Form 5713 instructions: How to report international boycott operations in 2026

Form 5713 reports certain business operations connected with boycotting countries, boycott requests, and agreements to participate in or cooperate with an international boycott. For the 2025 tax year, the IRS Form 5713 instructions matter mainly to US taxpayers with cross-border business or entity activity rather than employees who merely live in a listed country.

The 5713 form can sit alongside other international tax forms when a taxpayer has foreign corporations, partnerships, branches, or disregarded entities. That makes accurate boycott reporting part of broader US expat tax obligations and foreign operations compliance, but Form 5713 has its own filing tests and penalties.

What is Form 5713 and why does it matter for US taxpayers?

Form 5713 is the IRS International Boycott Report used by US persons to disclose certain operations in or related to boycotting countries, boycott requests, and boycott agreements. For a required report, willful nonfiling can result in a fine of up to $25,000, imprisonment for up to 1 year, or both.

Form 5713 matters because IRC Section 999 can require disclosure even when no separate tax is calculated on the form, while actual boycott participation can reduce specified federal tax benefits.

The IRS Form 5713 overview states that US persons use the form to report operations in or related to boycotting countries and the receipt of boycott requests or agreements. As of July 20, 2026, the IRS page reports no new Form 5713 developments.

Section 999 addresses specified restrictive trade practices involving an international boycott that the United States does not sanction. Americans with foreign corporations should also understand how specified foreign corporations can create separate US reporting obligations, because Form 5471 and Form 5713 can apply to the same ownership structure for different reasons.

Who must file Form 5713: Filing requirements explained

The Form 5713 filing requirements generally apply when a US person has operations in or related to a boycotting country, or with that country’s government, companies, or nationals. Controlled-group members, certain US shareholders, partners, and owners of trusts can also have reporting obligations under IRC Section 999.

A US person who receives a boycott request – even if the request is refused – may still have a Form 5713 reporting obligation, although special exceptions apply, including the rule for an unsolicited invitation to bid.

The following 5 types of domestic taxpayers fall within the general definition of a US person under Section 7701(a)(30):

• US citizens and resident aliens
• Domestic corporations
• Domestic partnerships
• Estates other than foreign estates
• Domestic trusts

A filing obligation can also arise through another entity. The IRS instructions specifically identify a partner in a partnership with boycott operations, a qualifying US shareholder of a foreign corporation with such operations, certain controlled-group members, and a person treated as the owner of a trust.

For partnership structures, see how Form 1065 and Schedule K-1 reporting works. A request connected with an unsanctioned foreign boycott should be reviewed under the Form 5713 rules rather than treated as an automatic finding that the taxpayer participated in the boycott.

The IRS provides an important exception for unsolicited invitations to bid. If an unsolicited bid invitation contains a boycott request, Form 5713 is required on that basis only if the taxpayer accepts the invitation.

Current boycott countries list for Form 5713 (tax year 2025)

For the 2025 tax year, Treasury’s published boycott countries list contains 8 countries: Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. The United Arab Emirates is not on the 2025 list, despite appearing in the older 2018 Form 5713 instructions still published by the IRS.

The correct 2025 Form 5713 Treasury list has 8 countries, not 9, and the United Arab Emirates should not be added solely because it appears in older IRS instructions.

The following 8 countries were listed by Treasury for 2025 reporting:

• Iraq
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Syria
• Yemen

Treasury publishes the list at least quarterly under Section 999(a)(3). The US Treasury Department remains the responsible department, while the quarterly notices themselves are published in the Federal Register. IRS Publication 514 for 2025 independently reproduces the same 8-country list.

The country list determines boycott reporting, not the ordinary filing date for a taxpayer living there. For that separate issue, see TFX’s guide to foreign-country US tax filing deadlines.

 

Form 5713 due date and extension rules

Form 5713 is due when the taxpayer’s underlying income tax return is due, including a valid extension. For a calendar-year individual filing a 2025 Form 1040, the regular deadline was April 15, 2026; qualifying taxpayers abroad received an automatic extension to June 15, 2026.

The Form 5713 due date follows the return it accompanies – October 15, 2026 is available to an individual only when the applicable extension rules are satisfied, not as an automatic extension for every filer.

A qualifying US citizen or resident alien abroad on April 15 receives the 2-month extension without filing Form 4868. To continue from June 15 to October 15, that taxpayer generally files Form 4868 by the June deadline; an individual who does not qualify for the overseas extension generally requests Form 4868 by April 15.

