Form 8992 — GILTI: global intangible low-taxed income · affordable, fixed fee

Form 8992 — who files it, when it is due, what late filing costs, and what we charge to prepare it. United States (IRS). Affordable Form 8992 with a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts. Call the 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068, or request a written quote today.

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Begin with the papers you already have. The engagement is priced from them, in writing, before the work.

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In 60 words

Form 8992 is an information return: Computes a US shareholder's global intangible low-taxed income inclusion from controlled foreign corporations. US shareholders of controlled foreign corporations — including individual founders, not only multinational groups.

Do you need this?

US shareholders of controlled foreign corporations — including individual founders, not only multinational groups.

This is the point most filings get wrong. The inclusion is deliberately blind to whether cash was distributed: active foreign profits above a routine return on tangible assets are pulled into US income currently, and the reliefs that soften it for corporations are not automatically available to an individual shareholder.

The team at work in the open-plan office

Fixed fees for global intangible low taxed income, agreed up front

What sets the fee on a global intangible low-taxed income computation is the number of controlled foreign corporations in scope and the state of their books: one foreign company with accounts already restated to US rules is a short engagement, and several whose tested income must be rebuilt is not. Both are quoted in writing first.

T1134 foreign affiliate reporting — fixed-fee price
From $999

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

The foreign affiliate return with a full set of schedules per affiliate, restated onto the basis the return requires rather than the basis the local accounts use.
See the full fee page
Transfer pricing — local file — fixed-fee price
From $2,500

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

The local file for one entity: functional analysis, method selection with the alternatives explained, comparables with the search documented, and the results tested against the range.
See the full fee page
Foreign asset & information reporting
From $349

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

The reporting obligations that attach to owning something abroad, worked out from your holdings rather than from the tax return alone.
See the fee schedule
Transfer pricing documentation
From $2,500

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

Local file, master file and benchmarking for groups trading across borders, documented to the standard the authority expects.
See the fee schedule
Corporate cross-border filing
From $999

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

Returns for companies with foreign subsidiaries, foreign income or foreign shareholders, and the schedules each of those triggers.
See the fee schedule
Payroll & mobility setup
From $999

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

Registrations, withholding and the employer obligations that follow staff working across a border, set up once and correctly.
See the fee schedule
Individual tax filing
From $349

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

Returns for people whose tax position did not stay in one country, including the years residence itself is in question.
See the fee schedule
Non-resident & departure filings
From $349

in US dollars, fixed and quoted before work starts

For anyone taxed by a country they do not live in — rent, pensions and investment income reaching across a border after the move.
See the fee schedule

All published fees on one page — every engagement, one list, no ranges hiding surprises.

What the reporting test actually looks at

What decides whether Form 8992 applies
What the test looks atWhere the figure comes from
The obligationComputes a US shareholder's global intangible low-taxed income inclusion from controlled foreign corporations.
Who it bindsUS shareholders of controlled foreign corporations — including individual founders, not only multinational groups.
Jurisdiction and authorityUnited States — IRS
Category of filingInformation return

When it is due

Information returns are generally due with — or on the same timetable as — the return they accompany, so the deadline is the filing deadline of the underlying return unless the rules set a separate date. Where an extension covers the return, confirm whether it also covers this form; several information returns keep their own date. In practice the binding constraint is usually a document that has to arrive from somewhere else, which is why the timetable is mapped backwards from the deadline.

What late or missed filing costs

The penalty on an information return is charged per form and per year, and it does not depend on tax being owed. That is the whole risk profile: a filer with no tax to pay can still accumulate a substantial liability across unfiled years, and the exposure compounds with each additional entity or account that should have been reported. Relief exists for most of these situations, and it is conditional on how the correction is made. That is the part worth getting right.

What this looks like with numbers

Numbers make this concrete, so here is the same rule applied to a set of figures.

Why three small accounts are reportable

Three ordinary foreign accounts, none of which looks like a reporting problem on its own. The account report is tested on the aggregate of all foreign financial accounts at their highest point in the calendar year.

Why three small accounts are reportable
ItemAmount
Current account, highest balanceUS$5,000
Savings account, highest balanceUS$4,000
Account held with a relative, signature authority onlyUS$4,000
Aggregate tested against the thresholdUS$13,000
Reporting threshold (verified, FinCEN)US$10,000

The aggregate of US$13,000 exceeds the US$10,000 threshold, so all three accounts are reported — including the one that is not the filer's money, because signature authority counts. We run this on your actual numbers before advising anything, because the conclusion can invert with a modest change in inputs.

