If you’re an India-resident founder with a Delaware or Wyoming LLC, this is the filing almost every CA in India will tell you to confirm with a US tax professional. Here’s the short version.
US side
Your US LLC’s annual Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120 is the baseline. See the overview guide for who files and when.
Nothing special about being India-resident changes the US form itself — the IRS does not treat India founders differently from, say, UK or Nigerian founders. What does change is the ID you report:
- You almost certainly do not have a US TIN. On the owner section you report your Indian PAN as the foreign tax ID. The IRS form instructions ask for the owner’s “US TIN, if any” and the foreign tax ID; PAN goes in the foreign-TIN field. If you have neither (very rare for an Indian resident), you can file an explanation statement describing why no identification number is available.
India side
An Indian resident’s Schedule FA of ITR-2 or ITR-3 generally requires disclosure of your US LLC and any related foreign bank account. Deadlines sit on India’s income-tax calendar (31 July for salaried; 31 October for those requiring audit), not the US 15 April date.
BorderFile does not file your Indian return. Under the annual compliance plan we coordinate with a vetted partner CA in India so your two sides stay in sync — the US 5472 and the Indian Schedule FA both describe the same LLC, and consistency across them matters if either tax authority asks questions later.
Common mistakes
- Treating the US LLC as “zero-income so I don’t file” — the 5472 is required even for zero-activity years when there was a capital contribution or any other related-party flow.
- Mis-matching your legal name on the EIN letter and the LLC formation documents — the IRS rejects filings where these don’t match.
- Reporting PAN but using it in the wrong field — the IRS wants a foreign tax ID, not a US TIN substitute.
- Forgetting Schedule FA on the Indian side — the two filings are independent; filing the 5472 does not relieve the Indian disclosure obligation.
- Using an Indian residential address on the US formation documents — technically fine, but it can slow down IRS correspondence; a US registered agent address is almost always better.
Not tax advice; see the disclaimer.