Form 5472, Information Return of a 25% Foreign-Owned U.S. Corporation or a Foreign Corporation Engaged in a U.S. Trade or Business, is required as an attachment to Form 1120, U.S. Corporate Income Tax Return (and certain other returns), if the reporting corporation had a reportable transaction with a foreign or domestic related party during the tax year.
The due date for filing Form 5472 with the IRS is the same as the due date of the corporation’s Form 1120, including extensions. For purposes of filing Form 5472, a reporting corporation is either a 25% foreign-owned U.S. corporation (i.e., a corporation with at least one direct or indirect 25% foreign shareholder at any time during the tax year) or a foreign corporation engaged in a trade or business within the United States.
The IRS is now automatically assessing an initial penalty of $10,000 for each failure to timely file a Form 5472.
A separate Form 5472 is required to report each related party with which the taxpayer had a reportable transaction during a taxable year. Thus, penalties can multiply quickly. A penalty also applies for failure to maintain records as required under U.S. tax law. The automatic assessment represents a departure from previous IRS procedure where penalties were assessed at the discretion of an examiner after a return was selected for examination. While the penalty provisions have always been available to the IRS, they have been inconsistently applied in our experience.
If you need help in trying to get your penalties abated (removed), please contact us.
Recent Comments