BOI Report vs Form 5472: Two Separate Filings Foreign LLCs Need

People conflate these two because both ask “who really owns this US LLC?” — but they live in entirely different parts of the federal government. Form 5472 is filed with the Internal Revenue Service so the IRS can see money moving between a foreign owner and a 25%-foreign-owned US company. The BOI report is filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) so law enforcement can identify the human beings behind anonymous shell companies.

One is tax administration; the other is anti-money-laundering. For a head-to-head breakdown beyond this post, see BOI report vs Form 5472 and the full beneficial ownership information report guide.

When the Corporate Transparency Act took effect in 2024, nearly every small US LLC — including foreign-owned ones — had to file a beneficial ownership information report. That changed in March 2025, when FinCEN issued an interim final rule narrowing the definition of “reporting company” to foreign entities only. A US-formed LLC, even one owned by a non-US person, is now exempt from the BOI requirement.

This is a major relief, but it does not touch Form 5472, which lives in a different statute. Read what foreign LLC owners must do under the Corporate Transparency Act for the full timeline.

Form 5472 sits under IRC §6038A and was extended to foreign-owned single-member LLCs by final regulations T.D. 9796 for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, treating those disregarded entities as corporations for this reporting purpose only. Because forming and funding an LLC moves money from the owner, virtually every foreign-owned SMLLC has a reportable transaction (funding the LLC counts), so almost all must file — even with zero revenue.

Skipping the BOI report is now correct for a US-formed LLC; skipping Form 5472 is a $25,000 mistake. Check whether it applies to you on the apply page.

Form 5472 carries one of the harshest information-return penalties in the tax code under IRC §6038A(d): $25,000 per form, per year, per entity, with no maximum cap and no statute of limitations (IRC §6501(c)(8)). If you ignore a 90-day IRS notice, an additional $25,000 accrues every 30 days. Because there is no statute of limitations, a year missed long ago can still be assessed today.

The BOI report once carried a civil penalty of up to $591 per day plus possible criminal liability, but the March 2025 exemption removed the filing obligation for US-formed LLCs entirely. See the full rule on the Form 5472 penalty page.

This is the most practical difference. The beneficial ownership information report was a quick online submission. Form 5472, by contrast, has no e-file path for a foreign-owned disregarded entity: the only two accepted methods are mail and fax, and the filing must arrive by the deadline. Keep your certified-mail receipt or fax confirmation as proof you filed on time.

For the step-by-step BOI walkthrough — useful if you operate a foreign reporting company — see FinCEN BOI filing step-by-step.

With US-formed LLCs exempt from BOI, your only recurring federal deadline tied to ownership disclosure is Form 5472. It is due the 15th day of the 4th month after the tax year ends — April 15 for a calendar-year LLC. A disregarded entity has no entity-level tax to pay, so the Form 7004 extension only extends filing, pushing it to October 15.

Build your annual calendar around Form 5472 alone. Start the process on the apply page well before April 15.

One obligation, one flat fee

Since the March 2025 exemption removed the BOI report for US-formed LLCs, you are no longer juggling two filings — the practical work is Form 5472. DIY is free but unforgiving: the $25,000 penalty applies even to an honest mistake or a missed deadline. For a flat $299, form5472.tax prepares Form 5472 and the pro forma Form 1120, reviews it, and files it correctly.

That saves $248 versus form5472.online and far more versus doola’s $1,999/yearor Firstbase’s $999–$1,499/year. Compare on the pricing page or start on the apply page.