Form 5472 Penalty Calculator
See how much you could owe the IRS for missing your Form 5472 filing.
Most single-member LLCs need 1 form per year
Additional $25,000 penalty for each 30-day period after 90 days of IRS notice
Total Penalty Exposure
$25,000
Base Penalty
$25,000
1 x 1 x $25,000
File your Form 5472 — avoid up to $25,000+ in IRS penalties.
Other penalties foreign-owned LLCs face
Form 5472 is the headline penalty, but a late partnership or corporate return, an unreported foreign account, or a missing Form 8938 each carry their own. Pick one to estimate the exposure.
A multi-member LLC that files its partnership return late.
The penalty runs for a maximum of 12 months.
Estimated maximum exposure
$510
$255 per partner, per month late, for up to 12 months (returns required to be filed in 2026; IRC §6698).
- $255 × 2 partner(s) × 1 month(s)$510
- The per-partner amount is $255 for returns required to be filed in 2026 (generally tax year 2025); it is $260 for returns required to be filed in 2027 (generally tax year 2026).
- The penalty stops accruing after 12 months.
- First-time abatement or reasonable cause can remove it — see the relief options on this page.
How to reduce or remove this penalty
A big number is not a final bill. Foreign-owned LLCs routinely get these penalties abated or avoided entirely. The right path depends on your facts:
First-Time Abatement (FTA)
Best if this is a one-off and your prior three years were clean.
The IRS can waive the late-filing and late-payment penalties on the related Form 1120 for a single year if you have no penalties in the prior three years and are otherwise current. The $25,000 Form 5472 information-return penalty itself is not covered by FTA — that one is removed through reasonable cause (below).
Penalties & relief guideReasonable-cause abatement
Best if you had a genuine, documentable reason for filing late.
Any of these penalties — including the Form 5472 penalty — can be abated when the failure was due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect: reliance on a professional who let you down, serious illness, or a good-faith misunderstanding as a first-time foreign filer. You make the case in a written statement.
Draft a reasonable-cause letterStreamlined Filing Compliance Procedures
Best if you have unfiled years and the failure was non-willful.
If you genuinely did not know you had to file, the Streamlined procedures let you catch up. Foreign residents (SFOP) generally owe no miscellaneous penalty; US residents (SDOP) pay a reduced 5%. Both require you to certify, under penalty of perjury, that the failure was non-willful — willfulness is a legal determination, so get advice before you certify.
Streamlined filing guideDelinquent FBAR / information-return procedures
Best if you also missed foreign-account (FBAR) or other international forms.
With no unreported income tied to the foreign accounts and no open examination, you can file the late FBARs and other delinquent international returns with a short reasonable-cause statement — often with no penalty asserted.
Delinquent FBAR guide
Already received a CP215 or CP15 notice? Respond before the deadline printed on it. And if the failure was willful, the self-certification paths above are not appropriate — speak with a tax attorney about the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice.
These are options to discuss with a qualified adviser, not a determination that you qualify. Eligibility depends on your specific facts and is never decided by this tool.
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