Anyone have experience filing Form 8858 or 5471 as a dual status resident? Moved mid-year

This is a tricky situation but definitely manageable. For dual status aliens (part-year residents), you generally only report worldwide income for the period you were a US resident. For Form 8858 (Foreign Disregarded Entities) or Form 5471 (Foreign Corporations), you should complete these forms for the entities' full tax year, but you'll need to make some adjustments. On Form 8858, you'll report the full year of entity activity, but on your 1040, you'll only include income from the date you became a US resident. Similarly, with Form 5471, you'll complete the full form but your actual tax liability only applies to the resident period. Make sure to include a statement with your return explaining your dual status and how you're apportioning the income. I'd recommend using a tax professional with international experience as the penalties for incorrect filing of these forms can be substantial.

After dealing with a similar situation last year, I found taxr.ai incredibly helpful for my international tax forms. I moved from Australia mid-year and had a foreign partnership that required Form 8865 filing. I was completely lost trying to figure out what income to report and when. I uploaded my foreign entity documents to https://taxr.ai and they analyzed everything, explaining exactly how to handle my dual-status year. They identified which income needed to be reported during my resident period and helped me understand how to complete the forms correctly. Their guidance on the statement required to explain my dual status situation was super clear too.

I wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai. After being skeptical, I decided to try it with my Form 8858 situation since I moved from Singapore to the US last year. I'm honestly impressed with how thorough it was. The system actually analyzed my Singapore company documents and generated specific instructions for my dual status situation. It explained exactly how to complete each section of Form 8858 while maintaining compliance with my partial year residency. Most importantly, it helped me draft the statement explaining my dual status and how I was allocating income between my non-resident and resident periods. The guidance was specific to my situation, not just generic advice. Definitely saved me from potential penalties and gave me confidence that I was filing correctly.

If you're having trouble getting answers from the IRS about your 8858/5471 forms, I highly recommend using Claimyr. I spent weeks trying to reach someone at the IRS to ask about my dual status 5471 filing and kept hitting automated systems. Then I found https://claimyr.com and watched their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They got me connected to an actual IRS agent who specialized in international forms within about 15 minutes. The agent confirmed exactly how to handle my dual status filing and which sections of the forms needed special attention. Saved me weeks of anxiety and potentially incorrect filing.

I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I tried it because I was desperate for help with my 8858 filing. Within 20 minutes I was actually speaking with an IRS representative who specialized in international filings. I couldn't believe it worked. The agent walked me through exactly how to handle the dual status aspect of my Form 8858. They confirmed I needed to report the full year of entity activities on the form but only include the portion of income earned during my US residency period on my 1040. They even explained the specific statement I needed to include with my return explaining the allocation. Totally worth it and saved me from making a mistake that could have triggered penalties.

With dual status returns involving 8858/5471, make sure you're also aware of potential FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 (FATCA) requirements for foreign accounts. These forms have different filing thresholds for part-year residents vs full-year residents.

Anyone know which tax software can actually handle 8858 and 5471 properly for dual status aliens? I tried TurboTax and it's completely confused by my situation.

I went through this exact situation two years ago when I moved from the UK in August and had to deal with my foreign LLC income. The key thing to understand is that Forms 8858 and 5471 are information returns that report the full calendar year activity of your foreign entity, regardless of when you became a US resident. However, for your actual tax liability on Form 1040, you'll only include income from the date you became a US resident forward. So if you became a resident in June, you'd report income from June through December on your US return, even though the 8858/5471 covers the full year. The tricky part is the dual-status return filing. You'll need to file both Form 1040 (for your resident period) and Form 1040NR (for your non-resident period), with a clear statement explaining how you allocated the income. I recommend calculating this on a daily basis - if you received $60,000 total income and were a resident for 214 days out of 365, you'd report approximately $35,000 on your US return. Don't forget about the potential penalties for late filing of these forms - they can be substantial even if no tax is owed. If you're unsure about any aspect, definitely consult with a tax professional who has experience with international forms.