Calendar-year partnerships had a March 16, 2026 Form 1065 deadline because March 15 fell on a Sunday. A timely Form 7004 provides the applicable business-return extension, while a calendar-year C corporation generally had an April 15, 2026 Form 1120 deadline and can also use Form 7004.

A Form 5713 extension is therefore tied to the underlying return rather than requested on a separate Form 5713 extension application. See TFX’s guide to federal tax and estimated-payment due dates for expats for the broader 2026 filing calendar.

 

Step-by-step Form 5713 instructions: Completing the main form

Current Form 5713 has 2 numbered parts, not 3: Part I covers operations in or related to a boycotting country, while Part II reports boycott requests and acts of participation or cooperation. Filer information appears on lines 1–7, and the boycott questions run through line 13.

The current Form 5713 structure is filer information on lines 1–7, Part I on lines 8–10, general yes/no questions on lines 11–12, and Part II on line 13 – there is no Part III on the current form.

The following 4 steps cover the main form before any required Schedules A, B, or C:

1. Complete filer information on lines 1–7. Identify the filer, tax year, controlled-group status, applicable tax benefits, and other requested information. If the business activity also runs through a foreign disregarded entity or branch, review the separate Form 8858 reporting rules.
2. Complete Part I, lines 8–12. Report relevant operations connected with listed boycott countries, known nonlisted countries requiring cooperation with the boycott of Israel, other international boycotts, boycott requests, and boycott agreements. Line 8 uses a separate line for each country or person with reportable operations.
3. Complete Part II, line 13 when required. Part II identifies requests and agreements and uses numeric codes to describe the type of participation or cooperation requested or agreed to. The current instructions list codes 01 through 05.
4. Complete the signature and applicable schedules. The official Form 5713 PDF contains the Form 5713 signature block on page 1. A “Yes” answer involving participation or cooperation can lead to Schedules A and C or Schedules B and C, depending on the permitted calculation method.

For paper filings, the current form states that paper filers must file in duplicate. The IRS instructions say not to sign the copy attached to the income tax return; an electronically filed original does not require the duplicate copy.

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A 2025 international return can require Form 5713 alongside Form 5471, Form 8858, or Form 1116 when the facts overlap, but each form has a separate filing trigger. TFX can prepare the return and related international forms after reviewing the entity, country, ownership, and boycott-request records.

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Schedule A (Form 5713): Boycott operations disclosure

Schedule A (Form 5713) is not the general country-disclosure schedule. It calculates the international boycott factor under Section 999(c)(1) and applies when a taxpayer participated in or cooperated with a boycott and chooses the factor method for calculating the resulting loss of tax benefits.

The Form 5713 Schedule A calculation compares 3 categories tied to boycott operations – purchases, sales, and payroll – with the corresponding totals for foreign operations. The resulting factor then moves to Schedule C, where the tax effect is calculated.

Use the official Schedule A (Form 5713) for the boycott calculation. Do not confuse it with the completely separate Schedule A used for Form 1040 itemized deductions.

Schedule A for Form 5713 is not required merely because a taxpayer had operations in a listed country. The IRS conditions it on actual participation or cooperation and use of the international boycott factor method.

Schedule B (Form 5713): Specifically attributable taxes and income

Schedule B (Form 5713) uses the specifically attributable taxes and income method under Section 999(c)(2), not a single ratio of boycott-country tax to total foreign tax. It identifies taxes and income directly attributable to boycott operations for purposes of calculating affected benefits on Schedule C.

A taxpayer that participated in or cooperated with a boycott can use Schedule B for Form 5713 instead of the Schedule A factor for most affected benefits. The official Schedule B (Form 5713) is the correct IRS schedule; a Schedule C URL should not be substituted for it.

For individuals, the resulting foreign tax credit adjustment can flow into Form 1116. TFX’s guide to claiming the Foreign Tax Credit on Form 1116 explains the underlying credit calculation separately from the boycott adjustment.

Schedule C (Form 5713): International boycott factor method

Schedule C (Form 5713) computes the tax effect after a filer uses either the Schedule A international boycott factor or the Schedule B specific-attribution method. It can reduce the foreign tax credit and adjust other benefits associated with CFC, IC-DISC, FSC, or former extraterritorial-income rules.

