A non-US e-commerce seller with a US LLC has a fixed annual stack: Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120 federally, FBAR if foreign accounts top $10,000, possible 1040-NR if inventory or operations create ECI, and state sales-tax registration where nexus exists. None of these depend on which platform you sell through — Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, or your own storefront all sit on top of the same compliance base.
Key facts
- Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120 is owed by every foreign-owned single-member LLC regardless of platform or revenue level — reportable transactions include the owner's own capital contributions, not just sales.
- FBAR applies once the LLC's foreign financial accounts combined exceed $10,000 at any point in the year — a foreign-currency Wise or Payoneer balance counts the same as a bank account.
- Sales tax is state-level and separate from every federal filing above — it's triggered by sales volume into a state, not by profit or residency.
- The federal Form 1099-K threshold is currently $20,000 and more than 200 transactions, after the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act reversed an earlier planned drop to $600 (IRS: Understanding your Form 1099-K).
The annual compliance stack
- Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120 — due April 15 (or October 15 with Form 7004 filed by April 15), reporting owner/related-party transactions regardless of whether the store made a profit.
- FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) — due if the LLC's foreign financial accounts (a foreign-currency Wise balance, a home-country bank account holding pass-through revenue) combined exceed $10,000 at any point in the year.
- Form 1040-NR — owed by the owner personally only if the business generates effectively connected income (ECI); many pure drop-ship or remote-service e-commerce sellers have none, but inventory changes the analysis (next section).
- State sales-tax registration — separate from all of the above, triggered state-by-state once the seller crosses that state's economic-nexus threshold.
- Marketplace 1099-Ks — informational only; receiving one doesn't create a tax liability by itself, but it does give the IRS a revenue figure to compare against whatever gets filed.
Every item on this list exists independent of the others — filing the 5472 doesn't satisfy the FBAR, and registering for sales tax doesn't touch either federal filing.
Where e-commerce differs: inventory and ECI
Most of what makes e-commerce different from a services-based foreign-owned LLC is inventory. A seller who performs services entirely outside the US, invoicing US clients remotely, usually has a straightforward no-ECI position. Physical inventory stored in the US — most commonly through Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) or a third-party US warehouse — is a genuinely different fact pattern: the IRS's effectively-connected-income analysis looks at whether the LLC maintains a fixed place of business or a dependent agent carrying on business in the US, and a US warehouse holding and shipping inventory on the seller's behalf can be part of that picture. This is a real gray area, not a settled yes-or-no, and it depends on specifics — how the fulfillment arrangement is structured, who controls the inventory, and what activities happen where. Treat "does FBA inventory create ECI for my LLC" as a question for a professional facts-and-circumstances review, not a rule of thumb pulled from a forum post.
Sales tax ≠ income tax
Sales tax is a completely separate system from anything above, run at the state level rather than federally. Since the Supreme Court's South Dakota v. Wayfair (2018) decision, states can require out-of-state (and foreign) sellers to collect sales tax once the seller crosses that state's economic nexus threshold — commonly measured by revenue or transaction count into that state, with the exact figures set independently by each state. Two consequences matter for a foreign-owned LLC: first, having zero federal income tax exposure (no ECI) says nothing about sales-tax obligations, which are triggered by sales volume into a state, not by profit or residency. Second, many marketplaces (Amazon among them) now collect and remit sales tax on the seller's behalf under state "marketplace facilitator" laws — which reduces, but doesn't always eliminate, the seller's own registration and filing burden depending on which states and which sales channels are involved.
Marketplace tax forms: the 1099-K
US payment platforms and marketplaces issue Form 1099-K to report the gross payments processed for a seller once IRS thresholds are met. The federal threshold has moved several times in recent years through IRS delays and legislation; under current law (the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act), the threshold reverted to $20,000 in payments and more than 200 transactions — reversing a planned phase-down to $600 (IRS: Understanding your Form 1099-K). Two things matter more than the exact number: a platform can still issue a 1099-K below its own threshold voluntarily, and receiving one is not itself evidence of taxable income — it's a gross-payments figure that can include refunds, shipping, and sales tax collected on the seller's behalf. What it does do is give the IRS a number to reconcile against the tax return, which is exactly why the LLC's own books need to explain the gap if one exists.
Bookkeeping that survives an IRS letter
The single habit that keeps an e-commerce foreign-owned LLC out of trouble is separating gross platform payouts from actual revenue in the books from day one — the 1099-K gross figure, marketplace fees, refunds, shipping collected, and sales tax collected and remitted are all different line items, and conflating them is the most common reason a mismatch letter shows up later. Add the standard reportable-transaction ledger — every owner contribution, distribution, and personally-paid expense — and the books answer nearly any IRS letter without a scramble.
Frequently asked questions
Does storing inventory in a US Amazon FBA warehouse create ECI for a foreign LLC owner? It can, depending on the specifics of the fulfillment arrangement and what the IRS would view as a fixed US place of business or dependent agent — this is a genuine gray area that deserves a facts-specific professional review rather than a blanket yes or no.
How do I know if I've crossed a state's sales-tax nexus threshold? Each state sets its own economic-nexus threshold, typically based on revenue or transaction volume into that state; thresholds and rules vary enough between states that seller volume needs to be tracked state-by-state rather than assumed from a single national rule.
Do Wise or Payoneer accounts count for FBAR purposes? Potentially — FBAR applies to the LLC's foreign financial accounts generally, and whether a specific fintech account counts depends on how and where it's held, not on the account holder's familiarity with the platform. If the LLC's combined foreign accounts exceed $10,000 at any point in the year, treat it as in scope until confirmed otherwise.
What records do marketplaces actually give sellers? Most platforms provide downloadable transaction and payout reports (and the 1099-K itself, if issued), but these are gross figures, not a substitute for the LLC's own bookkeeping — they don't separate owner transactions from business activity, which is what Form 5472 and a clean set of books actually need.
Written by Ifetoluwase Samuel Pirisola, Managing Director of Caldwell Tax Services, LLC — July 2026. General information, not tax advice for your specific situation — inventory location, fulfillment structure, and sales channels all change the analysis. Start your intake if you're running e-commerce through a US LLC and want the full stack reviewed against your actual setup.
Sources: IRS: Understanding your Form 1099-K · IRS: Effectively connected income · IRS: Instructions for Form 5472 · FinCEN: Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts · Glossary