Allocating Partnership Liabilities

This article discusses the congressional directive of the Tax Reform Act of 1984 in which Congress directed the Treasury to revise and update its regulations under section 752 and to base those revisions largely on the manner in which the partners ... share the economic risk of loss with respect to partnership debt. The authors argue that instead partners should be permitted to allocate partnership debt among themselves in whatever manner they choose. The article begins with an overview of the present rules. Then the article describes the rationale underlying the present rules. The next part addresses problems in application of the rules, which often, in addition to the questionable economic basis of the liability allocation rules, has presented significant difficulties for the courts and the Treasury by producing results at odds with economic substance. After outlining proposals for modification by ALI and New York Bar Association, the article concludes with the authors\u27 proposal for a Flexible Allocation Standard