Filings that often travel with an ITIN
An ITIN rarely arrives on its own. These are the obligations people most often discover late — usually from a penalty notice rather than from whoever filed their W-7. They are priced separately because they depend on your entity and your income, not on the ITIN.
If a U.S. LLC has one foreign owner, the IRS treats it as a corporation for reporting purposes alone. It must file Form 5472 attached to a pro forma Form 1120 every year. Money you put into the LLC and money you take out are both reportable transactions, so the obligation applies even in a year with no income and no customers. The penalty is $25,000 per form, per year — and it applies whether or not you ever obtained an ITIN.
Two obligations that are often confused
These are triggered by different things, and treating them as one package is how people end up filing the wrong thing, or nothing at all.
| Filing | What triggers it | Applies even if… |
|---|---|---|
| Form 5472 + pro forma 1120 | The entity — a U.S. LLC with a single foreign owner, plus any reportable transaction with that owner | …the LLC is dormant, earned nothing, and the owner has no ITIN and files no U.S. return |
| Form 1040-NR with Schedule C | The income — profit effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business | …there is no LLC at all, because a nonresident sole proprietor reports the same way |
A foreign owner whose U.S. LLC actually trades in the United States usually needs both. But a dormant LLC needs the first and not the second, and a nonresident trading without an LLC needs the second and not the first. Which of these applies to you is part of the free eligibility check — and if the honest answer is that you have a Form 5472 problem and no ITIN problem, we will say so.
How this compares to the rest of the market
We checked what other providers charge, so you do not have to. The market splits into two tiers and they are not really selling the same thing.
| Route | Typical 2026 price | What you get | What you do not |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | $0 + postage | The IRS charges nothing for an ITIN, ever. Form W-7 is free. | Your passport goes to Austin for 7–11 weeks. No one reviews the application before it is filed. |
| Online ITIN service | $197 – $297 | Fast, cheap, high volume. Fine for a straightforward case. | Usually not a CPA firm. Cannot prepare the tax return most applications must include, and cannot represent you if the IRS questions it. |
| CPA or EA firm with CAA authority | $275 – $900 | Credentialed preparer, return and application prepared together, IRS representation included. | Costs more than a volume service, and should. |
| itincpa.com | $300 | The CPA tier — licence, return preparation, representation — at the bottom of its price range. | We will not match a $197 volume price, and we will tell you when you do not need us. |
An honest word about the cheap end. If your case is genuinely simple — one adult, a valid passport, a straightforward return — a $197 online service may be all you need, and we would rather say so than take your money. Ask them two questions first: who signs the Certificate of Accuracy, and who prepares the tax return that has to be attached. If the answers are "a partner firm" and "not us", you have found the reason for the price difference.
Some services advertise a full refund if the IRS rejects your application. Read what triggers it. Rejections caused by your own documents, by a missing exception letter, or by IRS processing are usually excluded — which covers most real rejections. Our commitment is narrower and we state it plainly: if the error is ours, we fix and refile at no charge.
Included in every engagement
- The eligibility check before you commit — free, and genuinely a check rather than a sales call
- Written fee quote before any work starts; nothing is added afterwards
- The video interview required by the IRS, scheduled around your time zone
- Document authentication and the signed Form W-7 (COA)
- Your original documents returned immediately after the interview
- Case tracking and our response to IRS correspondence on your application
- Correspondence in English or Turkish, whichever you prefer
Not included
- Courier charges, if you choose to send originals rather than certified copies
- Documents that must be obtained from your own country's authorities
- Bookkeeping, payroll, state filings and company formation — separate engagements
- The related filings listed above, which are quoted individually rather than bundled
- Representation in matters unrelated to this application
Why a flat fee and not hourly: an ITIN application has a knowable scope. Hourly billing on knowable work transfers the risk of our inefficiency to you. The only cases we quote individually are the exception routes and FIRPTA, where the documentation genuinely varies — and there we give a figure before starting, not a range.
What happens if it is rejected
If the IRS rejects the application because of an error in our preparation or certification, we correct and refile at no further fee. If the rejection follows from facts or documents that were not as represented to us, we will tell you what is needed and quote the additional work before doing it.
No provider can promise approval. Any who do are selling something they do not control.
Payment
Fees are payable when you accept the quote, before preparation begins. We accept card and international bank transfer. For applicants outside the United States, transfer charges levied by your own bank are yours.