The four federal forms a US LLC owes its owner abroad
A single member LLC in Wyoming or Delaware, owned by someone who is not a US person, files no income tax return in the usual case. Whether that owner is in Accra, Lagos, London, Dubai, Bengaluru, Singapore, Sydney or São Paulo, the LLC still owes the IRS an information return every April, with the harshest penalty on this calendar if it is missed, and the formation service that sold the LLC rarely says so. Here is the whole list, and the calendar that keeps it.
What is owed, and when
| Form | Who owes it | When | If missed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 | Every single member LLC owned by a non US person, and every corporation 25% or more foreign owned, reporting the money that moved between the company and its owner | April 15 for a calendar year; Form 7004 extends it | $25,000, whether the form is late or missing |
| FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) | A company with a bank or mobile money account outside the United States whose combined value passed $10,000 at any point in the year | April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15 | About $16,500 per non willful violation; far more if willful |
| Form 1040-NR, only if the LLC runs a US trade or business | An owner whose LLC has income effectively connected with a US business; a holding LLC or one selling services performed abroad usually has no return at all | June 15 for an owner with no US wages | 5% a month of unpaid tax, up to 25% |
| Forms 1042 and 1042-S, and the W-8 forms | An LLC that pays people or companies outside the United States for US source income; a developer paid for work done in Lagos or Manila is foreign source and needs only a W-8BEN on file | March 15 | $60 to $340 per form, plus the tax that should have been withheld |
Then the state: Wyoming's annual report and license tax by the first day of the anniversary month ($60 minimum), or Delaware's $400 annual LLC tax by June 1, and the registered agent's renewal. No income tax return in either state. Beneficial ownership reporting to FinCEN ended for US formed companies in August 2026, which is one thing fewer to pay a formation service for.
The owner's country changes the arithmetic, not the list
These four forms are the same whether the owner is in Nairobi or Berlin. What the country changes is the withholding on US source payments and whether the owner's own return is owed: a tax treaty between the United States and the owner's country (the United Kingdom, Germany, India, Australia, Canada, Mexico and some sixty others have one; Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Brazil do not) can lower the rate on US source income and can shield business profits when the LLC has no permanent establishment in the United States. No treaty removes Form 5472 or the FBAR.
What the formation service did not say
The LLC was sold as "no US taxes". That is often true of income tax and never true of information returns. Form 5472 is the one that catches people: the LLC files no return of its own, so nobody thinks to attach a form to a return that does not exist, and the IRS applies the $25,000 automatically. The fix is a pro forma Form 1120 with the 5472 attached, by April 15, every year, starting the year after formation. A tax adviser who knows the form files it in an hour; the calendar makes sure the hour happens.
Your calendar, prefilled
The form below is set for a single member LLC owned from abroad with a foreign bank account and foreign payees. Change the state and the date of formation and the calendar is yours: free to read, $190 a year to have in your own calendar app with reminders.
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