FBAR vs Form 5472: Two Filings People Mix Up

TL;DR

FBAR = a U.S. person reporting foreign bank accounts. Form 5472 = a U.S. company reporting its foreign owner. They run in opposite directions, go to different agencies (FinCEN vs IRS), and apply to different people. A typical non-resident LLC owner files 5472, not FBAR; a typical U.S. expat files FBAR, not 5472.

The clean split

The memory hook: FBAR looks outward from America; 5472 looks inward at America.

Which one is yours?

• Non-resident owner of a U.S. LLC (the typical cross-border seller): Form 5472, annually. No FBAR — you aren’t a U.S. person.
• U.S. citizen or green-card holder living abroad with foreign accounts over $10,000: FBAR. No 5472 — unless you also sit inside a foreign-owned entity structure.
• Mixed situations exist — a green-card holder who owns companies across borders can genuinely owe both. If your facts are layered, get the structure mapped once instead of guessing form by form.

What this comparison is NOT

• Neither is an income tax return. Both are information reports; income tax (1040 or 1040-NR) is a separate question.
• The FBAR threshold is aggregate. Three accounts of $4,000 each cross the $10,000 line together — it is not per-account.
• Neither is optional when triggered. Both carry serious penalties for non-filing; the 5472 exposure starts at $25,000, and FBAR penalties are their own well-known hazard.

The penalty asymmetry

The two forms also fail differently. The 5472 penalty is flat and mechanical: $25,000 per missed return, escalating after an IRS notice, with relief riding on reasonable cause. FBAR penalties are tiered by intent: non-willful violations carry inflation-adjusted penalties in the five figures per violation, while willful violations can reach the greater of six figures or a percentage of the account balance — a different order of magnitude entirely. The practical takeaway is the same on both tracks: these are information reports where the filing itself is cheap and the silence is expensive.

The nuance almost everyone misses

A U.S. LLC is itself a “United States person” under FinCEN’s FBAR definition — the entity test is where it was formed, not who owns it. That means a foreign-owned Wyoming LLC that holds its own foreign financial accounts (say, a Hong Kong corporate account) exceeding $10,000 in aggregate can have an FBAR obligation at the company level, even though its non-resident owner personally has none. Sellers running a US-plus-Asia banking stack hit this quietly: the owner is out of FBAR scope, the LLC may not be. If your LLC banks outside the U.S., have this checked once — it is a five-minute question with a five-figure wrong answer.

Official references: FinCEN — Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts · IRS — About Form 5472.

This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm the rules that apply to your specific situation before acting.