This hub exists because the question “how much would I pay with an LLC?” has no answer without three earlier questions: which system your country uses to tax you, which tax we are talking about, and where you are genuinely resident. Here are the three, in order, with the data that holds them up.
How this hub is organised
From the general to the specific. First the country’s system (what decides everything), then the taxes one by one (so that “0%” has an object), then residence (the condition almost nobody meets completely), and finally the LLC and the calculators (the number). You can come in through any door; the order is the one I would follow starting from zero.
First, the system
The tax systems of the world: worldwide, territorial, remittance basis, citizenship-based and no income tax. Each with its countries and with what it means for a founder with an LLC. It is the page to read before any other, because a transparent LLC is taxed where its owner is taxed, and the system decides that.
What territorial taxation is: the concept that sells best and gets explained worst. What “source” means for active and for passive income, the three traps (working from the country, the LLC’s place of management, and the law changing) and the five conditions that make the 0% real.
Territorial tax countries: the table. Seventeen jurisdictions, each with four answers (active income earned abroad, foreign dividends, work done from the country, proof of residence), the statute that says so and the date it was checked. With CSV and JSON.
Second, the taxes
Types of tax that hit an international business: income, corporate, withholding, dividends, capital gains, wealth, inheritance, VAT and sales tax, exit tax, social security and treaties. Eleven, with who collects each one and when it reaches you with an LLC. It serves one purpose: that when you read “tax-free”, you ask of which tax.
LLC taxes for non-residents: the US side. ETBUS, Form 5472 and its $25,000 penalty, and why the LLC profit is not taxed in the United States and is taxed in your residence.
Third, residence
Tax residency for founders: how it is proven (days, centre of interests, family), how it is genuinely changed, and why your previous country may not let go. With the three destinations we get asked about most: Paraguay, Panama and Dubai.
Flag theory: the framework for splitting citizenship, residence, company, banking and life. Useful as a map, dangerous as a recipe.
Fourth, the LLC
US LLC tax calculator: 39 residences, 14 verified against official sources with a dated exchange rate. What an LLC would pay from each one, on a ladder by band, with a card per country.
International company tax calculator: LLC, Estonian OÜ, Bulgarian EOOD, UAE free zone, Georgian LLC, Cyprus, UK or Hong Kong Ltd, or the local company, from your residence and in three layers: corporate, withholding and what you pay on distribution.
The 0% tax LLC myth: where the myth comes from and what is left of it once the conditions are met.
Not sure how this applies to your case?
Eleven questions and we tell you whether the LLC fits, and if it does not, that too.
The data
Three assets in this hub are published as open data, with date, source and changelog, under CC BY 4.0:
- Territorial tax countries: 17 jurisdictions, each one’s statute.
- US LLC tax calculator: the 39 residences with brackets, dividend rule and exchange rate.
- Which countries Mercury, Relay, Wise and Stripe accept: 49 countries, five verdicts, because tax without banking is worth nothing.
If you spot a difference with the source, write to us: it gets corrected in the next edition and logged.
What comes next
The pages still missing from this map, in the order they will be written: controlled-foreign-company rules; place of effective management and permanent establishment; exit tax; double tax treaties with an LLC; and the automatic exchange of information (CRS). They are the rules that break the 0% when it is only half met, and the ones least explained because they sell least.
What will not be here, on purpose: citizenship-by-investment programmes and country-by-country special regimes. That is the work of a mobility firm. We form and maintain structures, and this hub covers what decides how much yours pays. The exception is Paraguay residency, which we do set up and which has its own hub: temporary, permanent, the Investor Pass and the exit from Spain.
In short
- The system of your country of residence decides how much any structure pays. Start there.
- “Tax-free” means nothing until you say of which tax. There are eleven.
- Residence is proven with facts, and the previous country does not let go easily.
- The number for your case comes from the calculators, with source and date.
And if after reading all this you want to know which structure fits your residence, the assessment tells you in ten minutes, and sometimes the answer is none of ours.
Explore the full guide
Frequently asked questions
Where do I start if I know nothing about international tax?
With the tax systems of the world. Knowing whether your country of residence is worldwide, territorial or remittance-based is what decides how much any structure pays, an LLC included. Then tax residency: how it is proven and how it is changed. The rest is read with your case in front of you.
Does this hub replace an adviser?
No. It is the map that makes the conversation with an adviser short and useful, and that tells you when someone is selling you a 0% that does not exist. Every figure carries its source and its date so you can check it.
Why is there downloadable data?
Because the "tax-free countries" lists that circulate mix different systems and cite no law. Our tables carry the statute, the check date and a changelog, and are published as CSV and JSON under CC BY 4.0 so anyone can reuse and correct them.
What does this hub not cover?
Citizenship-by-investment programmes and country-by-country special regimes for new residents: that is the work of a mobility firm, not of a firm that forms LLCs. The one exception is Paraguay, the residency we set up with our legal partners, which has a hub of its own. Here we cover what decides how much your structure pays from where you already live or are going to live.