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A significant challenge for tax counsel in drafting partnership agreements is ensuring that allocations of tax credits will be respected in an IRS examination. As even the Service notes, determining whether or not a tax credit is allocated correctly depends on several issues, such as the specific credit, the nature of any debt used to finance the property giving rise to the credit, and the complex rules of IRC Section 704(b).

The Code has numerous provisions for tax credits, and not all credits are treated equally. For example, while most credits do not impact a partner’s capital account, the rehabilitation tax credit requires the partner to reduce the depreciable basis of the building by the amount of the rehabilitation credit, and the partner must reduce his capital account by his ratable share of that credit. The IRS has also issued safe harbor provisions for rehabilitation tax credits that do not apply to other tax credits.

With low-income housing tax credits and new market tax credits both demanding tax advisers’ attention, tax counsel must know the particular treatment of specific tax credits to ensure that partnership agreements properly allocate the credits in a way that will withstand IRS scrutiny. Failure to meet the complex rules can risk disallowance of the credit allocations, which can lead to serious adverse tax consequences.

Listen as our experienced panel of tax practitioners provides a comprehensive guide to provisions allocating tax credits within a partnership agreement.