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Determining A Partner's Share Of Unrealized Receivables At The Liquidation Of The Partner's Interest, Stephen Utz

Stephen Gerard Utz

Partnership law allows partners great freedom to vary the terms on which they share partnership profits from different sources. Partnership tax law, however, seems to presume, for purposes of the collapsible partner rules, that partners will share the revenue from the collection of receivables always in proportion to the value of their partnership interests. This counterfactual presumption exposes both the government and partner/taxpayers to unfortunate consequences. A substance-over-form approach to the attribution of unrealized receivables would certainly be unworkable, because too costly and intrusive to administer. Something between substance-over form and form-over-substance would best implement the policy of Subchapter K …