Short answer: Money you give your LLC and do not ask back is a contribution, and money it must pay back is a loan. Write down which one you mean the day you send it, because Form 5472 asks about both.
You own a single-member LLC from outside the US, and you sent your own money into its account. The books and Form 5472 treat a contribution and a loan in different ways.
- Owner contributionMoney you give the company and do not ask back as a debt. Books: owner equity. Form 5472: Part V. Write down: what it was for.
- Loan to the LLCMoney the company owes back to you. Books: what the company owes. Form 5472: Part IV, line 17, and line 32 for interest. Write down: the rate and each repayment.
- You send the moneyPay it into the LLC's own bank account, apart from your personal account.
- You label itAdd a note to the bank line the same day: contribution or loan.
- Your books record itA contribution adds to owner equity. A loan adds to what the company owes you.
- Form 5472 reports itA contribution is Part V. A loan is Part IV.
What to write down
Publication 583 suggests a checkbook with room to “identify the source of deposits as business income, personal funds, or loans”. For every move, keep four things:
- The date.
- The amount in US dollars, and the exchange rate if you paid in another currency.
- The bank line that shows it.
- One word: contribution or loan.
A loan also has terms to record. The IRS pages we read do not say which terms a loan must have. The form asks for the loan balance and the interest paid. In Part VII, lines 42a and 42b ask if the rate fell inside or outside “100% to 130%” of the Applicable Federal Rate (AFR). So write down the rate, if any, and each repayment. Our Form 5472 guide lists the loan papers we advise.
If you pay an LLC bill from your own card, the books show an expense and a contribution. For money you take out, see how to pay yourself.
What Form 5472 asks
For a single-member LLC owned by a non-US person, Part V covers other transactions of the entity, “including contributions to, and distributions from, the entity”. You describe them on an attached statement. A loan from you is Part IV instead: “Amounts borrowed”, line 17.
The form reports the move. It does not say how either one is taxed. The instructions also say your books must support the return, including dealings with related parties like you. Whether you must file at all, for example with no income, is a separate question.
What the IRS pages do not say
The IRS pages we read give no test for a loan versus a contribution. They do not say a loan needs a written note, or how to classify a transfer. Showing a loan under what the company owes is standard bookkeeping, not an IRS rule. Decide what you mean when you send the money, and keep the proof.
What we do
Our Accounting plan records owner contributions and withdrawals by category as they happen, for Form 5472. We ask you for a note when you put money in. If we cannot tell what a deposit is, it goes on your monthly question list. The balance sheet shows owner equity apart from company cash. Other currencies are recorded in US dollars, with the original amount kept.
Accounting is $1,499 a year, and Full Compliance includes it. See pricing.
Next step
See what the plan covers on our accounting page. If a transfer could be either, ask us before you label it.
Sources checked November 2026
- IRS: Instructions for Form 5472 (revised December 2024)
- IRS: Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records (December 2024)
Our price comes from our own accounting page, read in November 2026.
