Your approach is sane. Here is what I would do: start from the back end. You know the saying "When Mama's happy, everybody's happy"? Your payment processor is Mama.
Talk to your payment processor and see what they want, then do that. My guess is that they will want a U.S. business entity of some kind, with a U.S. tax ID number. Then they will want to believe :-) that this is more than a mere Post Office Box arrangement where money flows through a pipe. They'll want a physical address at a bare minimum.
Once you are convinced that your payment processor will work with you, then you set up the company in the U.S.
For tax purposes you treat this company as a processing agent. It is essentially a bookkeeper. Operate it and manage the net profit of this U.S. corporation so it shows a slight profit.
E.g., your UK corporation pays the US corporation a 3% override on payments processed. The US corporation uses this money for its overhead and whatever is left over is taxable net profit. The net profit is likely to be small so the tax cost is palatable.
Again, this is more a "make Mama happy" problem than it is a tax problem. Your criteria for a good solution are (1) payment processor happy; (2) paperwork and overhead and brain damage and distraction minimized; (3) tax cost.
Talk to your payment processor and see what they want, then do that. My guess is that they will want a U.S. business entity of some kind, with a U.S. tax ID number. Then they will want to believe :-) that this is more than a mere Post Office Box arrangement where money flows through a pipe. They'll want a physical address at a bare minimum.
Once you are convinced that your payment processor will work with you, then you set up the company in the U.S.
For tax purposes you treat this company as a processing agent. It is essentially a bookkeeper. Operate it and manage the net profit of this U.S. corporation so it shows a slight profit.
E.g., your UK corporation pays the US corporation a 3% override on payments processed. The US corporation uses this money for its overhead and whatever is left over is taxable net profit. The net profit is likely to be small so the tax cost is palatable.
Again, this is more a "make Mama happy" problem than it is a tax problem. Your criteria for a good solution are (1) payment processor happy; (2) paperwork and overhead and brain damage and distraction minimized; (3) tax cost.