IRS Form 5472 for foreign founders: Filing guide

A foreign-owned single-member US LLC files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year it has a reportable transaction, and may owe five more filings

A foreign founder preparing IRS Form 5472 reviews paperwork with a tax adviser.

The Form 5472 package carries a $25,000 penalty for failing to file when due, filing a substantially incomplete form, or not keeping the required records. For a calendar-year LLC, the package is generally due April 15, while Form 7004 provides an automatic six-month extension, commonly to October 15, without extending the time to pay. The filing rule covers a 25% foreign-owned US company, including a US disregarded entity wholly owned by a foreign person, when it has a reportable transaction with a related party.

Form 5472, attached to a pro forma Form 1120: Filed by the LLC every year it had a reportable transaction with its owner or another related party. This is the filing nearly every foreign-owned single-member LLC owes after owner funding, distributions, formation spending, or other related-party activity.
Form 7004: Filed only if the LLC wants the automatic extension. A foreign-owned US disregarded entity must fax or mail it by the original due date, write “Foreign-owned U.S. DE” across the top, and use the Form 1120 code.
Form 1040-NR: Filed by the owner, not the LLC, only if the owner was engaged in a US trade or business or had US-source income on which the tax wasn’t fully withheld.
Form 8833: Attached to the relevant return only if the owner takes a treaty-based return position that reduces US tax.
FinCEN Form 114, the FBAR: Filed by the LLC with FinCEN, rather than the IRS, only if it held foreign financial accounts whose combined value exceeded $10,000 at any point in the calendar year.
Forms 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC: Filed only if the LLC made reportable payments in the course of its trade or business. The looch guide to filing Forms 1099 covers the payment rules.
State returns or reports: Filed where the LLC is formed or does business, as required by the relevant state. The IRS maintains a directory of state government websites.

Form W-8BEN-E isn’t a filing. It’s a form the LLC gives a US customer or withholding agent, and the distinction is covered in the W-8BEN-E or W-9 guide.

Last verified: September 28th, 2026.

If you’re a non-US founder who owns a US company, you may need to file IRS Form 5472. The case that catches most people is a single-member LLC owned by a foreign person, because it can have a filing obligation even when it has no revenue and owes no US income tax.

Skipping the filing can be expensive. The IRS penalty for failing to file Form 5472 when due is $25,000, and the penalty can apply even if the company made no money.

This guide explains who is in scope, why a foreign-owned single-member LLC files a pro forma Form 1120 with Form 5472, what creates a filing obligation, and where looch can help. It’s tax content with real consequences, so the filing rules discussed here come from the IRS Instructions for Form 5472. Your facts still matter, and a tax professional should review anything outside the straightforward case described below.

This checklist shows when IRS Form 5472 for foreign founders may be required.

Form 5472 is an information return for transactions between a 25% foreign-owned US company and a related party, and a foreign-owned single-member LLC has to file it

Form 5472 reports information required under sections 6038A and 6038C when reportable transactions occur during the year between a reporting corporation and a foreign or domestic related party, and it computes no tax. A reporting corporation is a 25% foreign-owned US corporation, including a US disregarded entity wholly owned by a foreign person, or a foreign corporation engaged in a US trade or business, and it must file when it had a reportable transaction with a related party.

Form	Who files it	When it is due	What missing it costs
Form 5472, attached to a pro forma Form 1120	The LLC, as a foreign-owned US disregarded entity, every year it had a reportable transaction with its owner or another related party	The 15th day of the 4th month after the tax year ends: April 15 for a calendar year, or October 15 with a Form 7004 extension. A foreign-owned US disregarded entity must fax or mail the package to the dedicated Ogden address and write “Foreign-owned U.S. DE” across the top.	$25,000, with the same $25,000 penalty for not keeping the required records. If the failure continues for more than 90 days after an IRS notice, another $25,000 applies per related party for each 30-day period or part of one, with no maximum.
Form 7004	The LLC, only if it wants the six-month extension	By the original due date, faxed or mailed to the same Ogden address with “Foreign-owned U.S. DE” across the top	No penalty of its own is covered here. It doesn’t extend the time to pay any tax.
Form 1040-NR	The owner, not the LLC, only if the owner was engaged in a US trade or business during the year or had US-source income on which the tax wasn’t fully withheld	April 15 with wages subject to US withholding, otherwise June 15, for a calendar-year filer. Form 4868 requests an automatic extension.	Standard late-filing and late-payment rules apply. They aren’t covered on this page.
Form 8833	Whoever takes a treaty-based return position that reduces US tax, attached to that return	With the return it belongs to	$1,000 for each failure to make a required disclosure
FinCEN Form 114, the FBAR	The LLC, only if it had a financial interest in or signature authority over foreign financial accounts whose combined value exceeded $10,000 at any time in the calendar year	April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15. It’s filed with FinCEN, not with the tax return.	Separate FBAR penalties apply. They aren’t covered on this page.
Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC	The LLC, only if it made reportable payments to US contractors or vendors in the course of a trade or business	January 31 for Form 1099-NEC, February 28 on paper or March 31 electronically for Form 1099-MISC	Per-form tiers apply. See the 1099 late filing penalty guide.
State returns and reports	The LLC, in the state where it is formed and any state where it does business	Varies by state	Varies by state

