Video · From Kuwait
Does Kuwait Tax a US Company You Own? (2026)
Kuwait doesn't tax your own income. The company is another matter: Kuwait taxes foreign entities earning income from Kuwait at 15%, and a US company is a foreign entity, whoever owns it. 4:31 long, published .
Transcript
What the video says
0:00Can a Kuwait resident own a US LLC?
It's evening in Kuwait City, and Yousef's online store is nearly ready. Only the checkout is missing. The card processor he wants doesn't take Kuwaiti businesses, so he's looking at a US company. What surprises most people is this. Kuwait doesn't tax his own income, but the company he forms can owe tax in Kuwait. We're BaseAcross. We set up US companies for founders outside America, so we'll be straight with you.
On the American side, it's simple. No social security number, and no trip to the US.
0:32Do you need a US company for Stripe from Kuwait?
Does Yousef need one at all? That depends on where his customers are, and where the work gets done. For card payments from customers around the world, a US company is often how founders here get the card processor. With an EIN and a US bank account, he can apply to it. It reviews the business and the person behind it, and it can decline. Serving clients inside Kuwait is a different case.
There, the guide's advice is to check the Kuwait tax first, before anything is formed.
1:02Does Kuwait tax a US company you own?
Kuwait's central rule is about the company, not about you. Kuwait taxes foreign entities that earn income from Kuwait, directly or indirectly, at fifteen percent. Kuwaiti entities are outside it, and so are GCC entities wholly owned by GCC residents. A US company is a foreign entity, whoever owns it. So does it help that Yousef is a Kuwaiti national? Not automatically.
His passport doesn't change what the company is. If it's going to earn from Kuwait, ask your adviser before it does.
1:33Wyoming LLC or Delaware C-Corp, and an EIN without an SSN
Forming the company is the straightforward part, and you don't need a Kuwaiti company to do it. A Wyoming LLC suits an owner-run business taking card payments or selling to US customers. A Delaware C-Corp suits raising from US investors. Either one 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.
Prices are in US dollars, so check your card's exchange rate and fees.
2:10Which US bank accounts work from Kuwait?
Where can the dollars land? Founders living here can apply to a US fintech bank, because Kuwait isn't on its list of countries it doesn't serve, and it decides each application. A multi-currency account can give a US company run from Kuwait US account details. Another US bank doesn't bar Kuwait, but it asks every owner for a physical US address. Each provider decides for itself, and each can decline.
Expect banks to ask more questions, and use the same names and addresses everywhere.
2:41Can working from Kuwait make the company taxable there?
So how does Kuwait see the money? For Yousef personally, there's no income tax, including on what the company pays him. The company is another matter. Say his LLC signs a thirty thousand dinar contract with a client in Kuwait, and makes twenty thousand dinars of profit on it. If he does part of the work here, that can create a permanent establishment. If it does, the Tax Authority can tax the profit, or the full value of the contract, including work done outside Kuwait.
Fifteen percent of twenty thousand dinars is three thousand. That's the guide's illustration, not a quote.
3:18Do you pay US tax, and is there a US–Kuwait treaty?
What about clients outside Kuwait? The law doesn't clearly say. It's handled case by case. In America, there's no tax treaty with Kuwait, so US-source dividends, interest and royalties paid to Yousef are withheld at thirty percent, unless a US exemption applies. Pay for work he does in Kuwait 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 dealings with him, like money he puts in or takes out. It's usually due in the spring, and missing it is expensive.
3:56What to do first, in order
So the order runs like this. Start with your tax adviser, about where your clients are, where the work will be done, and whether your presence here could create a permanent establishment. Then form the company, apply for the EIN, and open the bank account. Keep a record of each client and where the work was done, and put the IRS report and any Kuwait filing on one calendar.
The full guide, with every source and a checklist in English and Arabic for your adviser, is linked below. Yousef's checkout can wait for that first conversation.
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 Kuwait, with sources.
Read the guide for KuwaitWatch on YouTube