Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Certain Foreign Partnerships

Deductions

Report only trade or business activity deductions on lines 9 through 21.

Do not report the following expenses on lines 9 through 21:

• Rental activity expenses. Report these expenses on Form 8825 or line 3b of Schedule K.
• Deductions allocable to portfolio income. Report these deductions on line 10 of Schedules K and K-1.
• Nondeductible expenses (e.g., expenses connected with the production of tax-exempt income). Report nondeductible expenses on line 21 of Schedules K and K-1.
• Qualified expenditures to which an election under section 59(e) may apply. The instructions for lines 18a and 18b of Schedules K and K-1 explain how to report these amounts.
• Items that require separate computations by the partners. Examples include expenses incurred for the production of income instead of in a trade or business, charitable contributions, foreign taxes paid, intangible drilling and development costs, soil and water conservation expenditures, amortizable basis of reforestation expenditures, and exploration expenditures. The distributive shares of these expenses are reported separately on Schedule K-1.

Limitations on Deductions

Section 263A uniform capitalization rules. The uniform capitalization rules of section 263A require partnerships to capitalize or include in inventory costs, certain costs incurred in connection with:

• The production of real and tangible personal property held in inventory or held for sale in the ordinary course of business.
• Real property or personal property (tangible and intangible) acquired for resale.
• The production of real property and tangible personal property by a partnership for use in its trade or business or in an activity engaged in for profit.

The costs required to be capitalized under section 263A are not deductible until the property to which the costs relate is sold, used, or otherwise disposed of by the partnership.

Exceptions. Section 263A does not apply to:

• Inventory of a partnership that accounts for inventories in the same manner as materials and supplies that are not incidental.
• Personal property acquired for resale if the partnership's average annual gross receipts for the 3 prior tax years were $10 million or less.
• Timber.
• Most property produced under a long-term contract.
• Certain property produced in a farming business. See the note at the end of the instructions for line 5 on page 7.

Report the following costs separately for purposes of determinations under section 59(e):

• Research and experimental costs under section 174.
• Intangible drilling costs for oil, gas, and geothermal property.
• Mining exploration and development costs.

Tangible personal property produced by a partnership includes a film, sound recording, videotape, book, or similar property.

Partnerships subject to the rules are required to capitalize not only direct costs but an allocable part of most indirect costs (including taxes) that benefit the assets produced or acquired for resale, or are incurred by reason of the performance of production or resale activities.

For inventory, some of the indirect costs that must be capitalized are:

• Administration expenses.
• Taxes.
• Depreciation.
• Insurance.
• Compensation paid to officers attributable to services.
• Rework labor.
• Contributions to pension, stock bonus, and certain profit-sharing, annuity, or deferred compensation plans.

Regulations section 1.263A-1(e)(3) specifies other indirect costs that relate to production or resale activities that must be capitalized and those that may be currently deductible.

Interest expense paid or incurred during the production period of designated property must be capitalized and is governed by special rules. For more details, see Regulations sections 1.263A-8 through 1.263A-15.

For more details on the uniform capitalization rules, see Regulations sections 1.263A-1 through 1.263A-3.

Transactions between related taxpayers. Generally, an accrual basis partnership may deduct business expenses and interest owed to a related party (including any partner) only in the tax year of the partnership that includes the day on which the payment is includible in the income of the related party. See section 267 for details.

Business start-up expenses. Business start-up expenses must be capitalized. If the partnership files Form 1065 or 1065-B, it may elect to amortize them over a period of not less than 60 months. See Pub. 535 and Regulations section 1.195-1.

Organization costs. Amounts paid or incurred to organize a partnership are capital expenditures. They are not deductible as a current expense.

If the partnership files Form 1065 or 1065-B, it may elect to amortize organization expenses over a period of 60 or more months, beginning with the month in which the partnership begins business. See the instructions for line 10 for the treatment of organization expenses paid to a partner. See Pub. 535 for more information.

Syndication costs. Costs for issuing and marketing interests in the partnership, such as commissions, professional fees, and printing costs, must be capitalized. They cannot be depreciated or amortized. See the instructions for line 10 for the treatment of syndication fees paid to a partner.