For state-specific figures, use the LLC cost by state guide and the foreign qualification cost by state guide rather than assuming one state’s rules apply everywhere.

The IRS filing rule turns on ownership and related-party transactions

Form 5472 is an information return for certain transactions between a reporting corporation and a related foreign or domestic party. Under the IRS instructions, a reporting corporation includes:

A 25% foreign-owned US corporation, including a foreign-owned US disregarded entity
A foreign corporation engaged in a trade or business within the United States

The form supports reporting rules under Internal Revenue Code sections 6038A and 6038C. It isn’t an income tax return by itself. A company can need Form 5472 even where it has no income tax due.

“25% foreign-owned” means at least one foreign person owns, directly or indirectly, 25% or more of the company by vote or value at any point during the tax year. For many foreign founders, that test is simple: If you’re a non-US person and own a quarter or more of a US company, you’re likely in scope.

The other part of the rule is the transaction. Form 5472 is required when the reporting corporation has a reportable transaction with a related party during the tax year. For a foreign-owned disregarded entity, ordinary founder activity can be enough to create that transaction.

Question	What it means for a foreign founder
Is the entity foreign-owned?	A foreign person with the required ownership stake can put the entity within the reporting rules.
Is the entity a single-member LLC?	It may be disregarded for income tax purposes but still treated as a reporting corporation for Form 5472.
Did money move between the owner and the entity?	Founder funding, distributions, and payments connected to the entity can create a reportable transaction.
Does the entity have revenue or income tax due?	Neither point alone decides whether Form 5472 is required.

For the transaction-level details, including what belongs in Part IV and Part V and what records support the filing, read Form 5472 reportable transactions.

A foreign-owned single-member LLC is the filing trap

A single-member LLC is generally a disregarded entity for US federal income tax purposes. The IRS looks through the LLC and treats its activity as belonging to its owner. That is why many founders conclude that the LLC has no separate federal filing requirement.

That conclusion’s often wrong.

A foreign-owned US disregarded entity is treated as a corporation for the limited purpose of the Form 5472 reporting rules. In practice, a US single-member LLC wholly owned by a non-US person can need to file Form 5472 even though it doesn’t file a regular income tax return and may owe no US income tax.

This distinction matters because “disregarded” doesn’t mean invisible to every IRS rule. It describes how the entity is treated for federal income tax purposes. It doesn’t remove the separate information-reporting requirement when the Form 5472 rules apply.

If you’ve formed a US LLC as a non-US founder and moved money between yourself and the company, don’t assume a quiet year means no filing. Confirm the facts with the person preparing your return.

The pro forma Form 1120 carries Form 5472 for a disregarded entity

A disregarded entity doesn’t have a regular income tax return to which it can attach Form 5472. The IRS provides a specific filing method instead: The entity files a pro forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 attached.

“Pro forma” is important here. The Form 1120 is a limited cover return, not a corporate income tax calculation. The Form 5472 instructions state that the required Form 1120 information is the name and address of the foreign-owned US disregarded entity and items B and E on the first page. The attached Form 5472 is the substantive information filing.

The filing method also differs from that of a regular foreign-owned corporation. A foreign-owned US disregarded entity can’t file Form 5472 electronically and must submit it using the method described in the IRS instructions. A normal 25% foreign-owned corporation instead attaches Form 5472 to its regular income tax return.

That is why it helps to separate two questions:

Does your entity need Form 5472?
If it does, which return carries it?

For a foreign-owned single-member LLC, the answer to the second question is generally the pro forma Form 1120 and attached Form 5472.

