Capital Contribution on Form 5472: Worked Example

When you form a US LLC and move your own money in to capitalize it, that transfer is a transaction between you (the foreign related party) and the LLC (the US reporting entity). The IRS treats that as a reportable transaction, because Form 5472 exists to track money moving between a US business and the foreign people who control it. A capital contribution does not have to be cash — contributed property, equipment, or a paid-in-kind asset counts too.

This is the single most common reason a brand-new, revenue-free LLC still has to file. Read the deep dive on capital contribution as a reportable transaction, or the full list of reportable transactions.

Walk through a concrete case. Maria, a resident of Spain, forms a single-member LLC in Wyoming in March 2025. To open the business bank account she transfers $10,000 of her own money into the LLC. She makes no sales the rest of the year — revenue is exactly $0. Many owners assume “no income, no filing.” That is wrong. Her $10,000 contribution is a reportable transaction, so she must file.

Maria's total reportable transactions for the year are just the $10,000 contribution — but that single number is enough to make the filing mandatory. See why a dormant entity still files in zero revenue? you probably still must file.

A foreign-owned single-member LLC uses Part V, “Reportable Transactions of a Reporting Corporation That is a Foreign-Owned U.S. DE.” Within Part V, contributions and distributions have their own lines. The amount you paid in as capital goes on the contributions line (line 24 on the December 2025 revision). You do not split it across multiple lines — one total per category.

For a full line-by-line of the rest of the form, follow how to file Form 5472.

This trips up many first-time filers. Putting your own money into your business is not earning money — it is funding it. There is no profit, no income, and nothing to tax on the contribution itself. Form 5472 carries no tax calculation; it simply discloses that $10,000 moved from you into the LLC during the year.

What about the pro forma 1120?

The pro forma Form 1120 that travels with Form 5472 is a near-blank cover. For a disregarded entity you fill in only the name, address, EIN, and write “Foreign-owned U.S. DE” across the top — there is no income or tax to compute on it. The contribution lives on Form 5472, not on the 1120.

Some other Form 5472 contexts have a $50,000 threshold, but that does not apply to a foreign-owned disregarded entity. For an SMLLC, any reportable transaction — at any dollar amount — requires the filing. That is the rule that surprises people: there is no “too small to bother” safe harbor. Funding the LLC counts, full stop.

Confirm whether you cross the line on the reportable transaction guide.

Treating a capital contribution as “nothing happened” and skipping the filing is exactly the mistake that exposes owners to the $25,000 penalty. Because an unfiled information return has no statute of limitations, the IRS can assess a year you missed long ago at any time. The penalty grows by another $25,000 for every 30 days you ignore a formal 90-day notice.

One missed filing costs far more than a lifetime of correct ones. Learn why the clock never runs out in Form 5472 has no statute of limitations.

There is no electronic path for a foreign-owned disregarded entity — the only two accepted methods are mail and fax, and the filing must be sent by the deadline. Keep your certified-mail receipt or fax confirmation as proof you filed on time.

Note that BOI is separate: under FinCEN's March 2025 interim final rule, US-formed entities including foreign-owned US LLCs are exempt from beneficial-ownership reporting — only foreign reporting companies file. Your Form 5472 obligation is unaffected. To hand the whole thing off, start on the apply page.