Short answer: A spreadsheet can be enough. The IRS does not require a particular system. Your records must show every amount between you and the company, backed by bank statements and receipts. Paid bookkeeping makes sense when activity grows or you want the books kept for you.
This answer is for a single-member LLC with one owner who is not a US citizen or resident, and only a few payments a month. Each year that LLC may file Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 (a short return that carries it). That filing does not ask for a profit and loss statement or a balance sheet. It asks what moved between you and the company. So the question is not “spreadsheet or bookkeeper”. It is “can my records answer that question?”
What the IRS asks of your records
IRS Publication 583 (checked November 2026) says you “can choose any recordkeeping system suited to your business that clearly shows your income and expenses”. A spreadsheet is a system. The Form 5472 instructions add one more duty: the company must keep records that are “sufficient to establish the correctness” of the return, including its dealings with you.
In practice, a good record for each payment shows:
- the date, the amount and the currency,
- who paid whom,
- what it was: money you put in, money you took out, a loan, or a company cost you paid yourself,
- the bank statement line or receipt behind it.
Keep the statements and receipts, not only the sheet. The IRS page How long should I keep records? gives 3 years as the usual minimum, and longer in some cases.
Is a spreadsheet enough for you?
- Does the company use one account, with a few payments a month?YesNext question.NoSeveral accounts or currencies are harder to track by hand. Paid bookkeeping is usually worth it.
- Can you mark each line as money in from you, money out to you, a loan, or a normal business payment?YesNext question.NoStart there first. That split is what the federal filing needs.
- Will you update the sheet every month and keep the statements?YesA spreadsheet can be enough for now.NoHave the books kept for you, so the year-end figures are ready.
If you keep your own sheet, update it once a month while the payments are fresh. Add a note when you put money in or take money out. Those notes save the most time at filing.
What we do
You do not need our accounting service to buy the federal filing. Our filing asks you for each amount between you and the company in the year, and your own records can answer it. We do not set up or check spreadsheets. If you want the books kept for you, our accounting plan is $1,499 per year and is included in Full Compliance (as of November 2026). You connect the company’s accounts or upload statements. Each month we reconcile them and prepare your profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow. Money between you and the company is tracked separately, because Form 5472 needs it, and the year-end figures go to your filing.
Read more: owner contribution or loan, the related-party guide and the accounting guide for non-residents.
Next step
See what the plan covers on our Accounting page, or write to us if your setup is unusual.
Sources checked November 2026
- IRS: Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records
- IRS: How long should I keep records?
- IRS: Instructions for Form 5472 (revised December 2024)
Our prices and scope come from our own accounting page, read in November 2026.
