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Kathryn Seevers

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In this Ropes & Gray webinar, tax partners Kat Gregor and Jim Brown and moderator Kathryn Seevers discuss the trilogy of proposed partnership audit regulations that provide rules implementing many aspects of the provisions of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. The most notable set of regulations allows for “push-out” elections to be effective in pushing adjustments through tiered partnership structures. Click here to listen to the recording that includes insightful analysis of the proposed regulations.

 

In a trilogy of releases in the last six weeks, the Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) provided much-needed guidance on the implementation of the partnership audit rules in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the “BBA Rules”). On the eve of the BBA Rules coming into effect (for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017), Treasury has clarified that tiered partnerships generally will be permitted to push adjustments through to indirect partners under the new Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) Section 6226, a welcome clarification that had been broadly requested by practitioners and taxpayers.

Click here to read the full alert.

On November 29, 2017, the Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) issued proposed regulations (REG-119337-17) addressing certain international tax aspects of the centralized partnership audit regime passed into law in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the “BBA Rules”). The newly proposed regulations provide rules addressing FATCA and other tax withholding on foreign partners and the treatment of certain foreign tax payments made by a partnership. The newly proposed regulations are one piece of guidance expected from Treasury as the BBA Rules come into effect for partnership tax years beginning after December 31, 2017. Continue Reading New Partnership Audit Regulations Released as Effective Date Draws Near

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. 

In the April-June 2017 issue of Risk & Compliance, Tax partner Kat Gregor and Tax associates Kathryn Seevers and Veronika Polakova discuss certain governance concerns raised by the new partnership audit regulations that were released by the Department of Treasury on January 18, 2017. The article focuses on two issues: (1) the ability of partnerships to opt out of the rules and (2) the approach to the selection of the partnership representative given the partnership representative’s powers under the rules.

Click here to read the full article.