This is the filing that catches foreign founders off guard. You formed a US LLC, you had a quiet first year, and you assumed there was nothing to file. Then you learn about Form 5472 — and its $25,000 penalty.
Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen to you.
Who has to file
You file Form 5472 if your US LLC is a disregarded entity (most single-member LLCs) that is owned by a non-US person, and it had any reportable transaction during the year.
Reportable transactions include money you put into the company, money you took out, and most dealings between you and the LLC. Forming the company and funding its bank account already counts. A zero-revenue year almost never means a zero-filing year.
What you actually submit
A foreign-owned single-member LLC files two things together:
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A pro-forma Form 1120
You don’t pay corporate tax on it — it’s a cover page. You fill in the company name, address, EIN, and attach the 5472.
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Form 5472
This reports the transactions between the LLC and its foreign owner: contributions, distributions, loans, and the like.
It’s mailed or faxed to the IRS by the deadline — generally April 15, or the 15th day of the fourth month after your year-end.
How to not miss it
The filing isn’t hard; remembering it is. Penalties hit founders who simply forgot it existed. Taxly tracks the deadline, prepares both forms, and files them — so a quiet year stays quiet.
Let us handle Form 5472
See tax filing →