Video · From Uganda
Can Uganda Tax Your US Company as Ugandan? (2026)
Can you have a US company while you live in Uganda? The Ugandan side is the one to plan. A company is Ugandan-resident if its management and control is exercised in Uganda at any time in the year, or most of its operations are there, and a resident company pays 30% on income from everywhere. 4:42 long, published .
Transcript
What the video says
0:00Can a Ugandan resident own a US LLC?
It's evening in Kampala, and Grace has just finished her online shop. Only the checkout is missing. The card processor she wants doesn't take Ugandan businesses, so she's looking at a US company. On the American side, that's simple. No social security number, and no trip to the US. What surprises most people is the Ugandan side. If Grace runs the company from Kampala, Uganda can tax it as a Ugandan company. We're BaseAcross.
We set up US companies for founders outside America, so we'll be straight with you.
0:32Do you need a US company for Stripe from Uganda?
Does Grace need one at all? 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, she can apply to it. It reviews the business and the person behind it, and it can decline. If you freelance for clients abroad, the guide's answer is a Wyoming LLC, after advice.
And if you're raising from US investors, they usually want a Delaware C-Corp. Whichever it is, the Ugandan question comes first.
1:03Can Uganda tax your US company as Ugandan?
Uganda's central rule is about where the company is run from, not where it was formed. A company is Ugandan-resident if its management and control is exercised in Uganda at any time in the year, or if most of its operations are here. Note those words, at any time in the year. A resident company pays thirty percent on income from everywhere. A resident company with a small turnover pays presumptive tax instead, a mix of fixed amounts and rates on turnover. Whether that fits a US company is for your adviser.
So decide where the company will be controlled from before you order anything.
1:41Wyoming LLC or Delaware C-Corp, and an EIN without an SSN
Forming the company is the straightforward part, and you don't need a Ugandan company to do it. A Wyoming LLC suits an owner-run business taking card payments or selling to clients abroad. 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.
2:17Which US bank accounts work from Uganda?
Where can the dollars land? Founders living in Uganda can apply to a US fintech bank, because Uganda isn't on its list of countries it doesn't serve, and it decides each application. One multi-currency account gives no US dollar account details to founders living here, because Uganda isn't on its list of places where people can hold money. Another US bank doesn't bar Uganda, but it asks every owner for a physical US address.
Each provider decides for itself, and each can decline. Use the same names, addresses and business description everywhere.
2:53How much Ugandan tax could the company and you pay?
So how does Uganda see the money? Here's the guide's own illustration. Say Grace's Wyoming LLC makes two hundred million shillings of profit, and she makes its decisions in Kampala. Its management and control is in Uganda, so it's Ugandan-resident, and tax at thirty percent is sixty million shillings. Its turnover is above a hundred and fifty million shillings, so presumptive tax wouldn't apply. That's an illustration, not a quote. Grace is taxed too. As a resident, she's taxed on income from everywhere, so what the company pays her counts.
How Uganda classes the LLC, and how it pays her, are for your tax adviser.
3:32Do you pay US tax, and is there a US–Uganda treaty?
What about America? There's no income tax treaty in force between the US and Uganda, so US-source dividends, interest and royalties paid to Grace are withheld at thirty percent, unless a US exemption applies. Pay for work she does in Uganda 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 her, like money she puts in or takes out.
For a calendar-year company, it's usually due in mid-April, and missing it is expensive.
4:08What to do first, in order
So the order runs like this. Start with your tax adviser, about where the company will be controlled from, and how its income and yours will be taxed here. Then form the company, apply for the EIN, and apply for the bank account. Keep the company's books and a record of where decisions are made, and put the IRS report and your Ugandan return on one calendar.
The full guide, with every source and a checklist for your tax adviser, is linked below. Grace'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 Uganda, with sources.
Read the guide for UgandaWatch on YouTube