Year-End Close Checklist for a Foreign-Owned LLC

TL;DR

A clean year-end close is four moves in December–January: reconcile every account and platform, isolate owner-LLC transactions (they populate Form 5472), collect year-end statements and contractor tax forms, and calendar the deadline wall — 1099s Jan 31, partnerships Mar 15, 5472 + 1120 Apr 15, extension available. Close by mid-January and filing season is paperwork; close in April and it is triage.

Why close in December when nothing is due until April?

Because the deadline wall arrives all at once, and preparation quality decays under time pressure. The reportable transactions that Form 5472 reports are scattered across twelve months of bank rails, platform payouts, and personal cards — reconstructing them in April from memory is how numbers get guessed. Reconstructing them in January from fresh statements is how they get known. The gap between those two states is exactly the $25,000 question of whether your filing would survive scrutiny.

The checklist

Money & records

1. Reconcile every bank account, payment platform, and marketplace ledger to December 31.
2. Download year-end statements now — platform data access has a habit of getting harder with time.
3. Record gross sales, fees, refunds, and reserves separately — dashboards show net; books need gross.
4. Chase unrecorded months while receipts are findable — or hand the pile to a catch-up bookkeeping pass.

Owner ↔ LLC boundary (this becomes your 5472)

5. List capital contributed during the year — every wire in from the owner.
6. List draws and distributions out — every transfer to the owner, on any rail.
7. Flag expenses paid personally for the company, and company payments that benefited the owner.

People & forms

8. U.S. contractors paid $600+? Collect W-9s now — 1099-NEC is due January 31, the first deadline of the season (the full 1099-NEC rules for foreign-owned LLCs).
9. Foreign contractors? Collect W-8 forms — no 1099, but the paperwork proves why.

Company hygiene

10. Confirm the state annual report date and registered agent status.
11. Verify the IRS and state have your current mailing address — notices to dead addresses still count.
12. Decide now whether you will need a Form 7004 extension — it must be filed by the original deadline, not after.

What does “done” look like?

Owners who run this list once tend to keep it: the second year takes half the time, and filing season stops being an event. The self-check tool will tell you which of the deadlines apply to your specific setup.

Official references: IRS — About Form 1099-NEC · IRS — About Form 7004.

This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Thresholds and dates shift with your facts and the calendar — confirm your specific obligations before relying on any checklist.