Late Form 5472 Filing

What "late" means here

Form 5472 is filed with the pro forma Form 1120 and follows that return's due date — generally 15 April after a calendar tax year, or the extended date where Form 7004 was filed on time. Anything after the applicable date is a late filing, and each unfiled year stands on its own. See deadlines and extensions for the mechanics.

Filed late? We can help explain the circumstances.

If your Form 5472 filing is late, we review the circumstances and may prepare a reasonable cause statement to accompany the filing when appropriate. This service is included at no additional charge, including for eligible prior tax years.

A reasonable cause statement does not guarantee that the IRS will remove or reduce a penalty. The IRS makes the final determination based on the facts and circumstances.

What a reasonable cause statement is

It is a written explanation of the facts, not an IRS form. Reasonable cause is a facts-and-circumstances standard: broadly, whether the taxpayer exercised ordinary business care and prudence and nevertheless could not comply. The statement sets out what actually happened — when the LLC was formed, when the owner learned of the requirement, what advice was or was not received, and what circumstances were outside their control.

It must be true. We prepare the statement from the facts you give us, and we do not prepare one where the facts do not support it.

Prior-year Form 5472 filings

Several unfiled years are prepared year by year, each on that year's forms and instructions. The penalty framework applies per form per tax year, which is why open years are generally worth addressing together rather than one at a time. The reasonable cause benefit applies to eligible prior years as well.

How we handle a late filing

1. You complete the eligibility check and questionnaire for the year concerned.
2. Where the year is past its deadline, we ask factual questions about the delay.
3. A US tax professional prepares Form 5472 and the pro forma Form 1120.
4. Where the facts support one, a reasonable cause statement is prepared.
5. After your review and signature, the package is submitted to the IRS by online fax.

There is no upfront payment: the filing is prepared first, and payment is required before you review the completed documents, sign the pro forma Form 1120 and authorise submission.

Note

Penalty amounts, relief procedures and IRS practice can change. This page is general information based on IRS guidance, not advice on your circumstances, and it does not predict how any particular request would be treated. See the penalty guide for the framework itself.

Frequently asked questions