Form 5472 Instructions: Plain-English Walkthrough

As of October 2026, IRS.gov lists the Instructions for Form 5472 (Rev. December 2024) as the current revision, for use with the December 2023 revision of Form 5472. Unless the IRS posts a newer revision, those are the versions for tax year 2025 returns filed in 2026.

The What's New section of the December 2024 revision has one change: the joint-return exception in the definition of foreign person now cites Code sections 6013(g) and (h). The rules a foreign-owned US disregarded entity relies on — the pro forma Form 1120, the dedicated fax and mailing route, and no e-filing — sit under When and Where To File.

To see the instructions applied to a filled-in return, look at our Form 5472 example.

This walkthrough follows the IRS form from top to bottom, one part at a time, for a foreign-owned US single-member LLC.

• What to gather before you start: EIN letter, NAICS code, FTIN or Reference ID.
• The top of the form: the tax year's beginning and ending dates.
• Part I: the reporting LLC.
• Part II: the 25% foreign shareholder.
• Part III: the related party.
• Part IV: monetary transactions.
• Part V: contributions, distributions and other DE transactions.
• Part VII: additional information.
• Signing the package: the Form 1120 signature block.
• Common mistakes that create penalty exposure.

You need your LLC CP-575, formation details, NAICS code, year-end assets, reportable transactions, FTIN or Reference ID, address, citizenship, and tax-residence countries before you start.

• Your LLC's CP-575 EIN confirmation letter from the IRS (gives you the legal name, EIN, and US address exactly as the IRS has them).
• Your LLC's date of formation and state of formation.
• A NAICS principal business activity code (look up at naics.com).
• Total assets at year-end in USD.
• A list of every reportable transaction during the year — capital contributions in, distributions out, payments to/from you, loans, anything between the LLC and you or any related party.
• Your foreign tax ID (FTIN) from your country of residence, OR a self-assigned Reference ID if you don't have a FTIN.
• Your residential address in your home country.
• Country of citizenship and country of tax residence.

If you're missing the CP-575, look in your email — the IRS sends a digital copy with the EIN. If you applied via SS-4 fax, the CP-575 was the response document.

The top of Form 5472 records only the reporting corporation's tax year, as beginning and ending dates, with a note to enter information in English and money in US dollars. The number of Forms 5472 and the payment totals are not above Part I; they are Part I lines 1f, 1g and 1h.

Above Part I:

• Tax year — the year that ENDED, not the year you're filing in. A 2024 return is for calendar year 2024 even though you file it in 2025.
• Calendar-year LLC: beginning January 1 and ending December 31 of that year. A foreign-owned DE uses its owner's US tax year or, if the owner has none, the calendar year.
• Fiscal-year LLC: enter the actual beginning and ending dates.

In Part I, line 1f is the total of the payments reported on this Form 5472 (Parts IV and VI and, for a foreign-owned DE, Part V), line 1g is the number of Forms 5472 filed for the year, and line 1h is the total across all of them.

Write "Foreign-owned U.S. DE" across the top of the attached Form 1120, as the Form 5472 instructions direct.

Part I identifies the reporting LLC, its business activity, year-end assets, form count and reportable payment totals. Follow the labels on the current IRS form rather than copying field numbers from a different revision. Keep the LLC's information separate from the foreign owner's details in Part II.

Form 5472 asks for total assets. The special pro forma Form 1120 instruction limits its required cover information to name, address and items B and E; that does not by itself settle the asset entry on Form 5472. Determine and document the LLC's year-end book assets, distinguishing this calculation from the limited cover-field rule.

Keep the dollar amount reported on one Form 5472 separate from the combined amount across all Forms 5472 and from the number of forms. Reconcile reportable transactions with Parts IV, V and VI as applicable, without counting a transaction twice.

This is YOU — the foreign owner. For a single-member LLC owned by one individual, the foreign shareholder is yourself.

• Line 4a: Your full legal name and your residential address abroad.
• Line 4b(1): US identifying number if you have one (SSN or ITIN). Leave blank if you don't — most foreign owners don't.
• Line 4b(2): Reference ID number — required only if line 4b(1) is blank. Self-assigned, alphanumeric with no spaces or special characters, at most 50 characters, and used consistently every year. Our wizard auto-generates one if you don't pick your own.
• Line 4b(3): Foreign taxpayer identification number (FTIN) from your country of residence. A foreign-owned DE enters "None" or "N/A" if there is no FTIN.
• Line 4c: Principal country or countries where you conduct business.
• Line 4d: Country of citizenship (or, for an entity owner, organization or incorporation).
• Line 4e: Country or countries where you file an income tax return as a resident.

