IRS form 5471 is a form used for US persons to disclose their ownership in a foreign corporation.
We created these resources to help you file this tax form and what category you may fall under.
A category 5 filer has similarities in definition to category 1, but pertains more to controlled foreign corporations (CFCs). A category 5 filer includes a U.S. shareholder who owns stock in a foreign corporation that is a CFC( at any time during any tax year) and who owned that stock on the last day ofRead More
Category 4 is for U.S. persons who had a majority of the shares of the company (over 50%) or otherwise defined as control of the foreign corporation, during the annual accounting period. As the filer was a significant shareholder of the company with the power to dictate the decision of the foreign corporation, thus theRead More
Category 3 filers outline shareholders who may have met the 10% share ownership threshold of the foreign corporation under various scenarios, but the company may not have been considered a CFC (controlled foreign corporation) or SFC (specified foreign corporation) as pertains to categories 1 & 5, nor does the shareholder have control (over 50% ownership)Read More
Category 2 filers have the least amount of form 5471 requirements among all the filers, as these are defined for only the officers/directors of the foreign corporation (not for shareholder filings). However, they still need to conduct a filing to report the shareholding of U.S. persons throughout the year. A category 2 filer includes aRead More
A category 1 filer includes a U.S. shareholder of a foreign corporation (FC) that is a section 965 specified foreign corporation (SFC) at any time during any tax year of the FC, and who owned that stock on the last day of the year which it was a SFC (taking into account the regulations underRead More
Form 5471 is a complex IRS tax form to record share ownership in foreign corporations.