Reducing certain expenses for which credits are allowable. For each of the following credits, the partnership must reduce the otherwise allowable deductions for expenses used to figure the credit by the amount of the current year credit:

1. The work opportunity credit.
2. The welfare-to-work credit.
3. The credit for increasing research activities.
4. The enhanced oil recovery credit.
5. The disabled access credit.
6. The empowerment zone employment credit.
7. The Indian employment credit.
8. The credit for employer social security and Medicare taxes paid on certain employee tips.
9. The orphan drug credit.

If the partnership has any of these credits, figure each current year credit before figuring the deductions for expenses on which the credit is based.

Line 9 - Salaries and Wages

Enter on line 9 the salaries and wages paid or incurred for the tax year, reduced by any applicable employment credits from Form 5884, Work Opportunity Credit, Form 8861, Welfare-to-Work Credit, Form 8844, Empowerment Zone Employment Credit, and Form 8845, Indian Employment Credit. See the instructions for these forms for more information.

Do not include salaries and wages reported elsewhere on the return, such as amounts included in cost of goods sold, elective contributions to a section 401(k) cash or deferred arrangement, or amounts contributed under a salary reduction SEP agreement or a SIMPLE IRA plan.

Line 10 - Guaranteed Payments to Partners

Deduct payments or credits to a partner for services or for the use of capital if the payments or credits are determined without regard to partnership income and are allocable to a trade or business activity. Also include on line 10 amounts paid during the tax year for insurance that constitutes medical care for a partner, a partner's spouse, or a partner's dependents.

Do not include any payments and credits that should be capitalized. For example, although payments or credits to a partner for services rendered in organizing or syndicating a partnership may be guaranteed payments, they are not deductible on line 10. They are capital expenditures. However, they should be separately reported on Schedules K and K-1, line 5.

Do not include distributive shares of partnership profits.

Report the guaranteed payments to the appropriate partners on Schedule K-1, line 5.

Line 11 - Repairs and Maintenance

Enter the costs of incidental repairs and maintenance that do not add to the value of the property or appreciably prolong its life, but only to the extent that such costs relate to a trade or business activity and are not claimed elsewhere on the return.

New buildings, machinery, or permanent improvements that increase the value of the property are not deductible. They are chargeable to capital accounts and may be depreciated or amortized.

Line 12 - Bad Debts

Enter the total debts that became worthless in whole or in part during the year, but only to the extent such debts relate to a trade or business activity. Report deductible nonbusiness bad debts as a short-term capital loss on Schedule D.

Cash method partnerships cannot take a bad debt deduction unless the amount was previously included in income.

Line 13 - Rent

Enter rent paid on business property used in a trade or business activity. Do not deduct rent for a dwelling unit occupied by any partner for personal use.

If the partnership rented or leased a vehicle, enter the total annual rent or lease expense paid or incurred in the trade or business activities of the partnership. Also complete Part V of Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization. If the partnership leased a vehicle for a term of 30 days or more, the deduction for vehicle lease expense may have to be reduced by an amount called the inclusion amount. You may have an inclusion amount if:

See Pub. 463 for instructions on figuring the inclusion amount.

Line 14 - Taxes and Licenses

Enter taxes and licenses paid or incurred in the trade or business activities of the partnership if not reflected in cost of goods sold. Federal import duties and Federal excise and stamp taxes are deductible only if paid or incurred in carrying on the trade or business of the partnership.

Do not deduct the following taxes on line 14:

• State and local sales taxes paid or incurred in connection with the acquisition or disposition of business property. These taxes must be added to the cost of the property, or, in the case of a disposition, subtracted from the amount realized.
• Taxes assessed against local benefits to the extent that they increase the value of the property assessed, such as for paving, etc.
• Federal income taxes or taxes reported elsewhere on the return.
• Section 901 foreign taxes. See Schedules K and K-1, line 17g.
• Taxes allocable to a rental activity. Taxes allocable to a rental real estate activity are reported on Form 8825. Taxes allocable to a rental activity other than a rental real estate activity are reported on line 3b of Schedule K.
• Taxes allocable to portfolio income. These taxes are reported on line 10 of Schedules K and K-1.
• Taxes paid or incurred for the production or collection of income, or for the management, conservation, or maintenance of property held to produce income. Report these taxes separately on line 11 of Schedules K and K-1.

See section 263A(a) for rules on capitalization of allocable costs (including taxes) for any property.

Line 15 - Interest

Include only interest incurred in the trade or business activities of the partnership that is not claimed elsewhere on the return.

