Video · From Panama
US Company from Panama: Where Does Your Income Come From? (2026)
Running a US company from Panama? Panama taxes only Panamanian-source income, so the question is whether the work you do here counts as income from Panama. 4:55 long, published .
Transcript
What the video says
0:00Can a Panama resident own a US LLC?
It's late afternoon in Panama City, and Gabriela's customers abroad want to pay for her booking software by card. 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 Panama, the hard part is working out whether the work she does here counts as income from Panama.
That's a question for a Panamanian tax adviser, and the answer decides her tax.
0:32Do I need a US company for Stripe in Panama?
First, does she need one at all? It depends on why. The big card processor doesn't take Panamanian businesses, so a US company is a common route to it. A US company with an EIN and a US bank account can apply for a US account there. It reviews each one, and it can decline. Some US buyers and platforms want a US contracting party. If that's your reason, ask first whether your work here counts as income from Panama. US investors usually want a Delaware C-Corp.
Gabriela's reason is the card payments.
1:08What does Panama tax, and is it a tax haven for US citizens?
Here's Panama's central rule. Panama taxes income from Panamanian sources, whoever earns it. Income from elsewhere isn't taxed here, and residence matters only for withholding tax. You become resident after more than a set number of days in Panama in a year, while earning income here. A company is resident only if it's incorporated in Panama, with its central management here. US citizens are different. One living in Panama is still taxed by the US on worldwide income.
The guide takes Panama's rules from PwC's tax summaries, and the rule for US citizens from the IRS, so confirm them with your 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. A Delaware C-Corp suits raising from US investors, though it pays US corporate tax. 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 Panamanian company to form it. Prices are in US dollars, which is Panama's own currency.
Check your card's fees.
2:29Can I open a Mercury account from Panama?
Where can the dollars land? Founders living in Panama can apply to a US fintech bank, because Panama 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 Panama, but it asks every owner for a physical US address. Each provider decides for itself.
With a US account in place, Gabriela can apply to the card processor.
2:57Does Panama tax my US company's income?
Here's how Panama sees the money, in the guide's own example. Say Gabriela's Wyoming LLC makes eighty thousand dollars of profit, from work she does in Panama City for clients abroad. If Panama treats that as foreign-source income, it taxes none of it. If it counts as Panamanian-source, the company rate comes to twenty thousand dollars. That's an illustration, not a quote. Which way it falls is the question to settle with her adviser before she orders. Panama has no rules on controlled foreign companies, so profit kept in a foreign company isn't taxed to her through them.
Her own Panamanian-source income is taxed on a scale that starts at nothing and rises in two steps.
3:41Do you pay US tax, and is there a US–Panama treaty?
In America, there's no income tax treaty with Panama. 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 Panama generally isn't US income, so nothing is withheld on it. A US LLC owned by someone who isn't a US person 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.
4:15What to do first, in order
Put together, the order runs like this. Start with a Panamanian tax adviser, and ask two things. Do you need a US company at all? And is the work you do here income from Panama? Then form the company and get the EIN, and apply for the accounts, starting with the US fintech bank. Keep a record of where the work is done and for whom, and put the IRS report and any Panamanian filings on one calendar. The full guide, with every source and a checklist for your adviser, is linked below. Every question on it is in Spanish too. And Gabriela?
She's taking that one question to an adviser before she orders anything.
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 Panama, with sources.
Read the guide for PanamaWatch on YouTube