Example figures throughout, selected to make the rule visible, with rates and thresholds assumed for the demonstration. Your actual filing uses figures confirmed with the issuing authority for your tax year.

How we prepare and file it, and what it costs

You get the number for Form 8992 up front, as part of one fee for the whole set rather than as a separate charge that appears at the end. See the Indian resident with foreign assets (schedule fa) for comparable engagements.

The four steps

  1. 1Establish whether the reporting test is met, on the correct measure
  2. 2Assemble the holdings, accounts or entities that fall inside it
  3. 3Prepare the return and reconcile it to the tax return it travels with
  4. 4File, and set the calendar entry so next year is not a catch-up
  • Documents move through one secure portal, and you can meet us in person at any of our offices.
  • Nothing is filed until you have read it.
  • A named reviewer signs off every statutory filing.

Whatever you have is enough to start the conversation, including nothing but the dates.

Reviewed for accuracy for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, International Tax, Cross-Border Tax & Transfer Pricing Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. Published as general information. For a position on your own file, call the 24-hour helpline.

Where global intangible low taxed income comes into this file

If you came here for global intangible low taxed income, this is where it is dealt with. The subject is Form 8992, and the page covers who it reaches, what then has to be filed, and what we charge to do the work.

People also search for: global intangible low-taxed income · tax data · what are tax implications · implications of tax · corporate double taxation.

The inclusion is deliberately blind to whether cash was distributed: active foreign profits above a routine return on tangible assets are pulled into US income currently, and the reliefs that soften it for corporations are not automatically available to an individual shareholder.

From first contact to filed return

  1. Start with a conversation about the facts

    Dates, residence, where the income arose. Fifteen minutes is usually enough to know what applies.

  2. Scope and price, both written down

    You get the scope and the fixed fee together, so there is no question later about what was included.

  3. Prepared by one team, reviewed by a named practitioner

    The same people see both sides of the file, and the reviewer signs their name to it.

  4. Filed, then followed through

    Submission is not the end of the engagement — the queries that arrive afterwards are part of it.

What you are actually buying with global intangible low taxed income

Factor Legal Quotient Hourly billing model
Pricing A fixed fee, agreed in writing before work starts Hourly, billed as incurred
Experience 15+ years of cross-border work, 18,000+ clients Varies by file
Both sides of the border Prepared together by one team, so relief is claimed exactly once One country at a time, reconciled later
Who reviews it A named practitioner, published on the page Whoever the queue reaches
Where the work happens Our offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE Whichever single office you can travel to

The vocabulary this page leans on

Published fee
A fee listed on this site for a defined scope, so the number is known before the first call. Legal Quotient Consultants publishes every fee it charges and confirms the one for your engagement in writing before any work starts.
Shadow payroll
A host-country payroll that pays nobody, existing so the host receives the withholding and reporting due on compensation paid elsewhere.
Physical presence test
One of the two US qualifying tests for the exclusion, satisfied by days of presence in a foreign country during a twelve-month period.
MAT
India's minimum tax computed from book profit, so a company with reliefs or losses can still owe tax on its accounting result.
global intangible low taxed income: Our analysis

The inclusion is deliberately blind to whether cash was distributed: active foreign profits above a routine return on tangible assets are pulled into US income currently, and the reliefs that soften it for corporations are not automatically available to an individual shareholder.

The engagement terms hold no matter what the analysis finds — fee and scope agreed in writing up front, a named reviewer on the output, your approval before the finished work is filed.

Global intangible low taxed income — what the published fees look like

A second question drives the price: whether the shareholder is an individual, since the reliefs that soften a GILTI inclusion for corporate groups need separate elections and workings for a founder, and whether earlier years are still open. Those decisions are priced in the written quote, not added afterwards.

T1134 foreign affiliate reporting
$999in US dollars, fixed before work starts

Covers: The foreign affiliate return with a full set of schedules per affiliate, restated onto the basis the return requires rather than the basis the local accounts use.

What makes it bigger: The number of affiliates and the tiers between them. Work scales with entity count, not with revenue, and lower-tier affiliates each need their own reporting.

See this fee page
Transfer pricing — local file
$2,500in US dollars, fixed before work starts

Covers: The local file for one entity: functional analysis, method selection with the alternatives explained, comparables with the search documented, and the results tested against the range.

What makes it bigger: The number of transaction types. Goods, services, royalties and financing are four analyses rather than one, and each needs its own method and its own comparables.

See this fee page

The difference a dedicated cross-border team makes

A named reviewer on every file

Every page on this site and every file we deliver says which practitioner reviewed it — a person, not a team inbox.

