What is a de-facto Partnership between spouses?

Text Size

HMRC’s internal manuals for Tax inspectors say …

PM132400 – Husbands, wives, civil partners

“A spouse or civil partner is sometimes taken into partnership wholly or mainly to maximise the benefit of the tax reliefs that are available.

You cannot challenge the apportionment of profits, as you can a wage, by reference to the value of the partners’ contribution to the firm’s activity. It may be possible in these cases to challenge the spouse or civil partner’s status as a partner, but such a challenge can be difficult to sustain. It is sometimes overlooked that there is no need for the spouse or civil partner to contribute capital; or to participate in management; or, in a trading context at least, to be capable of performing the main activity of the business. Indeed to be a partner one need not take an active part in the business at all. Where the spouse or civil partner has signed a deed declaring an intention to carry on the business and the deed gives a right to share in the profits, and subsequently the accounts of the business show that that person has been allocated a share of the profits, there will not usually be much chance of mounting a successful challenge.

It is worth emphasising that a partnership is not a sham merely because it is set up to save tax, as indeed the spouse or civil partner who is deserted by a partner leaving them to meet the firm’s liabilities may at their own cost. There will always of course be some cases which will be worth investigating and challenging, but these are more likely to be found among those where there is no current partnership deed, and particularly where there is a clear attempt to antedate the setting up of a partnership by more than a few months. HMRC’s BAI (Technical) will be happy to advise on worthwhile cases.”

Source https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/partnership-manual/pm132400

Also seePM132200 – Who is a partner >>>https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/partnership-manual/pm132200 

and PM132100 – Types of partner >>> https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/partnership-manual/pm132100

Book a Landlord Tax Planning Consultation

  • Hidden
  • Hidden
    Please provide an overview of your circumstances and what you are looking to achieve.
  • For the avoidance of doubt, we are able to assist landlords who own properties in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Where you reside is not a problem, even if you are resident outside the UK.
  • Landlord Tax Planning Consultancy is the core business activity of Property118 Limited (in association with Cotswold Barristers).
Landlord Tax Planning Book Now
Related Pages