Ch 14 Partnerships Flashcards
What is the wide size range of business activities the partnership form serves?
Small local operations to worldwide enterprises
What does the IRS project the number of partnership income tax returns will be compared to corporate returns by 2016?
4.7 million partnership returns
Compared to 8.1 corporate income tax returns
Why do individual proprietors join together to form a partnership? 4 reasons
1 reduce expenses
2 expand services
3 add increased expertise
4 tax benefits
Partnership is a common means by which friends and relatives can…
Easily create and organize a business endeavor
Historically, why have doctors, lawyers and other professionals formed partnerships?
legal prohibitions against incorporation of their practices
Most common motive to form a partnership (instead of a corporation)
Ease of formation
What is necessary to create a legally binding partnership?
Only an oral agreement
Depending on specific state laws, incorporation requires filing a…
Formal application and completing various other forms and
Documents
Partnership revenue and expense items (as defined by tax laws), where must they be assigned?
Must be directly assigned each year to individual partners who
Pay income tax
Passing income balances through to partners, avoids what?
Double taxation of profits earned by business
And then passed through to owners
How is a corporation’s income taxes twice?
1 when earned
2 when paid as dividend
A partnership’s income is taxed only at the time the…
Business initially earns it
Historically, what is the second tax advantage (after flow through income) associated with partnerships?
Operating losses can reduce personal taxable income directly
Corporations: operating losses, disadvantage
Corporation is viewed as legally separate from its owners
So losses can’t be passed through to owners
Corporations: operating losses, 2 advantages
1 carry back net operating losses 2 years to reduce previously
Taxed income
2 carry forward remaining losses 20 years to reduce future
Taxable income
Newly formed corporation VS. Newly formed partnership: operating losses
If corporation is newly formed or hasn’t been profitable, operating
Losses provide no immediate benefit to corporation/owners
Losses provide immediate benefit to partnership
Limitation of tax advantage of deducting partnership losses: passive activity limitation
Passive activity losses serve only to offset passive activity profits
For tax purposes, ownership of a partnership is labeled as passive activity unless…
The partner materially participates in the actual business activities
In most cases, passive activity partnership losses can’t be used to reduce…
Earned income (ex. Salaries)
Unless a taxpayer has significant passive activity income (ex. From rents), losses reported by partnership create…
Little or no tax advantage unless partner materially participates
In actual business activity
Most significant disadvantage of partnership
Unlimited liability each partner incurs
Unlimited liability specified by partnership law?
Any partner can be held personally liable for all debts of business
Mutual agency
Right each partner has to incur liabilities in name of partnership
Consequence of mutual agency: partners acting within normal scope of business have the power to…
Obligate the company for any amount
What happens if the partnership fails to pay any debts incurred in mutual agency?
Creditors can seek satisfactory remuneration from any partner
They choose
Uniform Partnership Act (UPA) (1914, revised 1997), where and how has it been adopted?
By all states in some form
Uniform Partnership Act, establishes uniform standards in what 3 main areas?
1 nature of partnership
2 relationship of partners to outside parties
3 dissolution of partnership
Uniform Partnership Act (UPA): Section 6’s legal definition of a partnership
Association of 2 or more persons to carry on business as
co-owners for profit
Because of the possible owner liability, partnerships often experience difficulty in attracting…
Large amounts of capital
2 main Purposes of alternative legal forms of partnership
1 limit owners’ personal liability
2 provide tax benefits of partnership
S corporation
Has legal characteristics of corporation
Taxed as partnership, where profits are only taxable to individual
Owners
What are the 2 main advantages of an S corporation?
1 form avoids double taxation
2 owners don’t face unlimited liability
How can a business qualify as an S corporation? 3
1 one class of stock 2 shareholders limited to 100 3 restrictions on types of owners
S-Corp: restrictions on types of owners
All owners must be individuals, estates, certain tax-exempt
Entities or certain trusts
What is the most significant problem with the S-Corp form of business?
Growth potential is limited because restriction on number and
Type of owners
Limited partnership (LP)
Type of investment designed primarily for individuals who want
The tax benefits of partnership
But who don’t work in a partnership or have unlimited liability
Limited partners
Can invest money as owners, but not allowed to participate in
Company’s management
Limited partners: loss on money invested in business
Restricted to amount they’ve contributed
How are creditors of a limited partnership protected?
1 or more general partners have responsibility for all obligations
Created in name of business
Why are many partnerships originally formed?
As tax shelters to create immediate losses (reducing taxable
Income for partners) with profits spread to the future
Tax laws limit the deduction of passive activity losses and this significantly reduced…
The formation of limited partnerships
Limited liability partnership (LLP) 2 things
1 Has most characteristics of general partnership
2 Except it significantly reduces partners’ liability
What are partners liable for in a limited liability partnership?
Their investment in the business and contractual debts of the
business
Limited liability partnerships: liability resulting from damages
Partners only responsible for their own acts or omissions
And acts and omissions of those under supervision
Ex. A partner in Houston office won’t be held liable for a poor audit from the San Fransisco Audit team,
Limited liability partnerships have become…
Very popular with professional service organizations with multiple
Offices
Ex. All big four are LLPs
Limited liability company’s (LLCs)
Classified as partnership for tax purposes
Depending on state laws, owners risk only their own investments
Advantage of an LLC over an S Corp
Number of owners is not restricted
So growth is easier to accomplish
What 2 questions should be raised as to the need for an entirely separate study of partnership accounting?
1 does an association of 2 or more persons require accounting
Procedures significantly different from corporations?
2 Does proper accounting depend on legal form of an organization?