Plain-English guide
What is a reportable transaction on Form 5472?
Short answer
The instructions define a reportable transaction by reference to Parts IV, V and VI of the form: monetary transactions in Part IV, any transaction listed in Part V, and transactions or groups of transactions listed in Part VI.
What the IRS says
Source: Instructions for Form 5472 (Rev. 12-2024).
Reportable transaction. A reportable transaction is: Any type of transaction listed in Part IV (for example, sales, rents, etc.) for which monetary consideration (including U.S. and foreign currency) was the sole consideration paid or received during the reporting corporation’s tax year; Any transaction listed in Part V; or Any transaction or group of transactions listed in Part VI.
Transactions with a U.S. related party, however, are not required to be specifically identified in Parts IV, V, and VI.
If the related party is a foreign person, the reporting corporation must attach a schedule describing each reportable transaction or group of reportable transactions.
In plain English
The definition is built from the form itself: a transaction is reportable because of the Part it is listed in. Part IV is monetary; Part V is the foreign-owned U.S. DE Part; Part VI is for exchanges where something other than money, or less than full consideration, is involved.
The instructions treat contributions and distributions as Part V items for a foreign-owned U.S. DE, and loans as Part IV items reported as balances. The pages on Part IV and Part V set out the wording.
Form 5472 is about transactions with a related party. It is not a list of every bank transaction. Deciding which of an entity's transactions are reportable is not something a general page can do.
A hypothetical, to show the three categories
A cash payment for services between a corporation and a foreign related party is the kind of monetary transaction Part IV is built for. An exchange of property for services with no money involved is the kind of thing Part VI describes. Money moving between an entity and its owner is where the instructions point foreign-owned U.S. DEs to Part V.
Related
IRS sources
Quoted text last compared with the IRS document on 2026-10-03. The IRS can revise its forms and instructions; check the current version before you rely on anything here.
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