The order of filing is planned, not improvised

Which return goes first decides whether relief can be claimed at all. That sequence is worked out before anything is submitted.

Late and missed years are ordinary work

An unfiled history is not a reason to wait longer. We assess what is still open and what relief the delay attracts before the first return goes in.

The quote comes from your documents

Nothing is priced from a phone call. We read what you have first, then the fee is set — so the scope and the number are agreed on the same evidence.

The firm’s founder at his desk in the Delhi office
Two of the firm’s advisers at a desk in the Delhi office

How the work runs — quote first, then the work

  • Step 1: Send what you already have – Slips, statements, prior returns — in any order. We list what is still needed after reading them.
  • Step 2: A fee agreed in writing – Quoted from those documents, before the work starts, and it does not move once you accept it.
  • Step 3: Each side drafted against the other – The returns are built together rather than in sequence, so relief is claimed once and in the right country.
  • Step 4: You approve before it is filed – The finished return comes to you first. Nothing is submitted on your behalf unseen.

Quoted up front, in writing.

Contact Us 24-hour helpline +1 (416) 619-0068

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Where our clients live and work

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The people on your file

Named practitioners, each with the countries and the part of a cross-border file they carry, across India, the USA, Canada and the UAE. Every page on this site says who reviewed it, and the reviewer is one of these people rather than an unnamed team.

Udit Gupta, International tax, cross-border tax and transfer pricing: USA, Canada, India and UAE, Legal Quotient Consultants
Director, International tax, cross-border tax and transfer pricing: USA, Canada, India and UAE

CA (India), CA (Malaysia)

Reviews and signs off the practice's cross-border positions, and carries final responsibility for the treaty analysis on every file that leaves any of our offices.

Abhinav Gupta, India international tax, cross-border tax and transfer pricing, Legal Quotient Consultants
Director, India international tax, cross-border tax and transfer pricing

CA (India)

Indian cross-border files: residents with income abroad, non-residents with income in India, and the treaty relief that ties the Indian return to the one filed in the other country.

Vinayak Indolia, CFO services for Canada and India, Legal Quotient Consultants
Director, CFO services for Canada and India

CPA (Canada), CA (India)

CFO services for businesses in Canada and India: the tax position and the finance function made to agree, structure reviews, intercompany policy, and the reporting a board can act on.

Meet the whole team

Cross-border tax case studies

Case study 1

A founder meeting the inclusion for the first time

A US citizen who had built an operating company abroad filed US returns for years on salary alone, on the understanding that the company's profits were not a US matter until they were distributed. They never were; the profits funded hiring. We established that the company was a controlled foreign corporation and that the shareholder was a US shareholder of it, worked the inclusion from the company's own results, and set out the consequence in writing before any filing was made. The engagement produced a computed inclusion, a documented basis for it, and a cash plan for the liability it created.

Case study 2

Rebuilding a tangible asset register to support the computation

A manufacturing business held abroad by a US shareholder had a real plant base, but its asset records had been kept for local accounting purposes only and could not support the allowance the computation depends on. The order of work was accordingly reversed: before anything was computed we reconstructed the asset register, established the basis of each class, and documented the method. Only then was the inclusion worked. The engagement produced a supported allowance for the routine return, a computation that ties to underlying records, and an asset schedule the company now maintains for the same purpose each year.

Case study 3

A services company with no meaningful tangible assets

A consultancy owned by a US shareholder earned steadily and owned little more than laptops. Very little profit was sheltered by the allowance for a routine return, so most of it fell into the inclusion in the year it was earned, while the cash stayed in the business funding payroll. We quantified the position, explained to the shareholder why an asset-light business produces this result, and worked through the timing of distributions against the liability. The engagement produced a computed inclusion and a distribution plan agreed with the shareholder before the filing deadline rather than after it.

Case study 4

Several foreign subsidiaries brought into one shareholder-level picture

A US shareholder held interests in operating companies in several countries, each with its own accountant, its own year end and its own way of presenting results. No one had ever looked at them together from the shareholder's side. We began at group level rather than at the computation, establishing which companies were controlled foreign corporations, aligning the results onto a common basis, and identifying the tangible asset position in each. The inclusion was then worked from that consolidated picture. The engagement produced a shareholder-level computation and a reporting calendar that each local accountant now feeds.