Lines 5a to 7e cover a second direct owner and ultimate indirect owners; they stay blank when one individual owns the LLC directly.

Part III identifies WHO is on the other side of the transactions reported on Parts IV and V. For most single-member LLCs owned by one individual, Part III mirrors Part II — you're both the 25%+ shareholder AND the related party.

Fill it identically to Part II. If you have multiple related parties (e.g. you also own a foreign corporation that transacted with the LLC), you'd file a separate Form 5472 for each related party.

Part IV reports dollar amounts of transactions between the LLC and the foreign related party (you). It splits them into amounts received and amounts paid.

• Lines 9-21: amounts the LLC received from the related party, such as sales of inventory or other property, rents, royalties, intangible property, services, commissions, amounts borrowed (line 17) and interest.
• Line 22: total received.
• Lines 23-35: the same categories for amounts the LLC paid to the related party, including services (line 29), amounts loaned (line 31) and interest paid (line 32).
• Line 36: total paid.

For most foreign-owned single-member LLCs, Part IV is blank or has just one or two lines filled in. Most owner-to-LLC money movement is capital contribution/distribution territory — which belongs on Part V, not Part IV.

This is THE critical section for foreign-owned single-member LLCs. It's where you report:

• Capital contributions you made to the LLC during the year (money you wired in).
• Distributions the LLC made to you during the year (money you took out).
• Other amounts paid or received between you and the LLC that aren't already on Part IV.

For each transaction:

• Type: Contribution / Distribution / Other.
• Date: actual date the transaction occurred.
• Amount: USD value.

Check the Part V box and attach a statement listing each transaction. Part I line 1f includes the Part V total along with any Part IV and Part VI amounts, and line 1h totals line 1f across all Forms 5472 filed for the year.

This is the box where the IRS is mostly looking. If you skip Part V or leave it blank when you had contributions or distributions, the filing is incomplete and triggers the $25,000 penalty.

Part VII applies to every filer, so answer its yes-or-no questions rather than skipping them:

• Line 37: does the LLC import goods from a foreign related party? Lines 38a-38c follow only if Yes.
• Line 39: was the foreign parent corporation a participant in a cost sharing arrangement?
• Lines 40a-40b: interest or royalties disallowed under section 267A.
• Lines 41a-41d: any FDII deduction for transactions with the related party.
• Lines 42a-42b: related-party loans under the safe-haven interest rate rules.
• Lines 43a-43b: not completed by a foreign-owned U.S. DE.

Foreign-owned DE status is not a Part VII entry; it is the checkbox on Part I, line 3. If any answer is Yes (for example a related-party loan or cost sharing), get a tax professional involved.

Sign the Form 5472 package through the Form 1120 page 1 signature block, not on Form 5472 itself. That block has separate officer signature, date, title and paid-preparer fields, and a conservative workflow is ink signing the completed cover before faxing.

The special pro forma instruction does not separately address signatures. A conservative workflow is to have the authorized person sign the completed cover in ink, enter the actual signing date and capacity, and scan that signed page for fax. This is a recommendation, not a ruling that every digital-only signature invalidates a filing.

IRS electronic-signature permission depends on the document and route. Corporate e-file authorization rules do not automatically cover this DE fax package. Ask the preparer to establish signing authority and the applicable method; the general Form 1120 instructions separately address paid preparers. See the current signature guide.

• Forgetting to attach pro forma Form 1120 — Form 5472 by itself isn't a valid filing.
• Forgetting the Part V supporting statement when Part V has entries.
• Mismatching Line 1f / 1h totals with the Part IV / Part V details.
• Missing the April 15 deadline without filing Form 7004 for an extension.
• Filing by email or trying to e-file — neither method is accepted by the IRS for these forms.
• Sending to the wrong fax number — only +1-855-887-7737 (IRS Ogden PIN Unit) is correct.
• Using a US address on Part I that can't receive mail (some virtual mailboxes return-to-sender IRS letters).
• Filing in the wrong tax year (the form is for the tax year that ENDED, not the year you're sending it in).
• Reporting amounts in your home currency instead of USD using a documented exchange rate.

Material filing failures can create $25,000 penalty exposure under IRC § 6038A; not every imperfection automatically invalidates a filing.