The entity return
1065, 1120, 1120-S, 1120-F or the 5472 filing, with the schedules that belong to it.
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U.S. Company and Tax
Formation, EIN, ITIN through an IRS Certifying Acceptance Agent, the company and personal returns, and the bookkeeping underneath them.
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Business tax returns · IRS Registered Tax Preparer
What your company files, and what still lands on you.
Most U.S. entities owned by foreigners do not pay tax themselves. They file, and the tax is settled on somebody’s personal return. Knowing which of the two you are dealing with is the whole thing, and it is where most of the expensive mistakes start.
The part nobody explains
The company files. The person pays.
For a partnership or an S corporation, the return the entity files reports the result and splits it between the owners. It does not pay the tax. Each owner receives a Schedule K-1 and carries their share onto their own return, where the tax is actually calculated.
The entity
- Closes the year and prepares its accounts
- Files its return with the IRSan information return
- Issues a Schedule K-1 to each owner
- Withholds on foreign owners where the income is effectively connected
Late here is expensive on its own: the partnership penalty runs per owner, per month.
The owner
- Takes the K-1 onto their personal return
- Pays the tax on their sharethis is where it is settled
- Claims back any withholding the entity already paid
Which return that is depends on the person: Form 1040 for a U.S. person, Form 1040-NR for a foreign one.
A C corporation is the exception: it is taxed in its own right, and the owner is taxed again only when profits are paid out as dividends.
By entity type
What each one files.
General rules for calendar-year entities. Your facts and a tax treaty can change them, which is what the questionnaire and the call are for.
- ✓Single-member LLC with a foreign ownerPays no income tax itself, and still files: a pro-forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 attached, every year, including years with no activity. Due 15 April, extendable with Form 7004. The penalty for missing it is $25,000, and another $25,000 if it runs past 90 days after the IRS writes to you. This is the single most common filing failure we are called about.
- ✓Multi-member LLC or partnershipFiles Form 1065 by 15 March and issues a Schedule K-1 to each owner by the same date. Where income is effectively connected to a U.S. business it also withholds on the foreign partners — 37% for individuals, 21% for corporations — and reports that on Forms 8804 and 8805. The late-filing penalty is charged per partner for each month, up to twelve, so a small partnership that forgets for a year owes a serious number.
- ✓C corporationFiles Form 1120 by 15 April and pays its own tax. Dividends paid to a foreign shareholder are withheld on at 30%, or less under a treaty. If it is 25% foreign-owned it also files Form 5472 for its related-party transactions.
- ✓S corporationFiles Form 1120-S by 15 March with a K-1 per shareholder, and passes the result through like a partnership. Worth knowing: an S corporation generally cannot have a non-resident foreign shareholder. If someone has set one up for you and you are not a U.S. person, that needs checking before anything else.
- ✓Foreign corporation with U.S. activityFiles Form 1120-F. Due 15 April if it keeps an office or place of business in the United States, and 15 June if it does not. There is a hard rule behind it: a 1120-F filed more than 18 months late can lose its deductions and credits against effectively connected income altogether.
- ✓And the state, separatelyFederal is only half of it. States have their own annual reports, franchise taxes and, for anyone selling goods, sales tax registration — none of which follow the federal calendar or the federal rules. A company can owe no federal tax and still be in default with its state.
Dates
The calendar, for a calendar year.
15 Mar
Partnerships and S corporations
Forms 1065 and 1120-S, and the K-1s go out to the owners the same day. Owners cannot finish their own returns until this one is done.
15 Apr
Corporations and the 5472 filing
Form 1120, and the pro-forma 1120 with Form 5472 for a foreign-owned single-member LLC.
15 Jun
Foreign corporations without a U.S. office
Form 1120-F, on the fifteenth day of the sixth month.
+6 m
Form 7004
An automatic six-month extension on all of the above. It extends the filing, never the payment.
If your company does not use the calendar year, every date above moves with your year-end. Tell us your year-end in the questionnaire and we work from that.
Questionnaire
What does your company have to file?
Seven questions about the entity, the owners and the year. We come back with the forms your case points to, what we would need from you, and a price for preparing them.
The questionnaire needs JavaScript. If you cannot enable it, write to us and we will go through your case with you directly.
What you getFiled Issued Joined up
Prepared, filed, and explained.
The K-1s
One per owner, on time, so nobody is held up waiting to file their own return.
The personal return behind it
We can prepare the owner’s 1040 or 1040-NR too, so the two agree with each other.
If the books are not in a state where a return can be built from them, we say so before quoting the return, and quote the bookkeeping separately. You can see what that involves here.
Frequently asked
What owners ask first.
The company did nothing all year. Is there still a return?
For a foreign-owned single-member LLC, yes: the pro-forma 1120 with Form 5472 is due whether or not it traded, and the penalty for skipping it is $25,000. For a partnership with no activity the answer depends on the facts, and it is usually cheaper to file than to argue about it later.
Do I file for the company, or for myself?
Usually both, and they are different jobs. The entity return reports and allocates; your personal return is where the tax is worked out. We price them separately so you can see what each one costs.
My partner is American and I am not. Does that change things?
It changes the withholding. Where the income is effectively connected to a U.S. business, the partnership has to withhold on the foreign partners and not on the U.S. ones, and report it on Forms 8804 and 8805. You then claim that back on your own return.
We are three years behind. Where do we start?
With the accounts, usually, because the returns are built from them. We rebuild the years that are missing, file them in order, and tell you the likely exposure before you commit to anything.
Can you take over from our current accountant?
Yes, and it is common. We ask for the last filed returns and the current books, check that the two agree, and tell you what we find before we take anything on.
Is the state filing included?
It is quoted separately, because it depends on the state and on where you actually operate. The questionnaire asks which states are involved so the quote covers the real picture rather than the federal half of it.
Tell us what the company is, and we will tell you what it owes.
Seven questions in the form above, or a call if your structure is unusual. Either way you get the list of filings and a price before you commit to anything.
General information drawn from IRS guidance, not tax advice for your company. Deadlines above assume a calendar year; rules change and treaties differ by country. Your case is confirmed by a person before anything is filed.