In September 2017, the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Section of Taxation submitted comments to the IRS on proposed regulations implementing the partnership audit procedures enacted as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.  Ropes & Gray was honored to play a role in the drafting of these comments, an effort lead by the ABA Section on Taxation’s Administrative Practice Committee.  Partner Kathleen Saunders Gregor, senior attorney Gabrielle G. Hirz, and associates Joshua A. Lichtenstein, Yuval Peled, Veronika Polakova, and Kathryn Seevers were all recognized as substantial contributors.

As described in past Ropes & Gray client alerts here and here, the Bipartisan Budget Act created a new regime for auditing partnerships, repealing the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act rules that have been in place since 1982.  The new regime is intended to facilitate audits of large and tiered partnership structures by the Internal Revenue Service as well as permitting the IRS to collect tax directly from partnerships, rather than collecting tax from each individual partner as provided under TEFRA.  The new regime goes into effect for returns for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017.

The comments address the proposed regulations and recommend that a variety of changes be made before they are finalized. Click here to read the comments.