Video · From Zimbabwe
Can You Start a US Company from Zimbabwe? Find the Bank First (2026)
Can you own a US LLC while living in Zimbabwe? On the American side, yes: no SSN and no US visit. But a US company can't take payments until a bank opens for it, and Mercury, Relay and Wise's USD account details don't serve people living in Zimbabwe, so the guide's first answer for a founder paid from abroad is "you may not need a company yet". 4:35 long, published .
Transcript
What the video says
0:00Can a Zimbabwean resident own a US LLC?
It's evening in Harare, and Tendai has just sent an invoice to a client in America. He builds software, his clients are abroad, and he's wondering whether a US company would make getting paid easier. We're BaseAcross. We set up US companies for founders outside America, so we'll be straight with you. He can have one while living in Zimbabwe, with no social security number and no trip to the US.
But a US company can't take a single payment until a bank opens for it, and from Zimbabwe, that's the hard part.
0:32Do you need a US company to get paid from abroad?
So, does he need one yet? Maybe not. If you're paid by clients abroad, the guide's first answer is that you may not need a company yet. Find the bank first. A US company helps when US buyers or platforms want a US contracting party, and a Wyoming LLC suits that, once a bank will open. US investors usually want a Delaware C-Corp.
And a Zimbabwean company can own a US one as its subsidiary. Whichever it is, work you do in Zimbabwe is still taxed here.
1:01Is income from a US company taxed in Zimbabwe?
That's Zimbabwe's central rule, and it's about where the work is done, not who pays for it. Under the Income Tax Act, pay for services or work done in carrying on a trade in Zimbabwe is Zimbabwean income, wherever the payer is. A client in America doesn't move the work out of Zimbabwe, and owning a US company doesn't take you out of Zimbabwe's tax system. Then there's the money itself. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issues exchange control directives.
Ask your bank whether paying for a US company, or sending money to it, needs approval.
1:35Wyoming LLC or Delaware C-Corp, and an EIN without an SSN
Once the bank and your adviser have answered, forming the company is the simpler part. It needs a registered agent, an address in the state for legal papers, not where you work. The company exists from the state's approval. 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 limits and fees, and ask your bank about exchange control before you pay.
2:07Which US bank accounts work from Zimbabwe?
Now the bank, where Zimbabwe is harder than most. A US fintech bank and a second US bank both list Zimbabwe among the countries they won't serve. The first one's list goes by where you live, not your passport. A multi-currency account gives no US dollar account details to people living here. Zimbabwe isn't under US sanctions as a country, but banks still run their own checks. The provider checks the details and decides. So ask any other provider before you order, and send complete documents.
The big card processor needs a US bank account too, so find the bank before you count on it.
2:45How are the company and its dividends taxed in Zimbabwe?
So how does Zimbabwe tax the company, and you? Here's the guide's own illustration, in US dollars, which the tax authority publishes its tables in. Say Tendai's Wyoming LLC makes forty thousand dollars of profit, all from work he does in Harare. That's Zimbabwean income, so the company rate applies, and the AIDS levy is added on top of that tax. When the company then pays him what's left, a separate rate would apply, if it counts as a dividend from a foreign company. That's an illustration, not a quote.
Whether the LLC is taxed as a company, and whether its distributions are dividends, are for your tax adviser.
3:24Do you pay US tax, and is there a US–Zimbabwe treaty?
On the American side, there's no income tax treaty between the US and Zimbabwe. So US-source dividends, interest and royalties paid to you are withheld in the US, unless a US exemption applies. That includes a Delaware C-Corp's dividends to you. Pay for work you do in Zimbabwe 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, and missing it is expensive. For a calendar-year company, it's usually due in mid-April.
4:00What to do first, in order
Put together, the order runs like this. Start with your tax adviser, about how ZIMRA will tax the work you do here, and with your bank, about exchange control. Find out who will bank the company before you order anything. Then form it, get the EIN, and apply. Keep a record of where the work is done, and put the IRS report and your ZIMRA return on one calendar. The full guide, with every source and a checklist for your tax adviser, is linked below. And Tendai?
Tonight he isn't ordering a company. He's asking about a bank.
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 Zimbabwe, with sources.
Read the guide for ZimbabweWatch on YouTube