Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 Revamps Partnership Tax Audit and Collection Procedures

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Adele M. Karig, Vadim Mahmoudov, Peter F.G. Schuur, Rafael Kariyev and Matthew D. Saronson:  “The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 signed by President Obama yesterday substantially changes how the IRS makes tax audit adjustments to partnerships and limited liability companies (LLCs) that are treated as partnerships for tax purposes. The changes are intended to enhance the IRS’s ability to audit partnership tax returns, and to enable the IRS to collect taxes, interest and penalties that flow from a partnership tax audit adjustment directly from the affected partnership. . . . The new partnership tax audit rules, which will apply to tax returns of partnerships for tax years beginning after 2017, provide that any tax adjustments resulting from IRS audits of partnerships generally will be determined and collected at the partnership level, even though partnerships are not subject to income taxes and the partners are the relevant taxpayers.