Do not deduct interest expense on debt required to be allocated to the production of designated property. Designated property includes real property, personal property that has a class life of 20 years or more, and other tangible property requiring more than 2 years (1 year in the case of property with a cost of more than $1 million) to produce or construct. Interest that is allocable to designated property produced by a partnership for its own use or for sale must be capitalized.

In addition, a partnership must also capitalize any interest on debt that is allocable to an asset used to produce designated property. A partner may be required to capitalize interest that was incurred by the partner for the partnership's production expenditures. Similarly, a partner may have to capitalize interest that was incurred by the partnership for the partner's own production expenditures. The information required by the partner to properly capitalize interest for this purpose must be provided by the partnership in an attachment to Schedule K-1. See section 263A(f) and Regulations sections 1.263A-8 through 1.263A-15.

Do not include interest expense on debt used to purchase rental property or debt used in a rental activity. Interest allocable to a rental real estate activity is reported on Form 8825 and is used in arriving at net income (loss) from rental real estate activities on line 2 of Schedules K and K-1. Interest allocable to a rental activity other than a rental real estate activity is included on line 3b of Schedule K and is used in arriving at net income (loss) from a rental activity (other than a rental real estate activity). This net amount is reported on line 3c of Schedule K and line 3 of Schedule K-1.

Do not include interest expense on debt used to buy property held for investment. Do not include interest expense that is clearly and directly allocable to interest, dividend, royalty, or annuity income not derived in the ordinary course of a trade or business. Interest paid or incurred on debt used to purchase or carry investment property is reported on line 14a of Schedules K and K-1. See the instructions for line 14a of Schedules K and K-1 and Form 4952, Investment Interest Expense Deduction, for more information on investment property.

Do not include interest on debt proceeds allocated to distributions made to partners during the tax year. Instead, report such interest on line 11 of Schedules K and K-1. To determine the amount to allocate to distributions to partners, see Notice 89-35, 1989-1 C.B. 675.

Temporary Regulations section 1.163-8T gives rules for allocating interest expense among activities so that the limitations on passive activity losses, investment interest, and personal interest can be properly figured. Generally, interest expense is allocated in the same manner that debt is allocated. Debt is allocated by tracing disbursements of the debt proceeds to specific expenditures, as provided in the regulations.

Interest paid by a partnership to a partner for the use of capital should be entered on line 10 as guaranteed payments.

Prepaid interest can only be deducted over the period to which the prepayment applies.

Note: Additional limitations on interest deductions apply when the partnership is a policyholder or beneficiary with respect to a life insurance, endowment, or annuity contract issued after June 8, 1997. For details, see section 264. Attach a statement showing the computation of the deduction disallowed under section 264.

Line 16 - Depreciation

On line 16a, enter only the depreciation claimed on assets used in a trade or business activity. Enter on line 16b the depreciation reported elsewhere on the return that is attributable to assets used in trade or business activities. See the Instructions for Form 4562 or Pub. 946, How To Depreciate Property, to figure the amount of depreciation to enter on this line.

For depreciation, you must complete and attach Form 4562 only if the partnership placed property in service during the tax year or claims depreciation on any car or other listed property.

Line 17 - Depletion

If the partnership claims a deduction for timber depletion, complete and attach Form T, Forest Activities Schedules.

Do not deduct depletion for oil and gas properties. The partner figures depletion on oil and gas properties. See the instructions for Schedule K-1, line 25, item 3.

Line 18 - Retirement Plans, etc.

Do not deduct payments for partners to retirement or deferred compensation plans including IRAs, qualified plans, and simplified employee pension (SEP) and SIMPLE IRA plans on this line. These amounts are reported on Schedule K-1, line 11, and are deducted by the partners on their own returns.

Enter the deductible contributions not claimed elsewhere on the return made by the partnership for its common-law employees under a qualified pension, profit-sharing, annuity, or SEP or SIMPLE IRA plan, and under any other deferred compensation plan.

If the partnership contributes to an individual retirement arrangement (IRA) for employees, include the contribution in salaries and wages on Schedule B, line 9, or Schedule B, line 2, and not on line 18.

Line 19 - Employee Benefit Programs

Enter the partnership's contributions to employee benefit programs not claimed elsewhere on the return (e.g., insurance, health, and welfare programs) that are not part of a pension, profit-sharing, etc., plan included on line 18.

