Plain-English guide
What is Form 5472?
Short answer
Form 5472 is an IRS information return, not a payment form. The instructions say it is used to provide information about reportable transactions between a reporting corporation and a related party.
What the IRS says
Source: Instructions for Form 5472 (Rev. 12-2024), Form 5472 (Rev. 12-2023).
Use Form 5472 to provide information required under sections 6038A and 6038C when reportable transactions occur during the tax year of a reporting corporation with a foreign or domestic related party.
A reporting corporation is either: A 25% foreign-owned U.S. corporation (including a foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entity (DE)), or A foreign corporation engaged in a trade or business within the United States.
A foreign-owned U.S. DE is a domestic DE that is wholly owned by a foreign person.
a foreign-owned U.S. DE is treated as an entity separate from its owner and classified as a corporation for the limited purposes of the requirements under section 6038A that apply to 25% foreign-owned domestic corporations.
In plain English
An information return reports facts to the IRS. It is not a tax bill and it is not where tax is paid. Form 5472 is about transactions between a corporation and people or companies related to it.
The instructions treat a foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entity (DE), for the limited purposes of section 6038A, as an entity separate from its owner and classified as a corporation. That is why a single-member U.S. LLC with a foreign owner can be described as a reporting corporation in these instructions even though it is disregarded for most other U.S. tax purposes.
The form is attached to an income tax return. For a foreign-owned U.S. DE, which has no income tax return of its own, that return is a pro forma Form 1120. See the page on the pro forma Form 1120.
A hypothetical
Suppose a U.S. LLC is wholly owned by one person who is not a U.S. citizen or resident. The definitions above would describe an entity like that as a foreign-owned U.S. DE. Whether Form 5472 reporting applies to a particular LLC depends on facts this page cannot see, and the next page lists what the instructions say about who files.
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.
What Fylit does
Fylit currently provides educational resources about this filing. It does not determine your filing obligations or prepare your return.
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