2021 Form 5471 Deadline in 2022 | Foreign Business Tax Lawyer & Attorney
IRS Form 5471 is one of the most important US international information returns. In this brief essay, I will discuss the tax year 2021 Form 5471 deadline in the calendar year 2022.
2021 Form 5471 Deadline: What is Form 5471
Form 5471 is a US international information return. In general, the IRS uses Form 5471 to collect information about certain US persons who are officers, directors, or shareholders in certain foreign corporations. These US persons, in turn, use Form 5471 to satisfy the reporting requirements of the IRC (Internal Revenue Code) §§965, 6038 and 6046 as well as related regulations. In other words, US taxpayers utilize Form 5471 to comply with their reporting obligations concerning their ownership of and transactions with a foreign corporation.
Form 5471, however, is more than just an international information return. It also contains the relevant schedules related to income recognition by US owners of foreign corporations through the operation of anti-deferral tax regimes such as Subpart F rules, 965 tax and GILTI tax.
2021 Form 5471 Deadline: Who Must File It
Determining whether you are required to file a Form 5471 and which schedules you must attach to it may also be very complicated. As a result of the 2017 tax reform, Form 5471 now sports a total of five categories of required filers; two of these categories contain three sub-categories. In other words, the instructions to Form 5471 describe now a total of nine categories of filers!
Once you determine that you fall into one of these categories, you must carefully determine which schedules, statements and attachments you must complete in order to fully comply with your Form 5471 obligations.
I should also note that a separate Form 5471 is required for each applicable foreign corporation. This is the case even if one foreign corporation owns the other; there is no consolidated group filing under Form 5471.
2021 Form 5471 Deadline: Complexity
Form 5471 is incredibly complex. It forces its filers to convert foreign financial statements to US GAAP. It further requires reporting of an astounding range of transactions between a foreign corporation and its US owners as well as the affiliates of US owners. Finally, as it was already mentioned above, US taxpayers use Form 5471 schedules to calculate the income that they must recognize under the various anti-deferral tax regimes.
Thus, completing a Form 5471 may require a significant effort and a lot of time. This is why you need plan well ahead to make sure that you file your Form 5471 timely.
2021 Form 5471 Deadline: Penalties
A failure to timely file an accurate Form 5471 may result in imposition of large IRS penalties. Moreover, since Form 5471 is used to satisfy a variety of tax obligations, different penalties may be imposed under different IRC sections.
For example, a failure to file Form 5471 Schedule M may result in the imposition of a $10,000 penalty pursuant to §6038(a). A failure to file Form 5471 Schedule O is a violation of §6046 and the IRS may assess a separate section 6046 is subject to a $10,000 penalty for each reportable transaction.
2021 Form 5471 Deadline: When to File and Where
All filers (unless they fall under an exception) must attach their Forms 5471 to their income tax returns (if applicable, a partnership return or tax exempt organization return). Both, the income tax return and Form 5471 must be filed by the due date, including extensions, for that return.
In other words, if you are an individual filing Form 1040, your 2021 Form 5471 deadline is April 18, 2022. If you file an extension, the deadline will shift to October 17, 2022.
Contact Sherayzen Law Office for Professional Help With Your 2021 Form 5471 Deadline
If you are required to file a Form 5471 for the tax year 2021, contact Sherayzen Law Office for professional help. We have successfully helped US taxpayers around the world with their Form 5471 compliance, and we can help you!
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