Skip to content
South America — United States Corridor

Turn U.S. Market Entry Intoa Scalable Finance Operation

South American companies expanding to the U.S. often move through sales, founders, investors, and customer demand before the structure is fully built. Orbiss helps create the tax, accounting, payroll, sales tax, and reporting foundation to support that growth.
Talk to a Specialist Explore the Challenges
U.S.–Brazil goods and services trade in 2024
$127.6B
U.S.–Colombia goods and services trade in 2024
$53.3B
U.S.–Chile goods and services trade in 2024
$47.6B
U.S.–Argentina goods and services trade in 2024
$26.1B

Where South American companies lose time in the U.S. expansion process.

U.S. demand can grow quickly. The finance model needs to keep up before sales, hiring, and state exposure become harder to unwind.

  • VAT or IVA Translation

    VAT or IVA experience does not map cleanly to U.S. sales tax. Nexus and filings need state review.

  • Banking & Cash Visibility

    U.S. growth needs clean banking, payments, reconciliations, payroll funding, and management reporting.

  • Treaty Coverage Gaps

    Treaty access varies by country. Withholding, permanent establishment, and reporting positions need careful review.

  • State Compliance Surprises

    Employees, customers, inventory, or activity can create obligations outside the formation state.

  • First U.S. Hires

    Hiring can trigger payroll registrations, withholding, unemployment tax, workers’ compensation, benefits, and local compliance.

  • Founder Mobility

    Founders moving to the U.S. need to plan residency, equity, foreign accounts, investments, and filings.

South American growth paths vary. U.S. compliance does too.

South American companies entering the U.S. may bring different tax, currency, withholding, and reporting considerations depending on the home country. The U.S. then adds federal, state, and local obligations.
SOUTH AMERICA UNITED STATES
Corporate Tax & Local Rules
Corporate tax systems vary by country, with different rates, withholding rules, local filings, inflation adjustments, and sector-specific requirements.
U.S. corporations face federal income tax plus possible state income, franchise, gross receipts, and annual reporting obligations.
VAT, IVA & Sales Tax
Many South American markets rely on VAT, IVA, or layered indirect tax systems, with rules that vary significantly by country.
The U.S. has no federal VAT or IVA. Sales tax is state and local, with different nexus, taxability, exemption, and filing rules.
Treaty Coverage & Withholding
Treaty coverage varies by country, and some major South American markets do not have a comprehensive U.S. income tax treaty.
U.S. withholding, permanent establishment analysis, documentation, and filing positions need to be reviewed before exposure grows.
Currency & Cash Visibility
South American groups may need to coordinate currency, payment timing, intercompany flows, and parent-company cash visibility.
U.S. operations need bank reconciliations, payment workflows, payroll funding, sales tax tracking, and monthly reporting that leadership can trust.
Entity Structure
South American companies may expand from S.A., SpA, LTDA, SAS, SRL, or other local structures depending on the home country.
U.S. expansion may involve a corporation, LLC, branch, or state registration strategy depending on tax, banking, hiring, and investor needs.
Founder-Led Expansion
Founders may lead U.S. sales, fundraising, and hiring before the finance structure has fully caught up.
Time in the U.S., compensation, equity, foreign accounts, and business activity can all affect personal and company filings.
FAQ

What South American Companies Should Clarify Before U.S. Growth

Practical answers for South American founders, CFOs, finance teams, and internationally mobile individuals preparing for the American market.

  • South American companies should plan for federal income tax, state income or franchise tax, sales tax, payroll tax, withholding, annual reports, and information reporting. The exact exposure depends on the company’s U.S. activities, customer locations, employees, inventory, and entity structure.

  • Not always. A company may sell into the U.S. before forming a U.S. subsidiary. A U.S. entity or registration strategy often becomes important when the business hires employees, signs local contracts, raises U.S. capital, opens U.S. bank accounts, holds inventory, or builds a recurring operating presence.

  • U.S. sales tax is state and local, not federal. Rates, thresholds, exemptions, product taxability, and filing frequency vary across jurisdictions. This is especially important for SaaS, e-commerce, retail, marketplace, and service businesses selling across multiple U.S. states.

  • No. Treaty coverage varies by country, and some South American countries do not have a comprehensive U.S. income tax treaty. Companies should not assume treaty relief applies without reviewing residency, income type, withholding, permanent establishment status, and reporting requirements.

  • U.S. hiring can require payroll setup, federal and state tax registrations, withholding processes, unemployment tax accounts, workers’ compensation, and benefits decisions. The requirements depend on where employees work and how the U.S. presence is structured.

  • A South American-owned U.S. subsidiary should have bookkeeping, bank reconciliations, payroll entries, sales tax tracking, expense management, intercompany records, and reporting that supports both U.S. compliance and parent-company visibility.

GET IN TOUCH

Let's talk about your U.S.expansion

Tell us a bit about your business and the services you're exploring. A member of our team will review your message and get back to you shortly.
GET IN TOUCH

Let’s talk about your U.S.expansion

Tell us a bit about your business and the services you're exploring. A member of our team will review your message and get back to you shortly.
hello@orbiss.us