US LLC owned from abroad·By Qeihan Anderson, tax return preparer·September 26, 2026·5 min read

How to find out what the IRS has sent your LLC

In short: Ask whoever held the old address for any IRS mail, then order the LLC’s tax account transcript from the IRS, which lists penalties on the account. Once you know, file Form 8822-B so future letters go to an address you actually check.

Why letters go missing

The IRS writes to the mailing address it has on file for the LLC’s EIN. For a lot of foreign-owned LLCs that address belongs to the formation service or the registered agent, because that’s what went on the EIN application. When the agent resigns or the service shuts down, the state hears about it. The IRS doesn’t, and it keeps writing to the old address.

“my registered agent resigned in 2024 without ever telling me, so any IRS notice had a dead address to go to and I never saw a thing.”

Forum post on Reddit, read September 2026

Not seeing a letter doesn’t stop it counting. Form 8822-B carries this warning: if you don’t give the IRS your current mailing address, “you may not receive a notice of deficiency or a notice of demand for tax. Despite the failure to receive such notices, penalties and interest will continue to accrue” (Form 8822-B). So the useful question is what was sent, not whether you got it.

Step 1: ask the old address

Email the former agent or formation service with the LLC’s name and EIN. Ask whether any IRS or state mail arrived after the date they stopped forwarding, and ask for scans or copies of all of it. Some keep scans for a while. It costs nothing and it’s often the quickest answer.

Step 2: order the tax account transcript

A transcript is the IRS’s own record of the account, and it’s free. The IRS business transcript page lists several kinds. Two matter here:

The tax account transcript shows changes on the account, including penalties. A $25,000 Form 5472 penalty would show up here.
The entity transcript confirms the EIN, the business structure and which returns the IRS expects from it.

There are three ways to get one, according to the same page: online in the IRS business tax account, by phone on the business and specialty tax line, or by sending Form 4506-T. The business tax account needs an identity check and doesn’t cover every kind of entity, so it may not be open to your LLC. The phone line is 800-829-4933, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time (IRS business phone numbers). For Form 4506-T, the IRS filing addresses give a fax number, 855-298-1145, for a business based in a foreign country when the return was filed. Check the current page before you send, because numbers change.

The IRS will talk about the account with the owner, or with someone the owner has authorized in writing on Form 8821 or Form 2848 (IRS). Have the EIN and the exact legal name ready before you call.

Step 3: fix the address with Form 8822-B

Form 8822-B is how a business with an EIN tells the IRS about a new mailing address, a new business location or a new responsible party (About Form 8822-B). It’s one page. The parts that matter for a foreign-owned LLC, all from the form itself:

Tick box 1 (business returns, which covers the Form 1120 your 5472 rides on), then give the old and new mailing addresses. A foreign address goes in with the country name written out in full.
An owner, officer or LLC member manager signs it. A representative signing for you has to attach a power of attorney.
Where it goes depends on the old address. If the old address was in Wyoming or outside the US, it goes to the IRS in Ogden, Utah. If it was in Delaware, New Jersey or New York, it goes to Kansas City, Missouri. The full table is on the form.
The IRS says it generally takes 4 to 6 weeks to process.
If the responsible party changed too, that has to be reported within 60 days of the change, on the same form.

Use an address where you will really see the mail, and keep a copy of what you sent and the date you sent it. If you fax or post it, keep the confirmation.

Step 4: appoint a new registered agent

This is a state step, done with Wyoming, Delaware or wherever the LLC was formed, and it keeps the LLC in good standing there. It doesn’t change anything at the IRS, in the same way the IRS address change doesn’t tell the state anything. You need both.

Once you know what was sent

If the transcript or the old mail shows a penalty notice, or years where no Form 5472 went in, the next job is getting those returns prepared and filed. We cover that on the late Form 5472 page. Qeihan is a tax return preparer, not a CPA or Enrolled Agent, so he prepares the returns and drafts the reasonable cause statement. If the IRS needs someone to speak for you, that’s an Enrolled Agent or tax attorney, and we’ll tell you so on the first call.

If nothing was sent and the only thing due is this year’s filing, that’s the ordinary annual job on the Form 5472 page. The full walkthrough for a lapsed agent is on the registered agent page.