# Do I need to file Form 5472?

Source: https://joinopenfile.com/form-5472
Index: https://joinopenfile.com/llms.txt

If you live outside the U.S. and own a U.S. LLC, this IRS form can be due every year, even with no income. Answer three questions to find out.

## What kind of company is it?

## What happens if you miss it

The penalty is $25,000 for not filing on time or not keeping the required records, and a badly incomplete form counts as not filing. If it's still not fixed 90 days after the IRS tells you, another $25,000 applies for every 30 days it continues.

## What counts as a transaction

For an LLC with one foreign owner, the IRS counts amounts paid or received to form, buy, sell or close the company, plus money the owner puts in or takes out. Most new owners have one in their first year, because someone paid to form the company.

## How to file it

You can't file it online. A one-owner LLC sends Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120: fill in only the name, address and items B and E, and write "Foreign-owned U.S. DE" across the top. Fax it to 855-887-7737, or mail it to Internal Revenue Service, 1973 Rulon White Blvd, M/S 6112, Attn: PIN Unit, Ogden, UT 84201.

## When it's due

April 15 for a calendar year. Form 7004 extends that by six months if you send it by the due date, to the same fax number or address, with "Foreign-owned U.S. DE" written on it.

## Form 5472 questions

Do I have to file if my LLC made no money?

Yes, if it had a reportable transaction. Paying to form the company or putting money into it counts, even with no income.

Does a U.S. citizen living abroad file it?

Not for that reason. The form depends on whether the owner is a foreign person, and a U.S. citizen isn't one, wherever they live.

Does my company need an EIN?

Yes. The form and the pro forma Form 1120 both ask for one.

From the IRS's [Instructions for Form 5472](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i5472). We're not a law firm or a tax adviser. This is general information, not advice for your situation.

[Start my business](https://joinopenfile.com/signup?next=%2Fstart)