April is the loudest month in U.S. compliance. Here’s the signal.
Due April 15
For a calendar-year, foreign-owned single-member LLC, your Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120 is due April 15. It’s an information return — most dormant or service LLCs owe $0 in tax — but the penalty for not filing starts at $25,000. File it, or extend it.
The six-month extension
Not ready? File Form 7004 by April 15 and your deadline moves to October 15, automatically, no reason required. It must be filed on time to count. An extension to file isn’t an extension to pay — though for most disregarded LLCs there’s nothing to pay anyway.
What “pro-forma 1120” means
Founders get stuck here. A disregarded LLC isn’t a corporation, so you don’t complete the income pages of Form 1120. You file a near-blank (“pro-forma”) 1120 whose only job is to carry the 5472 and identify the company. Mark it “foreign-owned U.S. DE,” attach the 5472, and mail it — it can’t be e-filed.
Breathe. It’s one envelope, done once a year.