Form 5472 for Foreign-Owned LLCs: Due Date, $25K Penalty

For a foreign-owned single-member LLC on the calendar year, Form 5472 for tax year 2026 is due 15 April 2027, attached to a pro forma Form 1120, or 15 October 2027 if you file Form 7004 by 15 April. Missing it, or filing a substantially incomplete form, costs $25,000, and the penalty keeps growing by $25,000 per 30 days once you ignore an IRS notice for 90 days, with no cap (IRS, IRS penalties).

This guide is for non-residents (Canadians, Australians, Brits, Europeans and everyone else) who own a US LLC alone. Every date and amount comes from the IRS instructions for Form 5472, revised 12/2024, checked on 28 October 2026.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm with a US CPA for your situation.

Who has to file Form 5472

A “reporting corporation” files Form 5472 when it has a reportable transaction with a related party. Since tax years beginning in 2017, a US disregarded entity wholly owned by a foreign person counts: the IRS treats it as a corporation for the limited purpose of these reporting rules (IRS).

You are a “foreign person” if you are an individual who is not a US citizen or resident. So if you live in Toronto, Sydney or London, own 100% of a Wyoming or Delaware LLC and have not elected corporate tax treatment, your LLC is a “foreign-owned U.S. DE” and this filing is yours.

Three rules close the usual escape routes:

• No income is not an exemption. The only exemption that fits a typical owner is having no reportable transactions at all.
• Most exceptions do not apply. The instructions say several exceptions, including the one for transactions between two non-US persons that generate no US income, do not apply to foreign-owned US DEs.
• One form per related party. If the LLC dealt with you and with another company you own, you file a separate Form 5472 for each (IRS, line 1g).

Form 5472 due dates: 2026 and 2027

The pro forma Form 1120 follows the Form 1120 deadline: the 15th day of the 4th month after the tax year ends (IRS Form 1120 instructions). A foreign-owned DE uses its owner’s US tax year or, if the owner has none, the calendar year (IRS). For almost every non-resident owner that means the calendar year, even if your home tax year runs July to June (Australia) or April to April (UK).

Sources: IRS Form 5472 instructions, Form 1120 instructions, Form 7004. Checked 28 Oct 2026.

First year counts. An LLC formed in November 2026 has a short 2026 tax year, and the money you paid to form it is a reportable transaction. Its first Form 5472 is due 15 April 2027. Check box 1j to say it is your first filing.

How the extension works

Form 7004 gives an automatic six-month extension (IRS). For a foreign-owned DE, the instructions add three specifics: enter the Form 1120 code on Form 7004, Part I, line 1; write “Foreign-owned U.S. DE” across the top; and fax or mail it to the same dedicated fax number or Ogden address as the return, by the original due date (IRS). It costs nothing, so if you are not ready by early April, file it.

The Form 5472 penalty, in plain numbers

From the IRS instructions and the IRS penalties page:

The IRS can remove or reduce some international information reporting penalties for reasonable cause, if you acted responsibly and the failure came from circumstances beyond your control, but it says plainly that not all of them qualify (IRS). Criminal penalties can apply to false or fraudulent information (IRS).

Worked example: how a missed filing grows

Sarah lives in Vancouver and formed a Wyoming LLC in 2025. She paid $500 into it to cover formation and later took out $8,000 of profit. Both are reportable Part V transactions. She did not know about Form 5472 and filed nothing for tax year 2025.

1. Missed deadline. The 2025 return was due 15 April 2026 (or 15 October 2026 with Form 7004, which she also did not file). Initial penalty: $25,000.
2. IRS notice. Suppose the IRS mails a notice dated Monday 1 February 2027. Her 90-day window ends on 2 May 2027.
3. Late filing. She files on Monday 16 August 2027. That is 106 days after the 90-day window closed. 106 ÷ 30 = 3.53, and a part period counts as a full one, so that is 4 periods × $25,000 = $100,000.
4. Total before interest: $25,000 + $100,000 = $125,000, with interest on top.

If she had filed Form 7004 by 15 April 2026 and the return by 15 October 2026, the penalty would have been $0. If her 2026 return is also missed on 15 April 2027, that is a separate $25,000 failure.

Had she filed within the 90 days after the notice, the continuation penalty would not apply, though the initial $25,000 could still stand unless the IRS accepts reasonable cause. The lesson is simple: if you get a notice, file within 90 days and talk to a CPA the same week.

What counts as a reportable transaction

For a foreign-owned DE, three parts of the form matter (IRS):

• Part IV, monetary transactions with you or another foreign related party: sales, services, rents, royalties, amounts borrowed and loaned, interest and other amounts paid or received.
• Part V, transactions only a DE reports: amounts paid or received in connection with forming, dissolving, acquiring or disposing of the entity, including contributions to and distributions from it. Tick the box and attach a statement describing them.
• Part VI, nonmonetary or less-than-full-value transactions, such as you working for the LLC unpaid or lending it equipment, with a reasonable estimate of value.

Two shortcuts help small LLCs. Any amount of $50,000 or less in a category may be reported as “$50,000 or less”, and when actual figures cannot be determined, an estimate between 75% and 125% of the real amount counts as reasonable. All amounts are in US dollars, with a schedule of the exchange rates you used, which matters if you funded the LLC from a CAD or AUD account.

How to file: step by step

1. Gather your details. LLC name, address and EIN; your name, address and country; your foreign tax ID (SIN in Canada, TFN in Australia, or “None”/“N/A” if you have none). A foreign-owned DE must enter a foreign taxpayer ID if one exists. If you have no SSN or ITIN, you can assign yourself a reference ID number: alphanumeric, up to 50 characters, used consistently every year.
2. Prepare the pro forma Form 1120. Fill in only the LLC’s name and address and items B and E on page 1, and write “Foreign-owned U.S. DE” across the top.
3. Complete Form 5472. Part I (the LLC, including line 3 for a foreign-owned DE and line 1o for the countries where it does business, not “worldwide”), Part II (you as the 25% foreign shareholder), Part III (the related party, even if it is also you), then Parts IV, V and VII as they apply.
4. Send it by fax or mail. Fax at 300 DPI or higher to 855-887-7737, or mail to Internal Revenue Service, 1973 Rulon White Blvd, M/S 6112, Attn: PIN Unit, Ogden, UT 84201. Do not use the normal Form 1120 address and do not try to e-file.
5. Keep proof. Save the fax confirmation or tracked-mail receipt, and keep the books that support the figures, because missing records carry their own $25,000 penalty.

If you still need an EIN, line 9a of Form SS-4 for a single-owner foreign LLC reads “Foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entity-Form 5472” (IRS). Our EIN for non-US residents guide covers the full application.

Your full yearly calendar

Your home country has its own filings on top. Canadians in particular should read US LLC for Canadians, because the CRA treats a US LLC as a corporation.

Should you file yourself or pay someone?

Some formation services bundle the filing into a yearly plan; see Stripe Atlas vs doola vs Firstbase for what each includes. Canadian owners also have a Canadian return for the same LLC: see T1134 for a US LLC. If you are still deciding whether to form at all, start with US LLC for non-residents, and see the US company setup hub for everything else.