Form 5472

Form 5472, officially titled the Information Return of a 25% Foreign-Owned U.S. Corporation or a Foreign Corporation Engaged in a U.S. Trade or Business, is an IRS tax form used by foreign-owned United States companies or foreign companies engaged in a United States Trade or Business to report ownership information and related-party transactions between the company and foreign related parties¹.

Reporting requirements for foreign-owned domestic corporations were introduced with the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982². In 1985, the IRS published the first version of Form 5472³.

In 2017, the Treasury issued new regulations requiring foreign-owned disregarded entities (FODEs), often single-member LLCs, to file Form 5472, due to concerns about limited federal visibility into these companies.

Although foreign-owned disregarded entities do not have any U.S. income tax liability, they are required to attach their Form 5472 returns to a pro forma corporate tax return (Form 1120), where only basic information is completed⁴. They must report basic company information, ownership information, and information about the foreign related party and any transactions between them and the entity⁴.

It is not possible to e-file a pro forma 1120 return; instead, foreign-owned disregarded entities are required to fax or mail their returns to a special IRS processing facility in Ogden, Utah.