Selling on Amazon and getting paid with Stripe as a non-resident: what nobody explains before you start
The LLC opens the door to Amazon USA and Stripe — but the door has three locks the tutorial never shows: KYC, the tax interview, and sales tax. Here's what's worth knowing BEFORE creating the accounts, because fixing things after costs weeks of a frozen account.
🌐 También en español: Vender por Amazon y cobrar con Stripe siendo no residente
The first lock: KYC
Amazon and Stripe verify your company like a bank does: the LLC name identical in the Articles, the EIN letter (CP 575) and the application; a coherent address everywhere; a business explainable in one sentence. The number-one cause of rejected or frozen accounts isn't "being foreign" — it's inconsistency between documents. Before creating the account, put the three papers on the table and compare letter by letter.
The second: the tax interview
Amazon will have you complete its tax interview (the W-8BEN-E equivalent for your LLC): who the owner is, where they're tax resident, which treaty applies. Getting it wrong has two consequences: withholding that shouldn't apply or — worse — data that contradicts your KYC and triggers re-verification with the account frozen. Complete it calmly, documents in view, once and right.
The third: sales tax
The Amazon seller's good news: under marketplace facilitator laws, practically every state requires AMAZON to calculate, collect and remit the sales tax on your sales. The real burden is far smaller than internet panic suggests — though FBA inventory spread across warehouses can create registration duties in some states.
Also selling on your own site with Stripe or Shopify? No facilitator there: wherever you have nexus, collecting and remitting is your job. The full analysis is in this blog's sales tax article.
The right order to start
- 1 · A properly built LLC: Articles + EIN letter + Operating Agreement, identical names.
- 2 · An approved business bank account (Mercury/Relay) — Stripe and Amazon will deposit there.
- 3 · Amazon/Stripe accounts with the SAME data, zero creativity.
- 4 · The tax interview with documents in view.
- 5 · A sales tax map once sales begin.
The underlying pattern never changes: consistency. The systems don't know you — they only see papers. When the papers tell one story, doors open.
📄 Take this with you as a PDF
This article is also a free printable guide: Business banking without traveling: how to pass KYC.
Your specific case?
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