Real Estate Insights, Fall 2018 03 | Page 11

The Partnership Representative will retain broad authority to resolve any partnership audit and any such resolution will be binding on all partners. The new rules could shift the tax burden of an assessment to those persons who are partners in the year of assessment rather than flowing through the adjustments to the partners who recognized the benefits in earlier years. Considerations Impact on partnership agreements: • Agreement on control of audit process • Rights of partners The purpose of the new partnership audit procedures is to increase tax collections, so the number of partnership audits may rise. Existing partnership agreements should be reviewed and amended to address these new rules as well as choosing a Partnership Representative. Such decisions should be reflected in the partnership agreements as well as offering memoranda and subscription documents. Additionally, all purchase and sale agreements should be carefully evaluated so that potential partners do not bear the costs of taxes associated with income or gain earned by partners in prior years. n Erik Weinapple is a director in the tax group at BPM. Contact Erik at [email protected] or 925-296-1074. • Allocation of adjustments • Treatment of former partners • Potential disincentive for certain new entity members BPM Real Estate Insights 11