What this pack is (and what it is not)
This is a free, fill-first template pack for the most-missed filing in non-resident US LLC compliance: Form 5472 plus a pro-forma Form 1120. It is two downloadable files — a filing worksheet that captures every value the IRS forms ask for, and a deadlines + step checklist so you do not miss the date. It is not the official IRS form and it is not tax advice. The official Form 5472 and Form 1120 come straight from the IRS (linked above and below); the pack just makes filling them painless and gathers your data in the right order.
We built this because the single most expensive mistake we see foreign founders make is skipping Form 5472 — the penalty is $25,000 per form, per year, and it applies even when the LLC made no money.
Who must file Form 5472
You must file if all of these are true:
- Your business is a US LLC with a foreign owner who holds 25% or more (a non-resident single-member LLC is 100% foreign-owned, so it qualifies).
- The LLC is treated as a disregarded entity for US tax (the default for a single-member LLC that has not elected corporate taxation).
- The LLC had at least one reportable transaction with the owner or a related party during the year.
Here is the catch that surprises people: forming and funding the LLC is itself a reportable transaction. Putting your own money into the company to start it counts. So a brand-new, pre-revenue, zero-customer LLC owned by a non-resident almost always has to file in its first year. "I had no income" is not an exemption.
What counts as a reportable transaction
Form 5472 reports money and value moving between the LLC and its foreign owner (or related parties). The common ones for a solo non-resident founder:
- Capital contributions — money you put into the LLC.
- Distributions — money you take out of the LLC.
- Loans in either direction between you and the LLC.
- Payments for services, reimbursements, or anything else between you and the company.
The filing worksheet in the pack gives you a ledger to record each of these with a date, direction, type, amount, and note — so when you sit down to complete Form 5472 you are transcribing, not reconstructing.
The pro-forma 1120 + 5472 combination, explained simply
A foreign-owned single-member LLC does not file a normal income-tax return. Instead it files a pro-forma Form 1120 — meaning you complete only the identifying information at the top (name, EIN, address) and write "Foreign-owned U.S. DE" across the top per the IRS instructions — and you attach Form 5472 to it. The 1120 here is essentially a cover sheet; Form 5472 is the actual information return. The two are mailed or faxed together as one package. You are not calculating US corporate income tax on this filing (that is a separate question that depends on whether you have US-effectively-connected income).
Field-by-field: what Form 5472 asks for
Form 5472 is shorter than it looks once your worksheet is filled. At a high level:
- Part I — Reporting corporation: your LLC's name, EIN, US address, total assets, principal business activity, and the country of the filing. This maps directly to Section A of the worksheet.
- Part II — 25% foreign shareholder: your details as the owner — name, country of citizenship and residence, foreign address, and any US or foreign tax ID. Most non-residents have no US TIN here and leave it blank. This is Section B of the worksheet.
- Part III — Related party: usually the same foreign owner for a solo founder.
- Parts IV–VIII — Transactions: the dollar amounts of the reportable transactions (contributions, distributions, loans, payments). This is Section C of the worksheet — fill the ledger first and these parts become copy-and-paste.
Work the worksheet top to bottom, then open the official form and transcribe. That order prevents the back-and-forth that causes errors.
How to actually file it
The pro-forma 1120 + 5472 package for a disregarded entity is filed by mail or fax to the specific address/fax listed in the current Form 5472 instructions — it is not part of the standard e-file path most software uses. Steps:
- Confirm you must file (see above).
- Fill the worksheet completely.
- Complete the pro-forma 1120 (identifying info; mark "Foreign-owned U.S. DE").
- Complete Form 5472 and attach it to the 1120.
- Mail or fax the package to the IRS by your deadline.
- Keep a dated copy of everything you send. If the IRS later questions timeliness, your copy is your proof.
Deadlines and the extension
For a calendar-year LLC (the default for most):
- Standard deadline: April 15 — the 15th day of the 4th month after the tax-year end.
- Extended deadline: October 15 — but only if you file Form 7004 before April 15 to request the automatic 6-month extension.
- First filing: due the year after you form, covering the year you formed.
Set a recurring calendar reminder for your filing month the day you form the LLC. The deadline checklist file in the pack lists these so you can tick them off.
The $25,000 penalty (why this is not optional)
The penalty for filing Form 5472 late, incomplete, or not at all is $25,000 per form, per year. It was historically $10,000 and was increased to $25,000. It applies per related party and can stack across years if you have not been filing. There is no "small LLC" or "no income" exception — if you had a reportable transaction (and funding your LLC is one), the obligation exists. The $99/year filing add-on, or a CPA at $200–$800, is trivial insurance against a $25,000 exposure.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Assuming "no revenue" means "no filing." Funding the LLC is reportable. File anyway.
- Forgetting the first-year filing. Many founders file from year two and miss year one.
- Trying to e-file. The disregarded-entity package is mailed or faxed, not e-filed through consumer software.
- Skipping the pro-forma 1120. Form 5472 must be attached to a 1120 — sending 5472 alone is incomplete.
