Form 8858

Information Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Foreign Disregarded Entities (FDEs) and Foreign Branches (FBs), filed under §6038. A foreign disregarded entity is a foreign entity with a single owner that is disregarded as separate from that owner for US purposes — either by default classification or by an election on Form 8832. A foreign branch is a business operation abroad that rises to the level of a trade or business. That second category is the one that catches individuals: a US citizen operating as a sole trader abroad, with no company at all, can be required to file Form 8858 for the branch. The form is attached to the return it relates to, and the §6038 penalty of $10,000 per form per year applies even though a disregarded entity produces no separate tax by definition.