The cross-border founder's compliance calendar

If you run a US LLC or UK Ltd from abroad, your deadlines fall into two buckets: ones tied to your formation anniversary, and ones tied to your tax year. Miss the first and you lose good standing. Miss the second and the penalties get expensive fast.

This is the year laid out as a reference. Bookmark it, map your own dates onto it, and treat every line as something that recurs whether or not anyone reminds you. Exact dates vary by state and by your tax year, so each item below names the agency and the rule rather than asserting one universal calendar date.

The reason this matters more for cross-border founders than for a local business owner is simple: nobody hand-holds you. There’s no accountant down the street who knows your filings, no government letter arriving at a home address you check daily. Your registered agent scans your mail, your reminders come by email, and the responsibility for knowing what’s due sits entirely with you. A clear calendar is the cheapest insurance you’ll buy all year.

Tied to your formation anniversary

These don’t care about your tax year. They recur on the clock that started the day your company was created.

1. State annual report (US LLC)

   Most states require an annual (a few, biennial) report to confirm your company details and keep it active. Many tie the deadline to your formation anniversary month; some use a fixed date. Fees range roughly $0–$300 depending on the state. See LLC annual report deadlines for how the states differ.

2. Franchise tax (US LLC)

   Some states layer a franchise tax or annual fee on top of, or instead of, the report. It can be a flat amount or based on revenue or assets. Confirm whether your state charges one — California and Delaware are common surprises for founders who formed elsewhere expecting “no state tax.”

3. Confirmation statement (UK Ltd)

   Companies House requires a confirmation statement at least once every 12 months, dated from your incorporation anniversary, filed within 14 days of that date. It confirms directors, registered office, shareholders, and people with significant control. Details in the CS01 guide.

4. Registered agent and registered office renewal

   A US LLC must keep a registered agent with a physical in-state address; a UK Ltd must keep a registered office. Both renew annually. Let one lapse and you stop receiving legal and government mail — and risk losing good standing.

Tied to your tax year

These follow your accounting period and the relevant tax authority’s calendar. For a calendar-year company that’s the familiar spring crunch; for a UK Ltd it keys off your own accounting reference date.

US federal — foreign-owned LLC

A foreign-owned single-member LLC files Form 5472 attached to a pro-forma Form 1120 every year, even with no income and no tax due. The IRS due date is generally the 15th day of the fourth month after your tax year ends — April 15 for a calendar-year company. An extension is usually available, but the underlying obligation isn’t optional.

If you have US-source income that’s effectively connected to a US trade or business, you may also owe a personal Form 1040-NR. Many non-residents with no US presence don’t, but this is exactly the question worth confirming rather than assuming. The non-resident LLC tax guide walks through when each applies.

State income tax returns are a separate question again. A handful of states have no income tax, which is why founders favour them, but if your LLC actually operates in a state with one, a state return can ride alongside the federal filings. Forming in a no-tax state doesn’t exempt you from tax in a state where you have real activity.

UK — corporation tax, accounts, and VAT

A UK Ltd has its own rhythm. Corporation tax (the CT600) is filed with HMRC after your accounting period ends, and annual accounts go to Companies House on their own deadline. The payment date and the filing date for corporation tax are not the same, which trips up first-year founders. If you’re VAT-registered, VAT returns recur on their own cycle, commonly quarterly, with the return and payment due about a month and a week after each period ends.

The once-only and the occasional

Not everything repeats annually. Some items fire once, or only when something changes.

Beneficial ownership reporting is the one to watch because the rules have shifted. Some foreign-owned US entities have had a FinCEN beneficial ownership information report obligation, with updates required when ownership or details change rather than on an annual cycle. The requirements have changed more than once, so confirm your current status against FinCEN’s latest guidance rather than a rule you read last year.

Building the calendar you won’t blow

The pattern across both countries is the same: most penalties punish forgetting, not owing. A company that made zero profit still gets fined $25,000 for a missed 5472, still loses good standing for a skipped annual report, still gets struck off for an unfiled confirmation statement.

So the work isn’t really tax knowledge — it’s a reliable system. Pull your formation date and tax-year-end into one place, derive every recurring deadline from them, and set reminders well before each one so an extension is still possible if you need it. That’s the part we run for you: deadlines tracked from your actual filing dates, reminders sent early, and the returns prepared so nothing lapses while you’re focused on the business.