Electing Out of the Centralized Partnership Audit Regime

A partnership can elect out of the centralized partnership audit regime for a tax year if the partnership is an eligible partnership that year. A partnership is an eligible partnership for a tax year if it has 100 or fewer eligible partners. A partner is an eligible partner if it is an individual, a C corporation, a foreign entity that would be treated as a C corporation if it were domestic, an S corporation, or an estate of a deceased partner. The determination as to whether the partnership has 100 or fewer partners is made by adding the number of Schedules K-1 required to be issued by the partnership to the number of Schedules K-1 required to be issued by any partner that is an S corporation to its shareholders for the tax year of the S corporation ending with or within the partnership tax year. A partnership is not an eligible partnership if it is required to issue a Schedule K-1 to any of the following partners.

• A partnership.

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• A trust.

• A foreign entity that would not be treated as a C corporation were it a domestic entity.

• A disregarded entity described in Regulations section 301.7701-2(c)(2)(i).

• An estate of an individual other than a deceased partner.

• Any person that holds an interest in the partnership on behalf of another person. See the Instructions for Form 1065 if electing out of the centralized partnership audit regime.

An annual election out of the centralized partnership audit regime must be made on the eligible partnership’s timely filed return, including extensions, for the tax year to which the election applies. The election is made by including the following information on Schedule B-2 (Form 1065) and filing with the tax return.

• The name of each partner.

• The TIN of each partner.

• The federal tax classification for each partner.

• If an S corporation is a partner, provide the names, TINs, and federal tax classification of any shareholder of the S corporation for the tax year of the S corporation ending with or within the partnership’s tax year.

This annual election once made may not be revoked without the consent of the IRS. A partnership that elects out of the centralized partnership audit regime must notify each of its partners of the election within 30 days of making the election. By making the election out of the centralized partnership audit regime, you are affirming that all of the partners in the partnership meet the eligibility requirements under section 6221(b)(1)(C) and you have provided all of the required information with the Form 1065.