CP215 or CP15 for a Foreign-Owned LLC: Reading the Notice
Summary
The notice date starts a 90-day clock; after it, another $25,000 can accrue every 30 days until the missing Form 5472 is filed. File the return first, then ask for abatement on Form 843.
If an envelope from the IRS mentions a penalty under section 6038A, or Form 5472, it is almost always a CP215 (sent to a business account, such as the LLC's) or a CP15 (sent to an individual's account). For a foreign-owned LLC the CP215 is the usual one. Either way it means the same thing: the IRS has assessed the penalty for a Form 5472 it did not receive.
Before doing anything else, take the notice and find three things on it.
The notice date
It is printed near the top of the first page. This is the date the IRS mailed it, and every clock below runs from it, not from the day it reached you. If it came through a registered agent, it may already be weeks old; the forwarded notice page covers that problem.
Write down the date that is 90 days later. Under IRC §6038A(d)(2), if the missing Form 5472 has still not been filed 90 days after the notice, a further $25,000 accrues for each 30-day period, or part of one, until it is. On one form for one year:
| Missing form filed on | Total for that year |
|---|---|
| Day 60 after the notice | $25,000 |
| Day 91 | $50,000 |
| Day 135 | $75,000 |
The tax year
The notice names the year it is about. It covers only that year. If the LLC has other years without a return, they are not covered by this notice, and they are still open.
The amount and the response date
The amount is the assessed penalty, usually $25,000 per form under IRC §6038A(d)(1). The notice also gives a date to pay or respond by. Use the dates printed on your notice for everything; they are the ones that apply to you.
What to do, in this order
- File the missing Form 5472 and pro forma Form 1120 for the year on the notice. This is the only thing that stops the continuation penalty, so it comes first, even before the abatement request is ready. It goes to the IRS PIN Unit in Ogden by mail or fax; the where to send page has the address.
- File the other open years at the same time, if there are any. Waiting for their own notices only adds more of these letters.
- Ask for the penalty to be removed on Form 843, with a reasonable cause statement attached that explains why the return was missed and what you did once you knew. The Form 843 page goes through it line by line, and the penalty abatement letter page covers the statement.
- Keep proof of everything you send, and a copy of the notice with it.
What not to do
- Do not ignore it. The assessment stays, the continuation penalty can grow, and the notice is treated as delivered to the LLC's address of record whether or not anyone opened it.
- Do not pay first and plan to ask later without thinking it through. Paying does not file the missing return, and the continuation penalty is about the return.
- Do not send only Form 843. An abatement request without the missing return leaves the failure uncorrected.
When to get help
A notice means the IRS has already taken a position, and the response has to answer it. If the notice covers more than one year, if continuation amounts are already on it, or if the LLC dealt with foreign related parties other than its owner, a qualified CPA review is the appropriate next step before replying.
If more than one year is missing, you can file every missed year as one job, with one reasonable cause letter covering all of them.
For the filing itself, FileTax prepares the missing Form 5472 and pro forma Form 1120 in under 15 minutes for $99 per year, and a CPA-authored reasonable cause letter covering every year for $199.
Questions about CP215 and CP15 notices
What is the difference between a CP215 and a CP15?
The account they are issued to. A CP215 goes to a business account, and a CP15 to an individual's. For a Form 5472 penalty the substance is the same: a penalty has been assessed for a named year.
Does the 90 days run from when I received the notice?
No. It runs from the IRS notice date printed on it. A notice that took weeks to be forwarded has already used some of the 90 days.
Will filing the late Form 5472 remove the penalty?
Filing stops further continuation amounts. Removing the penalty already assessed takes a separate request on Form 843 with a reasonable cause statement.
The notice is for 2023. Are my other years safe?
No. The notice speaks only to 2023. Any other year with a missing return is still open and should be filed now, alongside the 2023 return.
Related pages
Continue reading
Form 843 for a Form 5472 Penalty, Line by Line →
Tick the reasonable cause box, enter IRC 6038A(d)(1) on line 6, and attach a statement that proves ordinary business care. File the missing Form 5472 first, because Form 843 stops nothing.
Registered Agent Forwarded an IRS Notice - What to Do Next →
An IRS notice forwarded by your registered agent means the response clock has started. The 90-day continuation penalty timeline begins from the original mailing date.
Form 5472 Penalty Abatement Letter: What It Must Contain →
A Form 5472 penalty abatement letter is a written reasonable cause statement asking the IRS to remove the $25,000 late-filing penalty. What it has to contain, and how it is filed.