One Big Beautiful Bill Act 2026: What It Means for Foreign LLC Owners
Updated June 2026 · Reviewed by a Form 5472 specialist
Updated June 2026 · Reviewed by a Form 5472 specialist
The short answer
Key takeaways
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is the 2025 US tax-and-spending law that, among hundreds of provisions, created a 1% excise tax on certain remittance transfers effective for transfers made after December 31, 2025. It matters because many foreign LLC owners send money across borders.
OBBBA is a sweeping reconciliation law touching individual rates, business deductions, and international provisions. For foreign owners of US LLCs, the single most relevant new item is the remittance excise tax — a 1% levy on specified cash-type transfers sent out of the United States. The headline number is small, but it is the first federal tax of its kind, so it has drawn attention from anyone who routinely moves money abroad.
Crucially, OBBBA did not touch the Form 5472 information-return regime. If you ran a foreign-owned LLC in 2025, your filing obligations for the 2025 tax year are unchanged. For the broader picture of what is and is not new this year, see Form 5472 in 2026.
The remittance excise tax is a 1% charge on the amount of a covered transfer, collected by the transfer provider at the time of sending, effective for transfers after December 31, 2025. It applies to cash, money orders, and similar instruments — not to bank-account or card-funded transfers.
The tax was originally proposed at a higher rate during the legislative process and was reduced to 1%in the final enacted text. It is imposed on the sender and collected by the remittance transfer provider. The structure deliberately exempts transfers funded directly from a US financial institution account or from a US-issued debit or credit card, which means the bulk of legitimate business cash flow is outside its scope.
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Rate | 1% of the transfer amount |
| Effective | Transfers made after December 31, 2025 |
| Who pays | The sender, collected by the transfer provider |
| What is taxed | Cash, money orders, cashier's checks, similar instruments |
| What is exempt | Transfers funded from a US bank account or US-issued debit/credit card |
Source: One Big Beautiful Bill Act (2025), remittance transfer excise tax provision. Verified June 2026.
Because most owners distribute profits by wire or ACH from a US business account, the 1% rarely lands on ordinary LLC distributions. Still, the movement of money is what Form 5472 reports — see our deeper remittance-tax breakdown.
No. OBBBA left Form 5472 fully intact. The disregarded-entity rule from 2017 still applies, the deadline is still April 15, and the penalty for not filing is still $25,000 per form, per year, with no cap and no statute of limitations.
It is easy to assume a major tax law overhauls every form. It did not. The requirement that a foreign-owned US disregarded entity be treated as a corporation for reporting purposes has been in force for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2017 under final regulations T.D. 9796, and OBBBA did not disturb it. Virtually every foreign-owned single-member LLC has a reportable transaction — funding the LLC counts — so almost all must file.
| Item | Status under OBBBA | Detail for 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Form 5472 requirement | Unchanged | Foreign-owned SMLLC still files with pro forma 1120 |
| Filing deadline | Unchanged | April 15; October 15 with Form 7004 |
| $25,000 penalty | Unchanged | Per form, per year, no cap, no statute of limitations |
| Remittance excise tax | New | 1% on certain cash transfers after Dec 31, 2025 |
Source: IRC §6038A; T.D. 9796; One Big Beautiful Bill Act (2025). Verified June 2026.
For the definition of the form itself, read what is Form 5472.
It can be both, but they are different rules. A profit distribution from your LLC is a reportable transaction on Form 5472 even when no 1% remittance tax applies, because the $25,000 Form 5472 penalty is triggered by the transaction itself, not by any tax.
Keep the two regimes separate in your head. The 1% remittance excise tax is a transfer-level tax that may or may not apply depending on how you send the money. Form 5472 reporting is an information rule: any qualifying movement of money between you and your LLC — capital you put in, distributions you take out, loans, expenses you pay — is a reportable transaction that must be disclosed.
When you wired startup capital into your LLC's account, that contribution is itself a reportable transaction. That is why we say almost every foreign-owned LLC must file even with zero revenue. To see the full list of what counts, read what counts as a reportable transaction.
No. The big BOI change came from FinCEN's March 2025 interim final rule, not OBBBA. Under that rule, US-formed entities — including foreign-owned US LLCs — are exempt from BOI reporting; only foreign reporting companies file. Form 5472 is separate and still required.
Many owners conflate the Corporate Transparency Act's BOI filing with their IRS obligations. They are unrelated. FinCEN's interim final rule of March 2025 narrowed BOI reporting so that domestic entities no longer report beneficial ownership; the obligation now falls only on foreign reporting companies registered to do business in the US. A US-formed LLC owned by a non-US person does not file BOI.
| Requirement | Applies to a foreign-owned US LLC? | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| BOI report (FinCEN) | No — US-formed entities are exempt | FinCEN interim final rule, March 2025 |
| Form 5472 + pro forma 1120 (IRS) | Yes — almost always | IRC §6038A; T.D. 9796 |
Source: FinCEN interim final rule (March 2025); IRC §6038A. Verified June 2026.
Bottom line: skipping BOI does not let you skip Form 5472. Confirm your IRS obligation on the Form 5472 definition page.
The process is unchanged: a foreign-owned single-member LLC cannot e-file. Mail the pro forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 to P.O. Box 149342, Austin, TX 78714-9342, or fax it to 855-887-7737. Keep the certified-mail receipt or fax confirmation.
There is still no electronic filing path for a foreign-owned disregarded entity, and OBBBA did not create one. The filing must reach the IRS by the deadline using one of exactly two methods. Mailing certified gives you a dated receipt; faxing gives you an instant transmission confirmation. Either way, retain the proof.
| Method | Where | Proof to keep |
|---|---|---|
| P.O. Box 149342, Austin, TX 78714-9342 | Certified-mail receipt | |
| Fax | 855-887-7737 | Fax transmission confirmation |
Source: IRS Instructions for Form 5472 (foreign-owned U.S. DE). Verified June 2026.
If you would rather hand it off, the apply page starts your filing in minutes.
Form 5472 for the 2025 tax year is due April 15, 2026, filed with the pro forma Form 1120. Filing Form 7004 by April 15 extends the deadline to October 15, 2026. OBBBA did not move these dates.
The deadline is the 15th day of the 4th month after the tax year ends — April 15 for a calendar-year LLC. The six-month extension via Form 7004 only extends filing; a disregarded entity has no entity-level tax to pay, so there is no payment to estimate. Missing the date is what exposes you to the $25,000 penalty, so calendar it now.
The penalty is still $25,000 per form, per year, per entity, under IRC §6038A(d). There is no cap and no statute of limitations (IRC §6501(c)(8)), and an extra $25,000 accrues every 30 days after a 90-day IRS notice.
OBBBA did not soften this. Form 5472 carries one of the harshest information-return penalties in the tax code, and because there is no statute of limitations on an unfiled information return, a year missed long ago can still be assessed today. A new owner who funded an LLC in 2025 and never filed is squarely exposed.
Read the full mechanics on the Form 5472 penalty page, then compare the cost of filing correctly on the pricing page.
Form 5472 and pro forma 1120, prepared, reviewed, and filed for a flat $299. Or message us first — we answer every question.