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TOPICS / PASSTHROUGHS

LLC Interests as Limited Partnership Interests: Sec. 469 Revisited

The focus of recent cases has been on application of the “limited partner” rule of Sec. 469(h)(2) and, based on the specific language contained in Temp. Regs. Sec. 1.469-5T, whether an interest in an LLC should be treated as an “interest in a limited partnership as a limited partner.”

LLCs, LLPs, and the Passive Loss Rules

Sec. 469(h)(2) treats a limited partner’s losses from an interest in a limited partnership as presumptively passive. The IRS has taken the position that a taxpayer who is a member of an LLC or LLP that is taxed as a partnership should be treated as a limited partner and therefore any losses passed through to the member are passive activity losses.

Impact of Anticipated COD Income on Investors Joining Existing Partnerships

When appreciated property is contributed to a partnership, the precontribution gain is accounted for under Sec. 704(c), which provides that income, gain, loss, and deduction for property contributed to the partnership by a partner are shared among the partners so as to take account of the variation between the basis of the property to the partnership and its fair market value (FMV) at the time of contribution.

Partnership Structural Changes: Deductibility of Expenses

This item examines several partnership restructuring transactions and discusses the circumstances in which a restructuring expense can be deducted and amortized under Sec. 709 or must be capitalized under Regs. Sec. 1.263(a)-5(a).

Trusts Owning Partnership Interests

When a trust instrument is silent and no discretionary power of administration exists, trustees and their advisers need to be knowledgeable of how partnership activity (including both taxable income and distributions received) is affected by the trust administration statutes of the state of situs of the trust.

Taxpayer Not Allowed to Defer Income on Sale of Partnership Interest

A partner in a consulting partnership who received restricted stock in the sale of her interest in the partnership to a corporation and agreed by contract to report the full value of the stock in income in the year the stock was transferred could not defer including part of the value of the stock in income until the year the restrictions on the stock were lifted.

Tax Shelter Transactions Disregarded

The Fifth Circuit joined the majority of circuits and held that a lack of economic substance will invalidate the results of a transaction even if a taxpayer had a genuine motive other than tax avoidance for entering into the transaction.

Prop. Regs. on Determining Partners’ Distributive Shares

The IRS has issued proposed regulations on determining partners’ distributive shares of partnership items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit when a partner’s interest varies during a partnership tax year.

Navigating Secs. 743 and 734 in the Current Economy

Given the current economy and the resulting decline in the value of investment partnership portfolios, tax practitioners must be familiar with the mandatory basis adjustments under Secs. 743 and 734 and the alternative rules for electing investment partnerships.

Target or Waterfall: Partnership Allocations

In recent years, more and more partnership agreements have been drafted using the targeted capital account approach for allocating partnership items of income or loss (targeted capital approach) versus the typical Sec. 704(b) economic effect approach (waterfall approach).

Partner Cannot Sue for Refund of Penalty Paid by Partnership

The Eighth Circuit reversed a district court and held that where a partnership paid a penalty under a closing agreement with the IRS, a partner in the partnership did not have standing to sue for a refund of part of the penalty payment.

Using a Limited Liability Partnership as the Entity of Choice

A new type of entity that has appeared in the United States in recent years is the limited liability partnership (LLP) or registered limited liability partnership (RLLP). This entity is similar in many respects to the limited liability company (LLC). All states now have LLP statutes.