Founder funding can create the filing obligation

The filing obligation exists when there is a reportable transaction with a related party. For a foreign-owned disregarded entity, that threshold is often lower than founders expect.

Funding your LLC from your own funds can be a reportable transaction. Taking money out can be one too. Paying formation costs personally, then treating those costs as connected to the company, can also matter. An LLC can look dormant in its bank account while still having had owner-to-company activity that belongs on Form 5472.

That is the practical reason this filing catches early-stage founders. Before there is a product, customer revenue, or payroll, there is usually still formation spending, founder funding, or both.

Keep records as you go. Your preparer needs to understand what moved between you and the entity, why it moved, and how it should be reported. The detailed guide to Form 5472 reportable transactions explains the categories and documentation in more depth.

Form 5472 follows the deadline for the return it attaches to

This timeline shows the IRS Form 5472 deadline for calendar-year foreign founders.

Form 5472 is due with the income tax return to which it is attached, including extensions. For a calendar-year filer, that generally means April 15. Form 7004 can extend the deadline for the underlying return, commonly to October 15 for a calendar-year filer.

For a foreign-owned single-member LLC, the same timing rule applies to the pro forma Form 1120 and attached Form 5472. The filing is due by the Form 1120 deadline, including any extension obtained with Form 7004.

A foreign-owned US disregarded entity uses its owner’s tax year, or the calendar year if its owner has no US tax year, which is why the April 15 deadline applies to nearly every foreign founder. Its Form 7004 must carry the Form 1120 code in Part I, line 1, have “Foreign-owned U.S. DE” written across the top, and be faxed or mailed to the same dedicated Ogden address by the original due date.

The exact deadline depends on the entity’s tax year, the return involved, and whether an extension was properly filed. Confirm the date for your specific situation with your tax professional. Do not treat a general filing calendar as a substitute for reviewing the return you actually need to submit.

An EIN comes before the Form 5472 filing

The US entity needs an Employer Identification Number, or EIN, before Form 5472 can be filed. The IRS specifically requires a US disregarded entity wholly owned by a foreign person to obtain an EIN so it can meet the Form 5472 reporting requirement under section 6038A.

This can be the first obstacle for a non-US founder. The IRS online EIN tool requires a US Social Security Number or ITIN, which many non-resident founders don’t have. In that situation, the entity applies on Form SS-4. The IRS Instructions for Form SS-4 direct a foreign-owned US disregarded entity filing Form 5472 to identify itself accordingly on the application.

The EIN isn’t the Form 5472 filing. It’s the identifier that makes the filing possible. Get the EIN first, then prepare and submit the Form 5472 package when it is due.

Our guide to getting an EIN as a non-US founder explains the path in more detail. The guide to fintech accounts for a foreign-owned LLC covers how the EIN and a qualifying US street address fit into opening a looch profile. If you’re still choosing an entity, the structure discussed in our guide to forming a Delaware C corporation is different from a single-member LLC, but the need to get the entity and EIN right remains the same.

The penalty applies even when the LLC had no income

The penalty for failing to file Form 5472 when due, or filing a substantially incomplete form, is $25,000. Under the Form 5472 instructions, the penalty applies regardless of income, so a dormant LLC that missed a filing can still face the full amount.

The penalty is why this is not a form to ignore until the company becomes active. A filing that feels administrative in an early year can become a significant problem later, particularly when the owner cannot show what was filed or when.

For the escalation process after IRS notice, the records issue, and the appropriate path for a missed year, read the Form 5472 penalty, in full. A missed prior year is not the same job as preparing a current filing. It may require a reasonable-cause argument and professional representation.

The books a foreign-owned single-member LLC must keep to survive a Form 5472 exam

A reporting corporation must keep permanent books of account or records under section 6001. Those records must be sufficient to establish the correctness of the return, including information that may determine the correct treatment of transactions with related parties. Regulations section 1.6038A-3 supplies more detail, and failing to maintain the required records carries the same $25,000 penalty as failing to file Form 5472.

A substantially incomplete Form 5472 counts as a failure to file. The books are what let the preparer complete the form rather than reconstructing the year from memory.

The IRS allows a reported amount to qualify as a reasonable estimate when it is at least 75% but not more than 125% of the actual amount. It also permits an actual amount that doesn’t exceed $50,000 to be reported as “$50,000 or less.” Both rules still require records that total the year’s related-party flows.