So, do I need Schedule C with Form 5713? Schedule C is required when the taxpayer must calculate the loss of tax benefits from participation in or cooperation with an international boycott. Partnerships are a special case – the partnership generally supplies Schedule A or B information, while partners complete Schedule C for their own affected benefits.

Based on our client scenario at TFX: boycott-related purchases of $100,000, sales of $200,000, and payroll of $50,000 create a $350,000 numerator. If total foreign purchases, sales, and payroll are $1.75 million, the Schedule A factor is 20%; a $40,000 pre-adjustment foreign tax credit would therefore be reduced by $8,000 to $32,000 under the factor method.

Foreign tax documentation still matters to the underlying credit calculation. See TFX’s guide to foreign withholding forms and US tax reporting when reconciling the tax records used in the return.

 

Tax benefits lost for boycott participation: What is at stake

If a taxpayer participates in or cooperates with an international boycott, Section 999 can affect 5 categories of federal tax benefits identified in the current IRS instructions. For most individual expats, the foreign tax credit is the most likely practical issue; several corporate regimes on the list are now legacy provisions.

Boycott participation can create a loss of tax benefits even when Form 5713 itself does not calculate a separate tax liability.

The following 5 benefit categories appear in the IRS Form 5713 instructions:

• Foreign tax credit under Section 908(a)
• Deferral of taxation of controlled foreign corporation earnings under Section 952(a)(3)
• Deferral of IC-DISC income under Section 995(b)(1)(F)(ii)
• FSC exempt foreign trade income under the former Section 927 rules
• Extraterritorial income exclusion under former Section 941 rules

The last 2 items survive in Form 5713 guidance because the instructions preserve rules for legacy transactions even though the FSC and extraterritorial-income regimes were repealed. The remaining provisions can still matter to current taxpayers with foreign corporations or IC-DISC benefits.

For an individual, a foreign tax credit reduction is reported through the applicable credit calculation after Schedule C. TFX’s guide to where foreign income is reported on Form 1040 explains the broader income-reporting side of the return.

Not every refusal to trade or shipping restriction is automatically prohibited boycott participation. Section 999 and the Form 5713 instructions contain definitions and exceptions, so the underlying request, agreement, transaction, and applicable US approval should be reviewed before classifying the conduct.

Where to file Form 5713: Submission instructions

Form 5713 is filed with the income tax return to which it relates, and its deadline follows that return, including extensions. When the original Form 5713 is attached electronically to an e-filed income tax return, the IRS states that no duplicate Form 5713 is required.

For e-filed returns, attach Form 5713 electronically to the underlying return; paper filers should follow the current duplicate-copy instructions rather than mailing the form to an outdated historical address.

The current IRS instructions tell paper filers to attach the original copy and applicable schedules to the income tax return and not sign the attached copy. The form itself states that paper filers must file in duplicate, while the current online “When and Where To File” paragraph does not publish a separate duplicate-mailing address.

Do not use an address copied from an archived 1999 or 2006 Form 5713 instruction booklet, because IRS processing locations have changed. Follow the current return package, filing software, and any current IRS instructions applicable when the paper return is submitted.

If an individual return also contains Form 1040 Schedule 2, that schedule remains part of the Form 1040 package; Form 5713 is a separate international attachment.

Penalties for failure to file Form 5713

Willful failure to file Form 5713 when a report is required can result in a fine of up to $25,000, imprisonment for no more than 1 year, or both under IRC Section 999(f). This is a separate, form-specific criminal penalty — it is not a civil dollar penalty that scales with how late the form is filed, unlike the escalating information-return penalties (for example, under Section 6038) that apply to other international forms such as Form 5471 or Form 8858.

The Form 5713-specific penalty rule targets willful failure to report and authorizes up to a $25,000 fine and 1 year of imprisonment – it does not impose a flat $25,000 civil penalty on every late form.

The following 3 outcomes are stated in the current IRS instructions for willful nonfiling:

• A fine of up to $25,000
• Imprisonment for no more than 1 year
• Both the fine and imprisonment

The failure to file Form 5713 should also be separated from the tax-benefit consequences of actual participation in a boycott. A taxpayer can have a reporting problem, a reduction in tax benefits, or both, depending on the facts.

Where the facts raise a potential willfulness issue, filing a late form without reviewing the broader disclosure position can create additional risk. TFX’s guide to Form 14457 and the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice explains that separate compliance route, although it is not automatically required for every late Form 5713.

