Question

1-what is inside basis and outside basis, and why are they relevant for taxing partnership and partners? 

2-Distinguish between a capital interest and a profits interest, and explain how partners and partnerships treat each when exchanging them for services provided.

3-why do you think partnerships, rather than the individual partners, are responsible for making most of the tax elections related to the operation of the partnership? 

4-Explain the least. Aggregate deferral test for determining a partnership’s year end and discuss when it applies. 

5-what is a partnership’s ordinary business income loss and how is it calculated? 

6-how much flexibility do partnerships have in allocating partnership items to partners? 

7-why does a partner’s tax basis in her partnership interest need to be adjusted annually? 

8-What hurdles or limitations must partners overcome before they can ultimately deduct partnership losses on their tax returns? 

9-what happens to partnership losses allocated to partners in excess of the tax basis in their partnership interests? 

10-under what circumstances can partners with passive losses from partnerships deduct their losses? 

Answer 1

Answer 1

An inside basis, in relation to partnerships, is the basis the partnership takes in the assets that the partnership holds. An outside basis, in relation to partnerships, is the tax basis each partner has in the partnership. The inside basis is necessary to compute the gain/loss recognized on all property sold by the partnership. The outside basis is necessary to compute the gain/loss recognized on the partnership interest when sold. For tax purposes, the inside basis is similar to the basis the partner had in the property prior to contribution. On the other hand, the outside basis corresponds not only to the contributed property, but also to the debt and income/losses of the partnership.

Answer 2

A partnership interest can be broken down into two distinct rights: (1) capital interest and (2) profits interest. To become a partner in a partnership, you will receive at least one of these rights. A capital interest is the right to receive a share of the partnership assets at liquidation. A profits interest is the right to share in the future earnings and losses of the partnership. While these rights are given to most partners that contribute cash or property, special rules exist when these rights are given to partners in exchange for services.

Answer 3

The responsibility for the partnership, not the partners, to make the majority of tax elections regarding the operation of the partnership is twofold. First, partnerships can consist of many different partners ranging from two to hundreds. The hassle to obtain every partner’s approval on what elections to make would be very time consuming. The costs would more than likely outweigh the benefits in performing this function. Second, in many partnerships only a few partners are actively involved in the management of the partnership. The limited partners have ownership to obtain a tax advantage on their own personal returns. Thus, the entity concept would appear more reasonable when dealing with the actual operations of the partnership.

Answer 4

The least aggregate deferral test is the last resort test that a partnership must follow when figuring out the partnership year end. The first test is the majority interest test. The second test is the principal partners test. If these two tests don’t apply, along with the exception to elect an alternative year end, then the least aggregate deferral test goes into effect. The least aggregate deferral test selects the tax year which provides the partner group as a whole the smallest amount of aggregate tax deferral. This is calculated by taking each partner’s months of deferral under the potential tax year and weighting it with the partner’s profit interest percentage. Then, each partner’s weighted totals are summed up to come up with an aggregate deferral number. The potential tax year that produces the smallest aggregate deferral must be the one chosen by the partnership.

Answer 5

Through the course of business, partnerships create income or losses. Some of these items are considered to affect a specific partner or groups of partners differently. Thus, these separately-stated items must be reported on a partner-by-partner basis. Then, after adjusting the partnership’s business income (loss) for these separately-stated items, the partnership reports the remaining amount of business income (loss) to ordinary business income (loss). The total amount will be allocated to each partner according to the special allocation rules agreed upon or else based upon the profit sharing ratios of the partnership.

Answer 6

Partnerships have a great deal of flexibility in determining how to allocate partnership items to partners, both separately-stated and non-separately stated items. The determining factors must be (1) the partners agree upon the allocations and (2) the allocations have substantial economic effect. The second factor is put into place to make sure the allocations are being accomplished for a business objective and not just to reduce or avoid taxes. While both of these items need to be met for a special allocation of a partnership item, certain items have mandatory allocations to specific partners. For example, contributed property built-in gain (loss) must be allocated to the partner who contributed the property when the property is sold. Any additional gain (loss) will be allocated according to the partnership agreement. Overall, if the partnership has no mandatory allocations or does not specify and meet the requirements for special allocations, the partnership will allocate according to the capital or profit interest.

Answer 7

A partner’s tax basis needs to be adjusted annually for the following three reasons. First, a partner does not want to double count any income/gain from the partnership when she/he sells her/his partnership interest or receive a distribution from the partnership. Second, the IRS does not want partners to double count any expenses/losses from the partnership in a similar situation from above. Last, partners want to make sure they adjust for tax-exempt income and non-deductible expenses, so these items will not ultimately be taxed or deducted at the time of selling a partnership interest or receiving a distribution from the partnership.

Answer 8

While a partnership can create an ordinary business loss, the individual partners potentially will not be able to deduct the entire amount in the year of the loss. The partner must overcome three loss limitation rules before the deduction is available. If the loss does not pass any of the limitations, then the loss is suspended indefinitely under that specific hurdle. The three loss limitations are (1) the tax basis limitation, (2) the at-risk loss limitation, and (3) the passive activity loss limitation. First, a partner is not able to take any losses that exceed the tax basis of the partner, the partner’s outside basis. This limitation prevents partners from taking losses beyond their investment or basis in their partnership interests. Second, a partner cannot take any losses that exceed the at-risk amount for the partner. The at-risk amount is generally the same as the partner’s tax basis, except that it excludes the partner’s share of nonrecourse debt. This limit still includes recourse debt and qualified nonrecourse debt. Finally, in the case of a passive participant in a partnership, losses cannot be taken if the loss exceeds the amount of passive income reported by the partner.

Answer 9

Losses that are allocated to partners that exceed the partner’s tax basis cannot be used during the current taxable year. The excess loss will be suspended and carried forward indefinitely until the partner has sufficient basis to utilize the losses. A partner would be able to increase her/his tax basis by (1) making a capital contribution, (2) guaranteeing more partnership debt, or (3) helping the partnership become more profitable. Once the partner’s tax basis is positive, the losses previously suspended can be used.

Answer 10

A partner may deduct the passive losses she/he has generated from a partnership under three circumstances. First, a passive loss is not deductible until the taxpayer generates current year passive income in the activity producing the loss. Second, a passive loss is not deductible until the taxpayer generates current year passive income from another passive activity the taxpayer is involved with. Last, a passive loss will not be deductible unless the taxpayer sells the activity that has produced the passive loss. In this case, the taxpayer will report a gain or loss on the sale and can use the passive loss to offset this or any other source of income ( i.e., active income, portfolio income, or other passive income).