The IRS’ own burden estimate makes the priority clear: Recordkeeping takes 17 hours 42 minutes, learning the law or form takes 3 hours 4 minutes, and preparing and sending the form takes 3 hours 30 minutes. The form is the small part.

The books should show:

A ledger account for the owner as a related party
Every contribution, distribution, reimbursement, loan, and formation cost, entered when it happens with its date, direction, counterparty, and category
The source and destination accounts for each movement
Whether a movement was a contribution or a loan, decided when it happens and documented
Formation and dissolution amounts, including who paid them
The statements and transaction records behind the Part IV categories

The Form 5472 reportable transactions guide provides the per-entry records table. The Form 5472 penalty guide covers the records penalty and how it escalates after notice. The IRS instructions don’t state one fixed retention period, so your preparer should determine how long the records remain material to your filing.

The instructions also point preparers to Regulations sections 1.6038A-1(h) and 1.6038A-1(i) for special rules involving small corporations and related-party transactions of de minimis value. A preparer should check whether either rule applies rather than assuming it removes the records duty.

Books that are entered and categorized as money moves mean the related-party record exists before filing season instead of being rebuilt later. looch keeps activity from its accounts and accounting-enrolled external accounts in the same books, while its automatic bookkeeping and Smartcard controls help keep business activity visible. The accounting from your phone guide explains the operating model. looch doesn’t decide whether a transfer is a loan or a contribution, and none of this is tax advice.

A tax professional is the right fit for Form 5472

A CPA or enrolled agent is the better fit if any of these apply:

Your LLC has multiple members and files as a partnership
Your company is a C corporation with tax to compute and a Form 5472 attached to a regular Form 1120
You have effectively connected income or a US trade or business
You missed a prior year and need penalty abatement or a reasonable-cause argument

That boundary is deliberate. A prepared form doesn’t solve a more complex tax question. If your situation falls into one of these categories, put the filing in the hands of a professional who can advise on the whole return and represent you if needed.

Frequently asked questions

What tax forms does a foreign-owned single-member US LLC have to file?

A foreign-owned single-member US LLC generally files Form 5472 attached to a pro forma Form 1120 for every year in which it has a reportable transaction with its owner or another related party. It files Form 7004 only for an extension, while Form 1040-NR, Form 8833, the FBAR, Forms 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC, and state returns or reports apply only when their separate conditions are met.

What is Form 5472 and who has to file it?

Form 5472 is an information return for reportable transactions between a reporting corporation and a foreign or domestic related party, and it computes no tax. A 25% foreign-owned US corporation, a US disregarded entity wholly owned by a foreign person, or a foreign corporation engaged in a US trade or business must file it when it had a reportable transaction with a related party. A foreign-owned single-member LLC files under the disregarded-entity rule even though it may have no separate income tax return.

Does a foreign-owned single-member LLC really need Form 5472?

Yes, if it had a reportable transaction during the tax year. The IRS treats a foreign-owned US disregarded entity as a reporting corporation for these rules. The LLC files Form 5472 attached to a pro forma Form 1120, even if it files no regular income tax return and may owe no US income tax.

My LLC had no revenue. Do I still need to file?

Possibly. Contributions into the LLC, distributions out of it, and amounts connected to forming or dissolving it can be reportable transactions. Funding the company or paying its costs personally can be enough to create a filing obligation. Confirm your facts with a tax professional.

What is the penalty for not filing Form 5472?

$25,000 for failing to file when due or filing a substantially incomplete form, regardless of income. The process after an IRS notice is covered in the Form 5472 penalty.

When is Form 5472 due?

It is due with the income tax return it attaches to, by that return’s due date including extensions. For a calendar-year filer, that is generally April 15, and Form 7004 can extend it. A foreign-owned single-member LLC follows the same timing for its pro forma Form 1120 and attached Form 5472.

Can I file Form 5472 without an EIN?

No. The US entity needs an EIN, and a foreign-owned US disregarded entity is specifically required to obtain one for Form 5472 reporting. A non-US founder without an SSN or ITIN applies on Form SS-4. looch Start obtains the EIN as part of forming your company.

Form the entity, get the EIN, then prepare the right filing

Form 5472 starts with the basics in place: A US entity and an EIN. Start your company and get your EIN with looch Start, including the path for non-US founders without an SSN or ITIN.

Simplicity Fintech Inc is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. As part of looch Start, Simplicity Fintech Inc acts as a Third-Party Designee to facilitate the EIN application. EINs can be obtained directly from the IRS at no cost. Nothing on this page is legal or tax advice.