Do not include amounts paid during the tax year for insurance that constitutes medical care for a partner, a partner's spouse, or a partner's dependents. Instead, include these amounts on line 10 as guaranteed payments and on Schedule K, lines 5 and 11. Also report these amounts on the Schedule K-1, lines 5 and 11. See General Instructions for Schedules K and K-1 on page 13 for the filing requirements for Schedule K-1.

Line 20 - Other Deductions

Attach your own schedule listing by type and amount all allowable deductions related to a trade or business activity only for which there is no separate line on Schedule B. Enter the total on this line. Examples of other deductions include:

• Amortization (except as noted below) - see the Instructions for Form 4562 for more information. Complete and attach Form 4562 if the partnership is claiming amortization of costs that began during the tax year.
• Insurance premiums.
• Legal and professional fees.
• Supplies used and consumed in the business.
• Utilities.
• Part of the cost of qualified clean-fuel vehicle property and qualified clean-fuel vehicle refueling property. For more details, see section 179A.

Also, see Special Rules below for limits on certain other deductions.

Do not deduct on line 20:

• Items that must be reported separately on Schedules K and K-1.
• Qualified expenditures to which an election under section 59(e) may apply. See the instructions on page 19 for lines 18a and 18b of Schedule K-1 for details on treatment of these items.
• Amortization of reforestation expenditures under section 194. The partnership can elect to amortize up to $10,000 of qualified reforestation expenditures paid or incurred during the tax year. However, the amortization is not deducted by the partnership but the amortizable basis is instead separately allocated among the partners. See the instructions on page 21 for Schedule K-1, line 25, item 21, and Pub. 535 for more details.
• Fines or penalties paid to a government for violating any law. Report these expenses on Schedule K, line 21.
• Expenses allocable to tax-exempt income. Report these expenses on Schedule K, line 21.
• Net operating losses. Only individuals and corporations may claim a net operating loss deduction.
• Amounts paid or incurred to participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of a candidate for public office, or to influence the general public regarding legislative matters, elections, or referendums. Report these expenses on Schedule K, line 21.
• Expenses paid or incurred to influence Federal or state legislation, or to influence the actions or positions of certain Federal executive branch officials. However, certain in-house lobbying expenditures that do not exceed $2,000 are deductible. See section 162(e) for more details.

Special Rules

Travel, meals, and entertainment. Subject to limitations and restrictions discussed below, a partnership can deduct ordinary and necessary travel, meals, and entertainment expenses paid or incurred in its trade or business. Special rules apply to deductions for gifts, skybox rentals, luxury water travel, convention expenses, and entertainment tickets. See section 274 and Pub. 463 for more details.

Travel. The partnership cannot deduct travel expenses of any individual accompanying a partner or partnership employee, including a spouse or dependent of the partner or employee, unless:

• That individual is an employee of the partnership, and
• His or her travel is for a bona fide business purpose and would otherwise be deductible by that individual.

Meals and entertainment. Generally, the partnership can deduct only 50% of the amount otherwise allowable for meals and entertainment expenses. In addition (subject to exceptions under section 274(k)(2)):

• Meals must not be lavish or extravagant,
• A bona fide business discussion must occur during, immediately before, or immediately after the meal, and
• A partner or employee of the partnership must be present at the meal.

See section 274(n)(3) for a special rule that applies to expenses for meals consumed by individuals subject to the hours of service limits of the Department of Transportation.

Membership dues. The partnership may deduct amounts paid or incurred for membership dues in civic or public service organizations, professional organizations (such as bar and medical associations), business leagues, trade associations, chambers of commerce, boards of trade, and real estate boards. However, no deduction is allowed if a principal purpose of the organization is to entertain, or provide entertainment facilities for, members or their guests. In addition, the partnership may not deduct membership dues in any club organized for business, pleasure, recreation, or other social purpose. This includes country clubs, golf and athletic clubs, airline and hotel clubs, and clubs operated to provide meals under conditions favorable to business discussion.

Entertainment facilities. The partnership cannot deduct an expense paid or incurred for a facility (such as a yacht or hunting lodge) used for an activity usually considered entertainment, amusement, or recreation.

Note: The partnership may be able to deduct otherwise nondeductible meals, travel, and entertainment expenses if the amounts are treated as compensation and reported on Form W-2 for an employee or on Form 1099-MISC for an independent contractor.

2001 Instructions Index | 2001 Tax Forms Main | IRS-Forms Main | Home