What is a Limited Partnership?

How is a limited partnership different from a general partnership?

In the last blog post, What is a Partnership?, I gave you an overview of general partnerships and some of the advantages and disadvantages of using that type of business entity.  In an attempt to make partnerships a more beneficial business structure, limited partnerships were created.

In a general partnership, every partner is a "general partner."  That means that each partner can be held personally liable for not only his or her own actions, but for the actions of the partnership as a whole, the other partners, and the partnership's employees.

In a limited partnership, there must be at least one general partner but there are also limited partners.  Limited partners have limited liability (see Limited Liability Protection) so they can only be held personally liable for their own actions.

In exchange for having limited liability protection, the limited partners are not allowed to take any active role in the management of the partnership.  I would advise talking to a business attorney about what activities specifically qualify as management activities.

Why would a General Partner want to be in a Limited Partnership?

At first, it does not seem like there would be any advantages to a general partner to being in a limited partnership.  The general partner is still fully liable for the actions of the others, just as in a general partnership.

However, there are two main benefits to this arrangement for general partners.  The first is that it makes it easier for general partners to raise funds for the business through investors.  Many investors would not be interested in becoming a partner with full personal liability for the actions of the other partners.  The second benefit is that this arrangement leaves the general partners in full control of the daily operations of the business and all major business-related decisions.

What are the other benefits of Limited Partnerships?

Limited partnerships, like general partnerships, are pass-through entities for tax purposes meaning that they are not subject to double taxation (see Would You Rather Be Taxed Once or Twice?).  Also, the limited partners only have the amount that they invested in the business at risk.  Creditors cannot attempt to seize their personal assets, and as previously mentioned they are not personally liable for the actions of others in the business.

What are the negatives of Limited Partnerships?

While the limited partners being barred from participating in the management of the business may be a benefit to the general partners, it can be frustrating for the limited partners.  The limited partners invested their money in the business and may have strong opinions about how the business should be run.  However, if they become involved in the management of the business they lose their limited partner status and their limited liability protection.

Another disadvantage to limited partnerships is that the passive activity rules may affect the limited partners ability to deduct business losses.  The passive activity rules will be the subject of a future blog post.

If you would like to learn more about the tax implications of using the limited partnership structure for your business, or the tax implications of any other business decisions, please send me an e-mail.

What is a Partnership?

A partnership is the easiest type of business entity to form.  So easy in fact that partnerships are occasionally unintentionally formed.

A partnership is formed when two or more people engage in a business enterprise for profit. Partnerships are the only type of business entity that do not require any form of paperwork to be filed as part of its formation.

For purposes of this post, when I refer to a "partnership" I mean a general partnership. Limited partnerships will be discussed in the next post.

Although not required to form a partnership, I would recommend talking to a business transactions attorney anytime you are considering going into business with another person.

In some ways, a partnership is the opposite of a corporation (see What is a Corporation?).  Whereas there is a legal fiction that a corporation is a separate and distinct person, a partnership can be viewed more as an aggregate of all the partners.  For example, property can be owned in the partnership's name but really that means that each partner owns a portion of that property.

Also, as previously mentioned, a partnership does not have to follow any type of formalities to be formed.  It is created simply by two or more people engaging in a business enterprise for profit.  It can be a very informal arrangement.  There are no requirements that even a partnership agreement be created, although for practical purposes it is very useful to have a partnership agreement in place.

While partnerships are required to file tax returns, it is simply an "informational" tax return.  The partnership itself does not pay any taxes, and thus unlike a corporation it is not subject to double taxation.  The partnership's taxable income instead flows through to its individual partners who are responsible for reporting the income on their individual tax returns and paying tax on their share of the partnership's income.  The purpose of the partnership tax return is simply to notify the IRS and the relevant state tax collection agencies of the amount of income that the individual partners should be reporting on their tax returns.

The informational tax return that a partnership files is Form 1065.  Form 1065 will show all of the business' revenue, expenses, gains, losses, and tax credits that get passed through to the partners. Each partner, and the relevant tax collection agencies, will then be provided with a Form K-1.  The purpose of the K-1 is to inform the partner of how much income, losses, and other tax attributes have to be reported on the partner's individual tax return and the nature of the income and losses.

