On April 15, MFA submitted a comment letter to the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service providing comments on the implementation of the new partnership audit rules, implemented as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. In our letter, we noted that, as a matter of fundamental tax policy and basic tax fairness, the new partnership audit rules should not force taxpayers to bear liability for other taxpayers’ obligations, to pay taxes that they do not rightfully owe to the government, or to pay taxes twice on the same income. We encouraged Treasury and the Service to focus on implementing the legislation in a manner that establishes an efficient, administrable regime that best ensures that the government collects the correct amount of tax from the correct taxpayers. We specifically urged Treasury and the Service to: (1) ensure that partnerships and their partners receive appropriate basis adjustments, modifications for taxes already paid, modifications for the applicable tax characteristics of all partners, direct and indirect, and appropriate adjustments for overpayments as well as underpayments; and (2) develop rules or guidance permitting tiered partnerships to use the reporting option provided in section 6226 of the legislation. MFA also commented on other technical issues that require additional clarification or guidance from Treasury and the Service for the new partnership audit rules to be effective in practice.