Case study 5

Modelling individual against corporate ownership before a restructure

A shareholder holding a profitable foreign company personally asked whether the shares should sit under a US company instead. We modelled both, on their own figures, over several years: the inclusion computed the same way in each case, but the relief available against the resulting US tax differed because those mechanisms do not follow an individual shareholder automatically. Set against that were the cost of transferring the shares and the compliance the new entity would carry. The engagement produced a written comparison with the assumptions stated, which the shareholder took to their corporate lawyer before deciding.

Case study 6

Bringing earlier years into line where no inclusion was ever computed

A US shareholder discovered during a mortgage application that returns filed over several years had never reflected the foreign company at all. The company had been profitable throughout. We worked each open year from the company's own accounts, computed the inclusion year by year rather than in aggregate so that each return stands on its own facts, and documented the sources behind every figure. The engagement produced a corrected set of filings, a schedule showing how each year was arrived at, and a standing process so the computation is prepared alongside the company's accounts in future.

Case study 7

Fifteen Per Cent Held Back From a Fee for Services in Canada

A payer must withhold from fees paid to a non-resident for services rendered in Canada, whether or not any tax is ultimately owed. A waiver applied for before the work is invoiced avoids the withholding; after it, the money comes back through a return.

Read how this one runs
Case study 8

Wintering in the US Long Enough to Become a US Filer

Days in the United States accumulate across three years, and enough of them make you a US resident for tax regardless of immigration status. The file counts the days properly and files the statement that keeps the position closer connection rather than residence.

Read how this one runs

All case studies — every published engagement in one place.

Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services

International Tax Planning & Advisory

Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.

One coordinating team: filings on every side of the border are sequenced so treaty relief and foreign tax credits are claimed once — and in the right country.
U.S. & Cross-Border Tax Returns
Dual filers: U.S. citizens in Canada and Canadians with U.S. income run two parallel systems — we prepare both, in the right order, every year.
Expat & Emigration Tax
The move year is its own project: the elections and valuations filed that year decide the next decade of both countries’ returns.
Non-Resident Canadian Tax
Default withholding is 25% of gross: elective returns routinely turn over-withheld rent and pensions into refunds.
Transfer Pricing & BEPS
Documentation prepared with the return is the cheapest insurance in international tax; reconstructing it during an audit is the most expensive.
Cross-Border Estates & Trusts
Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.
Cross-Border Corporate Tax
Expansion raises the same four questions every time — entity, PE, repatriation, payroll. We answer them before the tax authorities do.
India Tax for NRIs & Returning Residents
The deduction is taken on the sale price, not the gain — which is why an NRI property sale strands cash unless the certificate is applied for before closing.
Canadian Tax with a Foreign Element
Residency is decided on facts, not on a form — and the year you arrive or leave is the one where the largest amounts turn on the smallest details.
UAE Tax for Expats & Their Home Country
A zero-tax country is only half the answer — the question that decides the bill is whether the country you came from still treats you as resident.

Industries & Client Types We Serve Worldwide

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
Technology & SaaS
Professional Services Firms
Cross-Border Real Estate
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
Investment Funds & Holding Companies
Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
  • Foreign VAT / GST / sales tax registrations
  • Marketplace withholding reviews
  • Inventory nexus & PE analysis
  • Multi-currency books reconciled
Explore E-commerce & Marketplaces
Technology & SaaS
  • Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
  • IP structuring with real substance
  • Equity for cross-border teams
  • U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Explore Technology & SaaS
Cross-Border Real Estate

Foreign property income and sales are taxed in both countries by default; Section 216, FIRPTA and treaty credits are the standing toolkit.

Property is taxed where it sits, which is the one rule no treaty overrides. What the treaty does decide is the credit, the rate on the rent and what happens on the sale — and the clearance certificate on a disposition is applied for before closing, not after the buyer has already held the money back.

  • Section 216 rental returns
  • FIRPTA withholding recovery
  • Section 116 clearance
  • Treaty credit optimization
Explore Real Estate
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
  • Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
  • Customs value vs transfer price
  • Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
  • Country-by-country reporting
Explore Trade & Manufacturing
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
  • Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
  • Multi-state & country calendars
  • Touring income allocation
  • Royalty & image-rights withholding
Explore Athletes & Entertainers
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
  • Residency analysis before moving
  • Employer payroll exposure
  • Totalization & social security
  • Foreign tax credits
Explore Remote Workers
Investment Funds & Holding Companies
  • Treaty access & PPT reviews
  • FAPI & surplus computations
  • Withholding-efficient routing
  • Governance & substance
Explore Funds & Holdcos

Form 8992 — questions we are asked

Do I file Form 8992 even if no tax is owed?