There are several disadvantages to operating your business as a partnership.  The first is that your partners must consent to you transferring your ownership interests in the partnership to someone else. Because the defining characteristic of a partnership is that there are two or more people choosing to work together in a business enterprise, it is impossible to have a partnership if the other person refuses to be engaged in a business enterprise with another person.  Therefore, if you want to sell your ownership interest in a partnership to another person your partners have to agree to it.

Another disadvantage of partnerships is that you are jointly and severally liable for the actions of the partnership, yourself, your partners, and your employees.  Effectively, this means that your partner, while conducting business for the partnership, could cause injury to another person and you could end up being the one sued for it even though you had nothing to do with the situation other than being a partner in a partnership.

If you would like a referral to a business transactions attorney or would like more information on how partnerships and other forms of businesses entities are taxed, please send me an e-mail.

Why Form a Business Entity?

Congratulations!  You decided to turn your passion into a business, and you are doing everything you can to make sure that it is a success.  You've heard people talk about incorporating their business or forming a partnership or LLC, and now you are wondering if that is the right thing for your business.

Table borrowed from www.strategicofficesupport.com

The answer is...maybe.  It is a cliche, but every business and every business owner is different and has different needs that must be considered.

However, there are some factors that impact this decision.

One factor is whether you would like your company to have limited liability protection. Corporations, S-corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), and limited partnerships (for the limited partners) all provide limited liability protection.  Sole proprietorships and general partnerships do not.

Limited liability protection will be discussed in great detail in a future blog post, but in very general terms it means that only the entity's assets (i.e., not your personal assets) are at risk of loss.  For example, let's say that your business has $10,000 worth of assets and you have $250,000 of personal assets outside of the business.  If your business is sued, the plaintiffs can only attempt to collect on the $10,000 of business assets and cannot seize your personal assets.

You may feel that it is very unlikely that you will be sued or that if you are that is the reason why you have insurance.  You may be right, but you also want to keep in mind that your business is not only potentially liable for your actions but for the actions of your employees.  For many business owners, the desire to hire employees makes having limited liability protection a more significant factor to consider.

Another factor that you must consider is whether the business will have multiple owners.  The general rule is that if a business has multiple owners and no action has been taken to form a different type of entity (such as a corporation or LLC), it is a general partnership.  In a general partnership, each partner is personally liable for the actions of every other partner, their employees, and the business.  While for various reasons it may make sense to you to be in a general partnership, you want to make sure that it is a conscious decision and not simply the default because your business has multiple owners.  Therefore, if your business has multiple owners generally it will be an entity, so the decision then is what type of entity.

A third factor to consider are the tax implications to either operating your business as a sole proprietorship or as a business entity.  There are a number of different tax implications, not the least of which is whether or not you are then considered "self employed" and subject to the self-employment tax, that are outside of the scope of this blog post.  The important thing to remember is that there are a number of tax implications to how you choose to structure your business.  I would recommend talking to a CPA to discuss the specific impact that operating your business as a sole proprietorship versus a partnership, corporation, S-corporation, or LLC will have on your tax situation.

The final factor to consider when deciding to operate your business as a sole proprietor or as a separate business entity is the likelihood of an IRS audit.  There is a widespread belief among tax professionals, for various reasons, that a sole proprietorship is more likely to be subjected to an IRS audit than a business entity.  This is not to say that business entities are not audited by the IRS- they are all the time- but many tax professionals believe that sole proprietors are audited more frequently.  Of course you will be filing your taxes properly, but an IRS audit can be expensive for taxpayers even if the IRS does not make any changes to your tax return.

I highly recommend talking to a business transactions attorney about whether forming a separate entity for your business makes sense for you.  Please also feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about the tax implications of how you structure your business.

What Type of Business Entity is Right for My Business?

Are you considering starting your own business?

According to data released from the U.S. Small Business Administration, hundreds of thousands of businesses are created  in the United States every year.  Every one of these new business owners must decide whether they want to operate as a sole proprietorship or whether they would prefer to operate the business as a separate entity.  Then, they have to decide what type of business entity best serves their needs.

Over the following weeks, I will assist you in answering these critical questions by discussing the factors that business owners should consider in determining whether they should form an entity, and the differences that exist between corporations, S-corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies (LLCs).

If you are currently going through this process, I would be happy to talk to you about the tax implications of forming a business and to refer you to a business transaction attorney to answer any legal questions you may have.  Just send me an e-mail.