Form 5472 vs FBAR vs Form 8938: Which Ones Apply to You?

Form 5472, the FBAR and Form 8938 answer three different questions, go to two different agencies and run on separate deadlines. Form 5472 is your US LLC's information return about dealings with its owner. The FBAR reports foreign financial accounts to FinCEN. Form 8938 is a tax-return attachment about foreign assets.

A nonresident owner of a US LLC can owe one of them, two, all three or none, and the facts that decide each barely overlap.

The first one we can speak to precisely. If your single-member US LLC had a reportable transaction with you or another related party, it files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120, and the IRS Instructions for Form 5472 state a $25,000 penalty for failing to file "when due and in the manner prescribed." We prepare and fax that package from $149.

Whether you personally owe an FBAR or a Form 8938 is not something we can tell you: both turn on your own accounts, assets and US tax status, which we neither see nor are qualified to assess. What follows is each form's test and its authority, so the right question reaches the right professional.

What question does each of the three forms answer?

Form 5472 asks about an entity's dealings with its related parties. Its instructions cover "reportable transactions … with a foreign or domestic related party" under sections 6038A and 6038C. The filer is the entity; customer revenue is outside the question.

The FBAR asks where accounts are held. It is a Bank Secrecy Act report, not a tax form: the IRS FBAR page describes a US person reporting "at least one financial account located outside the United States." Income is irrelevant.

Form 8938 asks what foreign assets a taxpayer holds. The Instructions for Form 8938 say to "Attach Form 8938 to your annual return" — a section 6038D disclosure riding on an income tax return.

Three subjects — a transaction, an account location, an asset — and three filers: an entity, a US person, a taxpayer.

How do the three compare side by side?

Every cell below comes from the IRS page named in that row's authority column.

Report	Who files	What it reports	Filed with	Deadline	Headline penalty	Authority
Form 5472	A reporting corporation, including a foreign-owned US disregarded entity, that "had a reportable transaction with a foreign or domestic related party"	Monetary, nonmonetary and less-than-full-consideration transactions with related parties	The IRS — attached to the corporation's income tax return; a foreign-owned US DE uses a pro forma Form 1120, faxed or mailed to the Ogden PIN Unit	That return's due date "(including extensions)" — generally 15 April for a calendar-year filer	"A penalty of $25,000 will be assessed on any reporting corporation that fails to file Form 5472 when due and in the manner prescribed." Where the failure continues more than 90 days after IRS notification, an additional $25,000 applies per related party for each 30-day period it continues — there is no ceiling	IRC §§ 6038A and 6038C; Treas. Reg. § 1.6038A-1 (Instructions for Form 5472)
FBAR (FinCEN Form 114)	"A U.S. person" — a list that expressly includes a "limited liability company" — with a financial interest in or authority over a foreign account whose "aggregate value of those foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year reported"	Financial accounts located outside the United States	FinCEN, electronically through the BSA E-Filing System. "You don't file the FBAR with your federal tax return."	"April 15 following the calendar year reported," automatic extension to October 15	"You may be subject to civil monetary penalties and/or criminal penalties for FBAR reporting and/or recordkeeping violations"	Bank Secrecy Act; Title 31 of the US Code and 31 CFR (IRS FBAR page)
Form 8938	"Specified individuals and specified domestic entities that have an interest in specified foreign financial assets and meet the reporting threshold"	Specified foreign financial assets	The IRS. "Attach Form 8938 to your annual return"	That return's due date, "including extensions"	"A penalty of $10,000" where a required filer does not file a complete and correct form by the due date	IRC § 6038D (who-files wording from the IRS Form 8938 / FBAR comparison page; penalty from the Instructions for Form 8938)

Two agencies appear there: the IRS takes Form 5472 and Form 8938, FinCEN takes the FBAR. Filing with the wrong body does not count as filing.

Who files Form 5472, and why is it the LLC's own return?

The LLC files it, not you — the only one of the three where an entity rather than a person is the filer.

Under Treas. Reg. § 1.6038A-1, for tax years beginning on or after 1 January 2017 and ending on or after 13 December 2017, a foreign-owned US disregarded entity is treated as a corporation separate from its owner solely for the § 6038A reporting rules. That narrow fiction is why an LLC owing no US tax files a corporate-style information return.

Form 5472 attaches to a pro forma Form 1120 with "Foreign-owned U.S. DE" across the top of page 1; only the entity's name and address and items B and E are required. It cannot be e-filed: fax 855-887-7737, or mail Internal Revenue Service, 1973 Rulon White Blvd, M/S 6112, Attn: PIN Unit, Ogden, UT 84201.

The trigger is a reportable transaction with a related party: owner contributions, distributions, loans either way, company costs paid personally, and payments for services between owner and LLC. Customer and platform money is not one — worked examples show the sorting. Form 5471 is the opposite-direction form, for certain US persons connected to foreign corporations: see Form 5472 vs Form 5471.

Who files an FBAR, and why is the LLC tested separately from you?

Two separate persons have to be tested, and the result for one does not decide the other.

The IRS FBAR page lists a "limited liability company" among the US persons that must file. A US-organised LLC is therefore a US person for this report in its own right, whatever its owner's residence and despite being disregarded for income tax. Whether it has an obligation then turns on its interest in, or authority over, foreign accounts and their aggregate value during the year.