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Form 5713 country codes: How to identify boycotting countries on the form

Form 5713 does not require 2-letter FIPS country codes for entries identifying boycotting countries. Line 8 reports countries by name, columns (3) and (4) use principal business activity information, and Part II uses numeric codes 01–05 to classify the type of boycott participation or cooperation requested or agreed to.

For the 2025 Treasury list, use the relevant country name on Form 5713 – codes such as IZ, KU, LE, or QA are not Form 5713 country-entry requirements.

The 2025 reporting rule covers 8 Treasury-listed countries, and none requires a 2-letter FIPS code in the country field.

 

The “code” fields elsewhere on the form serve different functions. Lines 8 and 13 use principal business activity codes, while columns (7) and (9) of Part II use codes 01 through 05 for the type of requested or agreed cooperation.

Form 5713 for partnerships and pass-through entities

A partnership with reportable boycott operations files Form 5713 with Form 1065, but partners do not automatically file duplicate individual Forms 5713. A partner is excused from separate filing when 3 IRS conditions are met involving independent operations, partnership filing, and the partnership’s nonparticipation in the boycott.

Partnership boycott reporting does not use a 5% partner-ownership threshold – the current IRS exception turns on 3 factual conditions instead.

The following 3 conditions must all be met for the partner exception:

• The partner has no boycott operations independent of the partnership.
• The partnership files Form 5713 with Form 1065.
• The partnership did not cooperate with or participate in an international boycott.

If the partnership did participate in or cooperate with a boycott, it still files Form 5713 with Form 1065, and — because the partner exception no longer applies — each affected partner completes their own Schedule C to figure their allocable share of the lost tax benefits, based on the Schedule A or B information the partnership provides.

There is no 5% ownership threshold in the current partner exception. Partnership ownership rules for Form 5713 should also not be confused with withholding obligations; TFX’s guide to Form 8813 partnership withholding payments covers that separate regime.

Reasonable cause exception: How to avoid Form 5713 penalties

Reasonable cause is not a blanket statutory exception to the Form 5713 consequences in Section 999(f), because that provision specifically addresses a willful failure to report. The IRS’s current filing-location guidance nevertheless tells taxpayers asserting reasonable cause for a missed Form 5713 to attach the statement to the Form 5713 return.

A Form 5713 reasonable cause statement can document why the filing was late, but current IRS guidance does not promise that attaching one automatically removes every consequence.

A useful statement should address the facts rather than rely on a generic assertion. The following 4 points are typically relevant to documenting the filing history:

• When the taxpayer first learned that Form 5713 was required
• What circumstances caused the filing failure
• What steps were taken once the issue was discovered
• What records support the explanation and timeline

The statutory focus on willfulness makes intent and surrounding facts particularly important. A taxpayer should not describe a late Form 5713 as automatically protected by “Section 6679(b) reasonable cause,” because Section 999(f) supplies the form-specific willful-failure rule.

Relief rules also differ across international forms. TFX’s guide to relief from Forms 3520 and 3520-A for certain foreign trusts illustrates why a relief rule for one form should not be transferred to Form 5713 without checking its own statute and instructions.

Form 5713 vs. other international information returns: Key differences

Form 5713, Form 5471, and Form 8858 are international tax forms, but they address 3 different subjects: boycott activity, foreign-corporation ownership and activity, and foreign disregarded entities or branches. Each generally accompanies another tax or information return, yet its filing trigger and penalty provisions are different.

Form 5713 carries a willful-failure fine of up to $25,000 and 1 year imprisonment, while common Section 6038 failures involving Forms 5471 or 8858 can start at $10,000 and add continuation penalties after IRS notice.

 

The IRS Form 5471 guidance describes the foreign-corporation reporting categories. Current Form 5471 instructions state that the form is filed with the taxpayer’s return by its due date, including extensions, and Section 6038 failures can carry an initial $10,000 penalty plus continuation penalties of up to $50,000 per failure after notice.

Form 8858 follows a similar due-date model for applicable foreign disregarded entities and branches. Its current instructions also describe a $10,000 Section 6038 penalty in applicable cases and continuation penalties of up to $50,000 after the prescribed notice period.

Get help filing Form 5713

Form 5713 can require 2 separate decisions before the return is complete: whether Section 999 reporting applies and, if there was participation or cooperation, which Schedule A or Schedule B method feeds Schedule C. TFX can prepare the international forms required with a 2025 expat return.

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