If your US LLC has a non-US owner, there’s one form the IRS expects every year — even if your company made nothing. It’s called Form 5472. The good news: once you know what it is, it’s usually a quick, routine filing.
Does this apply to you? A US LLC with one non-US owner and no election on file is a “disregarded entity” — for Form 5472 purposes, the IRS treats it as a corporation and requires this filing. You need to file for any year the LLC had a reportable transaction with you or another related party: a capital contribution, a distribution, a loan, or a covered expense (see below). In practice, most LLCs have at least one of these every year, since funding the company counts.
What is Form 5472?
Form 5472 is an information return. It doesn’t calculate tax — it tells the IRS about money that moved between your US company and the people connected to it (mainly you, the owner). Because foreign-owned US entities are harder for the IRS to see, this form is how they keep track.
Filing a Form 5472 usually does not mean you owe US tax. It’s a disclosure, not a bill.
Who has to file it?
You’ll almost certainly need to file if you’re a non-resident and you own:
- A foreign-owned single-member LLC (a “disregarded entity”) — the most common case for non-resident founders.
- A US corporation that is at least 25% owned by a non-US person.
Single-member LLCs file Form 5472 attached to a pro-forma Form 1120 — a mostly-blank corporate return that exists just to carry the 5472.
What counts as a “reportable transaction”?
Basically, any money that moves between you and your LLC. The common ones:
- Money you put into the company (capital contributions).
- Money you take out (distributions).
- Loans in either direction.
- Payments the company makes to you or to another business you own.
The deadline
For a calendar-year LLC, Form 5472 (with its pro-forma 1120) is due April 15. You can get an automatic 6-month extension to October 15.
The IRS sets a significant penalty for filing Form 5472 late, and it can apply even if your company had no income — which is exactly why it’s worth getting right the first time. (Source: the IRS Form 5472 instructions, checked September 2026.)
How we handle it
- We confirm your entity type and ownership so we know which forms apply.
- We gather the year’s transactions between you and the company.
- We prepare the pro-forma 1120 and attach the completed 5472.
- We file by the deadline — or, if you need more time, once you upload your own Form 7004 confirmation — and give you copies plus a submission record.
None of it is conceptually hard, but the details trip people up. Our Federal Tax Filing service prepares this filing for $399 per filing for a single-member LLC ($899 for a C-Corp; multi-member LLC returns are coming soon) — so a form you’d rather not think about becomes one less thing on your plate.