Information return obligations of this kind are generally required on the facts rather than on the tax result, so a nil position does not remove one. US shareholders of controlled foreign corporations — including individual founders, not only multinational groups.

What happens if I have missed Form 8992 for several years?

Missed years are dealt with as a package rather than one at a time, because the route chosen for the first year affects the relief available for the rest. We map the years and the obligations before anything is filed.

Is Form 8992 the same as the other reports I already file?

No. Computes a US shareholder's global intangible low-taxed income inclusion from controlled foreign corporations. Satisfying a different obligation, even one covering the same accounts or entity, does nothing for this one.

Do I owe US tax on my foreign company's profits if I took no dividend?

Quite possibly. The global intangible low-taxed income rules are deliberately blind to whether cash was distributed. Where a US shareholder controls a foreign corporation, the active profits above a routine return on the company's tangible assets are pulled into that shareholder's US income for the year, whether or not a single dollar left the company. Form 8992 is where the inclusion is computed. Founders are caught by this most often, because they leave profits in the company to fund the next stage of the business and reasonably assume that nothing is taxable until they take money out. The computation has to be done before the return position can be taken.

I am one founder with one foreign company, does GILTI really apply to me?

It can. The rules are written around US shareholders of controlled foreign corporations, and an individual founder who owns enough of an overseas company is a US shareholder of a controlled foreign corporation in exactly the way a multinational group is. Nothing in the definition requires a group, a board or a treasury function. The practical difference is not whether you are caught but what happens next: the reliefs that soften the inclusion for corporate shareholders are not automatically available to an individual, so the same underlying profit can land quite differently depending on who holds the shares.

Why is my inclusion bigger than a corporate group's would be on the same profits?

Because the relieving provisions do not follow the shareholder automatically. The inclusion itself is computed the same way from the foreign company's results, but the mechanisms that reduce the resulting US tax for a corporate shareholder, including the treatment of foreign tax already paid on those profits, are not simply available to an individual holding the same shares. That is why two shareholders with identical companies can report the same inclusion and pay very different amounts. It is also why the question is worth modelling before a structure is fixed rather than after the first inclusion appears.

What is the routine return on tangible assets in the GILTI calculation?

It is the part of the foreign company's profit the rules treat as the ordinary reward for having capital equipment in the business, and it is taken out before the inclusion is measured. Everything above it is treated as the kind of return the regime is aimed at and is pulled into the US shareholder's income currently. The practical consequence is that the calculation is sensitive to the company's tangible asset base, so the asset register and its basis are working papers for this computation, not just accounting records.

My foreign company owns almost no equipment, does that increase my inclusion?

In general it pushes it up. The allowance for a routine return is measured against tangible assets, so a company that earns well with very little plant or equipment has very little to set against its profits, and a larger share of them falls into the inclusion. Services businesses, software companies and consultancies sit at that end of the range by their nature. Knowing this early matters mainly for cash: a shareholder can face a US liability on profits that are still working inside the company, and the money to pay it has to come from somewhere.

Would holding my foreign company through a US company be better?

It is the right question to ask, and it is a modelling exercise rather than a rule of thumb. Because the reliefs that soften the inclusion for corporate shareholders are not automatically available to an individual, the identity of the holder changes the outcome on the same profits. Against that sits everything else a holding company brings, including the tax consequences of moving shares into it, the later cost of getting money out, and the compliance the new entity carries. Work the numbers on your own figures and the whole ownership chain before anything is transferred.

Why are corporations double taxed?

Corporate double taxation happens because the company and its owners are separate taxpayers. The company pays tax on its profit; when the after-tax profit is distributed, the shareholder pays tax on the dividend. Canada softens this with the dividend gross-up and credit, which is meant to leave a shareholder roughly where they would have been earning the income directly. The United States taxes the C corporation and then the dividend, with no equivalent integration. See dividends to a foreign parent.

Can I set up a trust that works in two countries?

You can, but the two systems classify and tax trusts differently enough that a structure which is efficient in one is often a reporting problem in the other — a Canadian family trust with a US beneficiary, or a US revocable trust holding Canadian property, are the classic pairs. Canada's twenty-one-year deemed disposition, the US grantor rules and each country's reporting have to be read together, before drafting rather than after. See cross-border wills and trusts.

24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068

Form 8992, quoted before we start

One short call, one fixed quote in writing, and your approval before anything is filed.

  • 18,000+ clients served
  • Fixed fees agreed before work starts
  • 24-hour helpline, +1 (416) 619-0068

Our practitioners are alumni of leading accounting and tax institutions

Where our partners studied — CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program), AICPA, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

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