For owners of a US LLC who live abroad
Your LLC is in the US. You aren’t. Your records should cope with both.
You sell software or an AI product worldwide through a US LLC, Stripe or a merchant of record. You get paid in dollars, live in another currency, and every year the IRS wants Form 5472 — with every transaction between you and your company.
What makes this setup hard
The money crosses you
You pay for the LLC’s tools with a personal card, move money in to cover costs, take money out. Each of these is a reportable transaction between a foreign owner and the LLC.
Net payouts hide the sale
A merchant of record pays you after fees, tax and refunds. The bank shows one number; the business behind it is several.
Two countries, two currencies
Accounts in the US and at home, in two or more currencies, and tax rules in both places. Most tools assume one country and one currency.
What Selfirm does for you today
You and the LLC as separate parties
Every account and movement belongs either to you or to the LLC. Look at the LLC alone, or at everything at once.
Owner ↔ LLC movements stand out
Money between your personal accounts and the LLC’s accounts is paired and classified as a transfer — exactly the movements you need to collect for Form 5472.
Every account checked
Each statement’s balances must chain month to month, so a missing statement or a misread line is caught before year end, not during it.
Evidence for every line
Each movement links back to the line of the original statement — what you, or your accountant, will want when filing.
Where this setup’s institutions stand
Selfirm reads any statement with its general reader and asks you to confirm. Institutions with a profile are read without questions.
| Institution | Status |
|---|---|
| Banks and brokers in the institution library | Profile — read without questions |
| Mercury, Wise, Payoneer | General reader today; profiles being written with design partners |
| Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Paddle payout reports | General reader today; payout break-down (gross, fees, tax, refunds) planned |
What Selfirm does not do
Selfirm does not file Form 5472 or any tax return, and it is not a tax adviser. It gives you, or your accountant, complete and checked records to file from. To see whether you need to file at all, try the Form 5472 checker, and read our guide to bookkeeping for a foreign-owned LLC.
Common questions
Does Selfirm need access to my Mercury or Stripe account?
No. You download statements or reports and hand in the files. Selfirm never holds credentials and cannot move money.
Can my accountant use it?
A free accountant seat for review is planned. Until then, the original files and the checked movements behind each figure are what you share with them.
I also have personal accounts at home. Should they go in?
Yes, if money moves between them and the LLC. That is what makes the owner ↔ LLC transactions complete.
Bring your own records along
We are onboarding a small group of founders whose companies, accounts and obligations span countries. Tell us about your setup.