Your own position is a different question. A nonresident owner is not automatically a US person here, and an account in your personal name is not automatically an LLC account. Both rest on ownership, location and balances that only you and an adviser can establish from the agreements.

We cannot run either test, and nothing here says you do or do not have an FBAR to file. The threshold wording, the account-location problem and the evidence to gather are covered in whether a foreign-owned US LLC needs an FBAR. Take any conclusion to an FBAR professional.

Who files Form 8938, and why can we not tell you whether you do?

Form 8938 is filed by "specified individuals and specified domestic entities" holding specified foreign financial assets above a reporting threshold. Both halves of that sentence are determinations about you, not your LLC.

The Instructions for Form 8938 describe a specified individual as a US citizen or "a resident alien of the United States for any part of the tax year," among other categories, and define a specified domestic entity separately, by reference to certain closely held corporations and trusts. Whether a person or LLC falls inside either definition is a legal analysis of your facts.

The thresholds vary, and we deliberately do not reproduce them. The instructions state that "your applicable reporting threshold depends upon whether you are married, file a joint federal income tax return, and live inside (or outside) the United States." Read the figures from the IRS, not a blog.

One structural point carries across cleanly: Form 8938 attaches to an annual income tax return, so a person who files no US return has nothing to attach it to — but whether you must file one is itself an adviser's question.

Can you owe one, some or none of the three?

Yes, every combination is possible. Three beliefs cause most of the trouble.

Assumption we hear	Why it does not follow
"I filed Form 5472, so the IRS has what it needs."	Form 5472 reports related-party transactions to the IRS; the FBAR reports accounts to FinCEN under another statute. Neither is evidence of the other.
"My LLC is disregarded, so it has no obligations of its own."	Disregarded status is an income tax characterisation. It removes neither the § 6038A reporting fiction nor the LLC's own US-person status for FBAR purposes.
"Form 8938 and the FBAR are one thing filed twice."	Different filers, assets, thresholds, deadlines and agencies — set out in the IRS comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR requirements.

How should you work through the three questions in order?

Take them one at a time, in the order that matches who the filer is.

Settle the LLC's Form 5472 position first. List every movement between the LLC and you or an entity you control, year by year. One movement puts that year in scope.
Separate customer money from owner money. Payouts, invoices and processor fees are unrelated-party revenue. What you withdrew, contributed, lent or paid personally is the reportable set.
Ask the FBAR question about the LLC. Identify every account it holds or controls, where each is actually maintained, and the highest value each reached during the year.
Ask the FBAR and Form 8938 questions about yourself. Your citizenship, residence, filing status and assets drive both, independently of step 3.
Hand steps 3 and 4 to a qualified adviser, with documents. Give them agreements and statements, not a summary. An adviser who does FBAR and § 6038D work can answer; a Form 5472 preparer cannot.

The Form 5472 deadline usually arrives first; our deadline guide sets out the dates and the Form 7004 extension route.

What do we handle, and what belongs to an adviser?

We prepare Form 5472 packages for foreign-owned US disregarded LLCs, and nothing else on this page.

The package is Form 5472 with the pro forma Form 1120, the Part V statement where needed, review by a qualified tax accountant, and fax delivery to the Ogden PIN Unit with a timestamped receipt. Standard service is $149 in 5–7 business days, Express $199 within 3, each additional past year +$99. A fax receipt is transmission evidence, not IRS acceptance.

We are not a CPA firm and we do not give tax advice. We do not prepare FBARs or Form 8938. We will not tell you that you must file either, or that you need not: those are determinations about your own facts. Engage a CPA, enrolled agent or tax attorney who works with Bank Secrecy Act reporting and section 6038D disclosures.

If the Form 5472 side is the piece you can close today, start the filing and keep the other two moving with your adviser.

Frequently asked questions

Does filing Form 5472 cover my FBAR?

No. Form 5472 goes to the IRS under sections 6038A and 6038C. The FBAR goes to FinCEN through the BSA E-Filing System, and the IRS FBAR page says it is not filed with your federal tax return.

Is my US LLC a US person for FBAR purposes?

The IRS FBAR page lists a limited liability company among the US persons that must file. Whether yours has a reportable position depends on its foreign accounts and their values — an adviser's call.

Can you tell me whether I have to file an FBAR or Form 8938?

No. Both depend on your accounts, assets, residence and US tax status, which we neither see nor are qualified to assess. We give the test and the page stating it; take both to an adviser.

Does Form 8938 replace the FBAR?

No. The IRS publishes a comparison of the two because the filers, assets, thresholds, deadlines and agencies differ. Filing one does not satisfy the other, and an asset can appear on both.

I am not a US citizen or resident. Does my LLC still file Form 5472?

If it is a foreign-owned US disregarded entity with a reportable transaction, yes — the LLC is the filer. Treas. Reg. § 1.6038A-1 treats it as a separate corporation solely for the § 6038A reporting rules.

Which of the three has the largest headline penalty?

On the pages cited here, Form 5472 carries $25,000 for failure to file when due and in the manner prescribed; Form 8938 starts at $10,000. FBAR penalties sit in Title 31, and the IRS comparison page notes civil amounts adjust annually for inflation.

Educational content only; not tax or legal advice.