corp, and an EIN without an SSN
Forming it is the quicker part. A Wyoming LLC usually suits an owner-run business selling to customers abroad. A Delaware C-Corp suits raising from investors who want shares. 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. Your PIN from the Kenya Revenue Authority isn't part of it.
You'll pay in US dollars, so check the shilling amount, the exchange rate and what your bank or card adds.
2:17Which US accounts work for founders in Kenya?
Then, where the dollars can land. Founders living in Kenya can apply to a US fintech bank, because Kenya isn't on its list of countries it doesn't serve. It decides each application, and it can decline. A multi-currency account gives no US dollar account details to founders living here. Another US account doesn't bar Kenya, but it asks every owner for a physical US address. Each provider decides for itself.
With the company, the EIN and a US account, Wanjiru can apply to the card processor. It reviews her business, and approval isn't guaranteed.
2:52Is your pay from a US company taxed in Kenya?
At home, the KRA looks at Wanjiru herself. You're resident if you have a permanent home in Kenya and were there in the year, or you spent enough days here, counted in one year or on average over three. A resident is taxed on pay for work done in Kenya or abroad. So what the company pays her for her work counts in her KRA return. Money comes home through a bank or provider that supports the company and pays out in Kenya.
Write down whether each payment is pay for work or profit, because they're taxed differently.
3:25Do you pay US tax, and is there a US–Kenya treaty?
Then the treaty, because there isn't one. The US and Kenya have no income tax treaty. US dividends, interest and royalties paid to you are withheld at the rate on screen, unless a US exemption applies. Kenya gives credit for foreign tax where it has a treaty, so that route is closed, but Kenyan citizens can claim a unilateral credit. In America, work you do in Kenya 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.
4:03What to do first, in order
So here's the order. Check the Kenyan side first, with your tax adviser: whether you need a US company at all, where it'll be managed and controlled, and how you'll be paid for your own work. Then form it, get the EIN, and apply for the account. Put the IRS report and your KRA return on one calendar. The full guide, with every source and a checklist for your tax adviser, is linked below. And Wanjiru?
Wyoming is hours behind her, and none of it needs her awake in American hours.
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 Kenya, with sources.
Read the guide for KenyaWatch on YouTube