Real Tax Questions, Expert Answers
Get answers to your foreign-owned LLC tax questions from ForeignLLCTax. Every answer includes IRS source citations and step-by-step guidance.
My wife is a U.S. resident and I am still a nonresident in the UK. Can we really file one joint return if I was never a U.S. resident this year?
I am a UK founder with a Delaware LLC and around $96,000 of foreign consulting income. My wife lives and works in New York and files as a U.S. resident. I stayed nonresident for U.S. tax purposes all ...
Did the One Big Beautiful Bill Act actually become law before tax year 2026?
I keep seeing references to OBBBA / H.R. 1. Is it law, or still pending? Does it affect tax year 2026 planning?
I claimed Section 179 on a vehicle, but business use fell sharply this year. Do I have to give some of it back?
I bought a vehicle for my business and claimed a Section 179 deduction in the first year because the business-use percentage was well above 50%. This year my circumstances changed and personal use is ...
I live in Dubai and thought June 15 was automatic. Do I still need to prove I qualify, and is postmark enough?
I am a U.S. resident alien living and working in Dubai while running an overseas software business. I always heard that people abroad get until June 15 automatically, so I never paid much attention to...
My 1040-NR has ECI from U.S. consulting through an LLC. Can I actually claim QBI as a nonresident?
I am from Singapore and file Form 1040-NR because I am still a nonresident for U.S. tax purposes. My foreign-owned LLC had about $118,000 of income that my preparer says is effectively connected with ...
I relinquished U.S. citizenship years ago, never filed, and only recently learned about Form 8854. Can the former-citizen relief procedures still help?
I am living in Portugal and gave up U.S. citizenship after 2010. I never filed U.S. returns because I genuinely did not understand that I still had annual obligations while I was abroad. My finances a...
I am surrendering my green card after many years abroad. Does Form I-407 automatically finish the tax side, or do I still need Form 8854?
I am from Argentina and held a U.S. green card for years, although I lived outside the United States for much of that time. I am now planning to file Form I-407 because I do not intend to keep the gre...
I live abroad and got a CP2000. What is the actual response window and what should go into the first packet?
I am based in Hong Kong and received a CP2000 tied to my 2024 U.S. return. The notice is already stressful enough, but the harder part is knowing how much time I really have from outside the United St...
The CP2000 says I underreported income, but the payer already withheld under Form 1042-S and a treaty rate. How do I answer that cleanly?
I am from South Korea and received a CP2000 tied to a Form 1042-S from a U.S. platform. The platform withheld at treaty rate and the return used that same income and withholding in a structured way, b...
I pay high U.K. tax on consulting income. Should I use Form 2555 or Form 1116 after becoming a U.S. resident?
I am a U.K. citizen who became a U.S. resident during 2025 after moving to Austin. My consulting income is still mostly from U.K. clients and the U.K. tax burden is high. One preparer suggested Form 2...
I arrived in the U.S. late in 2025 but will clearly meet substantial presence in 2026. Can I use the first-year choice for my LLC salary period?
I am from Brazil and moved to Miami on November 3, 2025. Before that I lived and worked entirely in Sao Paulo. My U.S. LLC started paying me salary after I arrived, and I also had about $42,000 of for...
A non-U.S. customer wants to use crypto to pay us from a Russia-linked wallet. Do sanctions rules still apply even though the payment is not in dollars?
We are a U.S.-touching crypto business and a customer is trying to settle in virtual currency from a wallet that raises Russia-related sanctions concerns. One manager suggested that because no U.S. do...
Our startup only buys and sells crypto for its own treasury. Are we a FinCEN money transmitter or just a user?
We are a crypto startup with a U.S. entity, but the business model right now is not customer-facing. We buy and sell digital assets only for the company's own account and do not accept customer funds ...
We pay a U.S. freelancer in USDT. Do we still need a W-9 and backup withholding review?
Our foreign-owned LLC pays one U.S. contractor in USDT because they prefer it, and someone internally argued that because the payment is in digital assets we do not need the usual W-9 and backup withh...
My LLC only bought Bitcoin and held it. Do I still answer 'Yes' to the digital assets question on the return?