- Not keeping a copy. Without proof of what and when you sent, a timeliness dispute is hard to win.
- Mixing up tax years. Confirm whether you are a calendar-year filer before you date anything.
After you file
File the package, keep your dated copy, and reset your calendar reminder for next year — Form 5472 is an annual obligation for as long as the LLC exists and has reportable transactions. If your situation is complex (multiple related parties, large loans, or you also have US-effectively-connected income that triggers actual corporate tax), use a cross-border CPA; the worksheet still saves them time and you money.
A worked first-year example (illustrative)
A freelancer in Dhaka forms a Wyoming single-member LLC in March to invoice US clients through Stripe. During the year she contributes $2,000 of her own money to open the bank account and cover startup costs, and she withdraws $6,000 in distributions to herself. She has no US-effectively-connected income and owes no US corporate tax — but she still must file, because she had reportable transactions (the $2,000 contribution and the $6,000 in distributions).
Her filing is: a pro-forma 1120 with her LLC's name, EIN, and address (marked "Foreign-owned U.S. DE"), plus Form 5472 reporting Part I (the LLC), Part II (herself as 100% foreign owner, no US TIN), and the transaction amounts — a $2,000 contribution and $6,000 of distributions. Total tax due on this filing: $0. Penalty if she had skipped it: $25,000. That gap is the entire reason this form matters. (Illustrative only — your facts and amounts will differ.)
The four reportable-transaction types, with examples
- Capital contributions (money in). You wire $1,500 from your personal account to the LLC to fund operations. Reportable.
- Distributions (money out). You transfer $3,000 of LLC profit to your personal account. Reportable.
- Loans. You lend the LLC $5,000 expecting repayment (or the LLC lends you money). Reportable in either direction, with the balance and any interest.
- Payments for services or reimbursements. The LLC pays you for work, or reimburses an expense you paid personally. Reportable.
If money moved between you and your company in any of these ways — even once, even small — you have a reportable transaction. The worksheet ledger exists so you log each one as it happens instead of reconstructing it in April.
What Form 5472 is NOT (so you neither over- nor under-file)
- It is not an income-tax payment. Filing 5472 does not by itself create a tax bill. Whether you owe US tax is a separate question driven by whether you have US-effectively-connected income — most pure-service non-residents do not.
- It is not the multi-member form. A multi-member LLC is taxed as a partnership and files Form 1065 with K-1s, not the 5472 + 1120 package. The 5472 route is specifically for the foreign-owned single-member disregarded entity.
- It is not FBAR or BOI. FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is about foreign bank accounts; BOI (beneficial-ownership reporting) is a separate FinCEN regime from which most domestic LLCs are now exempt under the March 2025 interim final rule. Do not confuse the three — 5472 is the IRS information return about transactions with your foreign owner.
- It is not optional for a dormant LLC. If the only thing that happened all year was you funding the company, that funding is still a reportable transaction.
If you have missed prior years
If you formed an LLC a year or two ago and only now learned about Form 5472, you are not alone, and the worst move is to keep ignoring it. There are recognized paths for late filers — including reasonable-cause penalty relief in some circumstances — but they are fact-specific and the stakes ($25,000 per missed form) are high enough that this is the point to bring in a cross-border CPA rather than improvise. Use the worksheet to assemble each missed year's data; a professional can then advise on the cleanest way to come into compliance. The takeaway: catching up deliberately is far cheaper than waiting for the IRS to find the gap.
Keeping clean records so next year takes ten minutes
The reason Form 5472 feels stressful is that people reconstruct a year of transfers from memory in April. The fix is boring and effective: log every owner–LLC transfer the day it happens. Keep one simple ledger (the worksheet's table works, or a spreadsheet) with date, direction, type, amount, and a one-line note. Reconcile it monthly against your bank statement. Do that and your annual filing becomes transcription, not investigation — and your records double as proof if anything is ever questioned. Founders who treat the ledger as a habit spend minutes on this form; founders who do not lose a weekend every spring.
Quick recap: the five things to remember
- If you are a non-resident with a single-member US LLC, you almost certainly must file Form 5472 — funding the company counts as a reportable transaction, so "no income" is not an exemption.
- It is Form 5472 attached to a pro-forma 1120, mailed or faxed together — not e-filed, and not the same as a partnership 1065.
- The deadline is April 15 (October 15 with a timely Form 7004), and your first filing covers the year you formed.
- The penalty is $25,000 per form, per year — which makes a $99 add-on or a $200–$800 CPA the cheapest insurance you will buy.
- Keep a transaction ledger all year and the filing is ten minutes of transcription instead of a weekend of reconstruction.
Download the worksheet and the deadlines checklist above, log your transactions as they happen, and you have turned the scariest form in non-resident LLC compliance into a routine annual task.
This pack and guide are educational, not tax advice. Always confirm against the current IRS Form 5472 and Form 1120 instructions or a qualified tax professional, because rules, addresses, and amounts change year to year.