The company files. So, sometimes, do you.
Owning a US business from abroad can create a personal US filing alongside the company’s. Whether it does comes down to how the entity is taxed — a pass-through hands its results to you, a corporation absorbs them and taxes you only on what it pays out.
Pass-through
An LLC or partnership does not pay tax itself. Its results belong to you, so where the activity amounts to a US trade or business, the income is yours personally and a Form 1040-NR follows.
C corporation
The corporation pays its own federal tax and files its own return. You are generally taxed only on what it distributes, through withholding at source rather than a personal return.
The company’s return is not your return
Four things that decide whether you personally end up filing.
Three stages, followed down both sides
Setup decides what is possible. The annual cycle is where the filings land. What leaves the US is where the two paths diverge most sharply.
Getting set up
Formed as an LLC or partnership. Nothing at formation signals that a personal US return may follow, which is why it usually surprises people.
Incorporated, often in Delaware. The corporation becomes the taxpayer, and your exposure narrows to what it pays you.
The annual cycle
The entity reports, and you report. Where income is effectively connected, Form 1040-NR is yours to file on your own account.
The corporation files its own return and pays its own tax. In most years you have nothing personal to file unless it distributed to you.
Getting money out
Tax follows the profit as it arises, not as it is paid out. Drawing cash later is not a second taxable event on the same income.
Profit is taxed once in the company and again on distribution, with withholding applied at source when it reaches you.
Form 5472, the pro forma 1120 and the partnership return sit on the company rather than on you. We scope both together so the two sets of filings agree with each other.
The personal side is the one people forget
A pass-through hands its results to its owner. If the income was effectively connected, your own return was due whether or not anyone mentioned it.
The number takes time to obtain, and without it a return cannot be processed or a refund released.
Salary, distribution and dividend are taxed differently. Deciding after the transfer is far harder than deciding before.
Treaty positions generally have to be taken on a return, not assumed quietly in the background.
What foreign owners ask first
My accountant files for the company. Is that enough?
It depends entirely on the structure. With a C corporation it often is, because the company is the taxpayer and you are only reached on distributions. With an LLC or partnership it frequently is not, because the results are attributed to you personally and your own return may be due.
I have never set foot in the US. Does that settle it?
No, though it is relevant. Whether you have a US trade or business turns on the nature and location of the activity rather than on where you personally are, and people, contractors, inventory or a fixed place of business in the US all weigh on it.
Does a tax treaty mean I have nothing to file?
Rarely. A treaty can reduce or remove the tax while leaving the filing obligation intact, and the position usually has to be disclosed on a return to be relied on at all. Treaties also do not bind individual states.
How is this priced?
A fixed fee, scoped from your entity type, your income sources and which states are involved. Quoted in writing before any work begins, and never billed by the hour.
Tell us what the business actually does.
What it sells, where the work happens, how it is structured and how you are paid. That is usually enough for us to tell you whether you personally have a US filing, and what it costs to run properly.
Start scoping