I run a foreign-owned Wyoming LLC and during the year we bought Bitcoin as a treasury asset, but we never sold it, exchanged it, or paid anyone with it. We also did not receive any staking rewards or ...
My foreign company made profit but paid me nothing. Can I still have GILTI on Form 8992?
I am a U.S. individual shareholder of a foreign company that retained all earnings this year to fund growth. There were no dividends, no shareholder loans, and no personal withdrawals. That made me as...
Two U.S. founders each own 45% of a foreign corporation, and a foreign angel owns the other 10%. Is it a CFC?
My cofounder and I are both U.S. taxpayers, and we each own 45% of a foreign corporation. A foreign angel investor owns the remaining 10%. No one person owns more than 50%, which made us think we migh...
I own 80% of a foreign startup directly. Do I file Form 5471 as Category 4, Category 5, or both?
I am a U.S. person living in California and directly own 80% of a foreign software company in Singapore. The company is early-stage, has no distributions, and most of the discussion so far has been ab...
I'm from Brazil — how does my U.S. LLC get taxed?
I am a Brazilian citizen and tax resident in São Paulo. I formed a Wyoming LLC for my digital marketing consulting business. I work from Brazil serving U.S. and international clients. What are my U.S....
I want to transfer cash to my spouse in 2026, but my spouse is not a U.S. citizen. Is there still a limit even if we are married?
I am a nonresident donor and my spouse also is not a U.S. citizen. Family members keep assuming that spouse transfers are automatically unlimited because they are thinking about the normal marital ded...
My father lived in Argentina and owned assets worldwide, but only some were in the U.S. Does Form 706-NA look only at the U.S. property?
My father was not a U.S. citizen and did not live in the United States, but he did own a Florida condo, some U.S. securities, and other assets entirely outside the U.S. Family members keep mixing dome...
What are the penalties if my foreign-owned LLC is late on payroll tax deposits or filings?
I'm behind on payroll tax deposits for my foreign-owned LLC. I missed two monthly EFTPS deposits and I'm panicking. How bad are the penalties? I've heard the IRS is extremely aggressive about employme...
The buyer says FIRPTA should be 15% of my profit, not 15% of the sales price. Is that right?
I am selling a condo in Florida as a nonresident seller from Germany. The buyer is trying to be cooperative, but they are also using internet summaries that seem to blend final tax with FIRPTA withhol...
H-1B visa holders owning a U.S. LLC
I am on an H-1B visa working for a tech company. I have a side business idea and want to form a U.S. LLC. I have heard conflicting information about whether H-1B holders can own an LLC. Can I form and...
Our partnership retained all profits for growth. Do we still owe section 1446 withholding for the foreign partners?
We have a U.S. trade or business through the partnership, but we reinvested everything and made no distributions this year. Because no cash went out to partners, one founder keeps arguing there cannot...
A U.S. tax preparer told me to elect S corporation status for payroll savings, but I am still a nonresident alien. Is that even allowed?
I am a founder from Turkey with a New Mexico LLC. The business is profitable enough that people keep bringing up the classic S-corp strategy for reducing self-employment tax, but every time I read the...
How do I report cryptocurrency income earned through my foreign-owned U.S. LLC?
I'm a non-resident alien who owns a single-member LLC in Wyoming. The LLC receives crypto payments from clients for freelance consulting work. Some payments are in Bitcoin, some in USDC. I convert mos...
If I file a nonresident return with ECI, can my nomad health insurance even belong in the deduction conversation?
I live in the UAE and carry international health insurance because I move around a lot. This year I may have a nonresident U.S. return with effectively connected income, and I am trying to understand ...
I became a U.S. resident during the year but was resident on December 31. Is a dual-status return still the right frame?
I live in Canada and used to think of the whole year as nonresident, but after reviewing my travel I realized I became a U.S. resident partway through the year and was still one on the last day of the...
I bounce between Bali, Bangkok, and short U.S. stays. At what point do I start looking like an itinerant with no clear tax home?
I spend a lot of time moving between Bali, Bangkok, and occasional trips to the United States. I run everything through a U.S. LLC and work online, so from a business perspective it feels efficient. T...
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