US LLC Owned From India: Two Tax Years, One IRS Filing
Summary
An Indian owner reports the US LLC to the IRS on a January to December year, due April 15, while reporting to India on an April to March year. Transfers are sorted by date into each.
An Indian founder with a US LLC is living in two tax years at once. India's runs from April 1 to March 31. The LLC's US year runs from January 1 to December 31. Almost every mistake Indian owners make with the US filing comes from treating those as the same year.
The US half is one filing a year: Form 5472, attached to a pro forma Form 1120, due to the IRS on April 15. What goes on it, and what goes on your Indian return instead, is decided by the dates in this post.
The two calendars, side by side
| Month | India | US LLC |
|---|---|---|
| January | Q4 of the Indian financial year | New US tax year starts |
| March 31 | Indian financial year ends | Nothing |
| April 15 | Nothing | Form 5472 and pro forma 1120 due for the previous calendar year |
| July 31 or August 31 | Indian return (ITR) due for the year that ended March 31, depending on the form | Nothing |
| October 15 | Nothing | Extended US deadline, if Form 7004 was sent by April 15 |
| December 31 | Mid-year | US tax year ends |
Read across April. The US return you file on April 15, 2026 covers January to December 2025. The Indian return you file in July 2026 covers April 2025 to March 2026. They overlap for nine months and each has three months the other does not.
Why the LLC is on the calendar year
The Instructions for Form 5472 give a foreign-owned US disregarded entity the tax year its owner uses for US filing, or the calendar year if the owner has none. An Indian resident who files nothing else with the IRS has no US tax year, so the LLC runs January to December. Your Indian financial year does not transfer to it.
The US-India income tax treaty does not change this. The LLC is treated as a corporation for this reporting by Treas. Reg. §301.7701-2(c)(2)(vi), whatever its owner's home country. The treaty deals with how income is taxed. Form 5472 is an information return, and the treaty does not exempt anyone from filing one.
A Bengaluru founder, in rupees
Priya runs a small SaaS product from Bengaluru and formed a Delaware LLC in February 2025 to take card payments through Stripe. In 2025:
- March 12, 2025: she sends ₹4,20,000 (about $5,000) from her Indian account to the LLC's US bank account to cover formation and the first months of hosting.
- June 20, 2025: she sends another ₹8,40,000 (about $10,000).
- Through the year: customers pay the LLC $58,000 through Stripe.
- November 28, 2025: the LLC pays $30,000 to Priya's Indian account.
On the US side, the 2025 Form 5472 reports the transactions between the LLC and Priya: the two contributions, $15,000 together, and the $30,000 payment to her. The $58,000 from customers is not a related-party transaction and does not go on Form 5472. The return is due April 15, 2026.
On the Indian side, the same money splits across two financial years. The March 12 transfer falls in Indian FY 2024-25. The June 20 transfer and the November 28 receipt fall in FY 2025-26. Each goes in the Indian return for its own year.
And Schedule FA sits between them. Priya's Indian return must disclose foreign assets in Schedule FA, and Schedule FA uses the calendar year ending December 31, not the Indian financial year. Her ITR for FY 2025-26, filed in 2026, reports her interest in the LLC and its account for January to December 2025: the same twelve months as her US Form 5472. It is the one place where the two systems use the same calendar.
The money route: LRS and overseas investment
Money Priya sends from India to fund her own LLC is not an ordinary remittance to a supplier. Under the Reserve Bank of India's overseas investment framework, putting capital into an unlisted foreign entity is treated as overseas direct investment, made through the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, which currently allows a resident individual up to USD 250,000 per financial year. The bank that sends the money, the authorized dealer, handles the reporting on the Indian side, and it needs to be told what the transfer is for when it is made.
Two things follow for the US filing:
- Every transfer made under this route to fund the LLC is a capital contribution, and every one of them belongs on that year's Form 5472.
- The bank's records of each transfer, with dates and amounts, are the best source for filling the form in. Keep them for both countries.
What your CA in India can and cannot do here
Most Indian founders already have a chartered accountant, and ask them about the US filing. The honest answer is that Form 5472 sits outside what an Indian CA files.
Your CA handles: your ITR, Schedule FA, how the LLC's profit is taxed in India, the foreign tax credit question if any US tax arises, and the treatment of money coming back to you.
Your CA does not handle: the Form 5472 and pro forma Form 1120 that go to the IRS in Ogden, Utah. They are a US federal filing on a US entity, prepared on US rules and sent to a US address. A confident "you don't need to file anything in the US, the LLC has no US income" is the most common wrong answer Indian founders are given, because US income is not the test. Transactions with the owner are.
The useful conversation with your CA is about dates and figures: give them the same list of transfers you use for Form 5472, and let each side report its own year.
If you are already behind on the US side
Indian founders often find out when a bank or payment platform asks for US filings, sometimes years after forming the LLC. The US returns can be caught up for every missed year at once, with a statement explaining the delay. The missed Form 5472 page sorts out which situation you are in, and the penalty for a missing return is $25,000 per form under IRC §6038A(d)(1), which is why the catch-up comes first.
If the LLC has a single owner in India and ordinary transactions with that owner, FileTax prepares the Form 5472 and pro forma Form 1120 packet in under 15 minutes for $99 per year. What the form contains line by line is in the Form 5472 guide.
Questions Indian owners ask
Do I need a US tax return if my LLC earned nothing in the US?
You need Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 for any year the LLC had a reportable transaction with you, which includes funding it and being paid by it. The pro forma return computes no tax. Whether any US income tax return is due is a separate question, and for most service or software businesses run entirely from India it is not.
Does the US-India tax treaty remove the Form 5472 requirement?
No. The treaty governs how income is taxed between the two countries. Form 5472 is an information return, and filing it is required regardless of any treaty position.
Which exchange rate do I use on Form 5472?
Form 5472 is completed in US dollars. For transfers made in rupees, use the dollar amount that actually arrived in, or left, the LLC's US account, which the bank statement shows.
Is money sent to my own LLC under LRS a reportable transaction?
Yes. A transfer from you to the LLC is a capital contribution, and contributions from the foreign owner are reportable on that year's Form 5472.
Can my Indian CA sign or file Form 5472 for me?
They can if they choose to take it on, but it is outside the Indian return they normally prepare, and it goes to the IRS on paper or by fax, not through the Indian e-filing portal. Ask directly whether they will prepare it before assuming it is covered.
Related pages
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Form 5472: The Complete Guide for Foreign-Owned US LLCs →
A foreign-owned US single-member LLC files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 by April 15. Funding the LLC is itself reportable. Missing it costs $25,000 per form, per year.
Reportable Transactions on Form 5472: 18 Common Ones, Yes or No →
Funding the LLC, paying its fees yourself, loans and distributions are all reportable. Customer payments, suppliers and moving money between the LLC's own accounts are not.
US Tax Filing Requirements for Foreign-Owned LLCs →
A foreign-owned US LLC files Form 5472 with a pro forma 1120 by April 15, plus its state annual report. BOI reporting no longer applies. US income tax is usually zero.