Business Owners & Employment Taxes

In general, self-employed individuals are subject to employment taxes on their net earnings from self-employment.

The wages paid to individuals who are non-owner-employees of a business are subject to employment taxes regardless of how the business is organized.

The shareholders of a corporation are not subject to employment taxes in respect of any return on their investment in the corporation, though they are subject to employment taxes as to any wages paid to them by the corporation.

In the case of an S corporation, the IRS has sought to compel the corporation to pay its shareholder-employees a reasonable wage for services rendered to the corporation, so as to prevent its “conversion” into a distribution of investment income that is not subject to employment taxes.

In the case of a partnership, its “limited partners” are generally not subject to employment taxes in respect of their distributive share of the partnership’s income, while the shares of its “general partners” are subject to such taxes, regardless of whether or not they receive a distribution from the partnership.

The IRS recently considered whether a portion of an individual partner’s distributive share of partnership income could properly be treated as a return on his investment in the partnership and, thus, not subject to employment taxes.

Background

Taxpayer owned several franchise restaurants and contributed them to LLC, a limited liability company treated as a partnership for tax purposes.

During the years at issue, LLC’s gross receipts and net ordinary business income were almost entirely attributable to food sales.

Taxpayer owned the majority of LLC. The remaining interests in LLC were owned by Taxpayer’s spouse and an irrevocable trust. LLC’s operating agreement provided for only one class of ownership. Neither Taxpayer’s spouse nor the trust were involved with LLC’s business operations.

Taxpayer’s franchise agreements required him to personally work full-time on, and to devote his best efforts to, the operation of the restaurants. LLC’s operating agreement provided that Taxpayer was LLC’s Operating Manager, President, and CEO, and required him to conduct its day-to-day business affairs. In particular, Taxpayer had authority to manage LLC, make all decisions, and do anything reasonably necessary in light of its business and objectives.

Taxpayer directed the operations of LLC, held regular meetings and discussions with his management team and staff, made strategic, investment management and planning decisions, and was involved in the franchisor’s regional board and in its strategic planning.

LLC employed a number of individuals, many of whom had some level of management or supervisory responsibility. Pursuant to his authority under LLC’s Operating Agreement, Taxpayer appointed an executive management team consisting of financial and operations executive employees who did not have an ownership interest in LLC, but were given the responsibility of managing certain of LLC’s day-to-day business affairs, including making certain key management decisions.

Taxpayer had ultimate responsibility for hiring, firing, and overseeing all LLC’s employees, including members of the executive management team.

During the years at issue, LLC made “guaranteed payments” to Taxpayer for his services rendered to LLC.

Taxpayer as Limited Partner?

LLC treated Taxpayer as a limited partner for purposes of the employment tax rules, and included only the guaranteed payments in Taxpayer’s net earnings from self-employment, not his full distributive share of LLC’s net income.

LLC’s position was that Taxpayer’s income from LLC should be bifurcated for employment tax purposes between his (1) income attributable to capital invested or the efforts of others, which was not subject to employment tax, and (2) compensation for services rendered to LLC, which was subject to employment tax.

LLC asserted that, as a retail operation, it required capital investment for buildings, equipment, working capital and employees. LLC noted that Taxpayer and LLC made significant capital outlays to acquire and maintain the restaurants, and argued that LLC derived its income from the preparation and sale of food products by its employees, not the personal services of Taxpayer.

LLC asserted that Taxpayer had a reasonable expectation for a return on his investment beyond his compensation from LLC. It argued that Taxpayer’s guaranteed payments represented “reasonable compensation” for his services, and that his earnings beyond his guaranteed payments were earnings which were basically of an investment nature.

Therefore, LLC concluded that Taxpayer was a limited partner for employment tax purposes with respect to his distributive share of LLC’s net income.

Self-Employment Tax – In General

The Code imposes self-employment taxes on the self-employment income of every individual. The term “self-employment income” means the net earnings from self-employment derived by an individual during any taxable year.

In general, the term “net earnings from self-employment” means the net income derived by an individual from any trade or business carried on by such individual, plus his distributive share (whether or not distributed) of net income from any trade or business carried on by a partnership of which he is a member, with certain enumerated exclusions.

Among these exclusions, the Code provides that there shall be excluded any gain from the sale or exchange of property if such property is neither (i) stock-in-trade or other property of a kind which would properly be includible in inventory, nor (ii) property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of the trade or business. Thus, the exclusion does not apply to gains from the sale of stock in trade, inventory, or property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business.

Partnerships & Self-Employment Tax

The Code also provides another exclusion:

there shall be excluded the distributive share of any item of income . . .
of a limited partner, as such, other than guaranteed payments . . .
to that partner for services actually rendered to . . . the partnership to the extent that those payments are established to be in the nature of remuneration for those services.

Unfortunately, the Code does not define “limited partner,” and the exclusion was enacted before LLCs became widely used.

Prior to the enactment of the exclusion, the Code provided that each partner’s share of partnership income was includable in his net earnings from self-employment for tax purposes, regardless of the nature of his membership in the partnership.

In creating the exclusion for limited partners, Congress recognized that certain earnings were basically of an investment nature. However, the exclusion was not extended to guaranteed payments, such as salary, received for services actually performed by the limited partner to or for the partnership.

Thus, individual partners who are not limited partners are subject to self-employment tax on their distributive share of partnership income regardless of their participation in the partnership’s business or the capital-intensive nature of the partnership’s business.

The Once-Proposed Regulations

In 1997, the IRS issued proposed regulations defining “limited partner” for these purposes. They generally provided that an individual would be treated as a limited partner unless the individual: (1) had personal liability for the debts of or claims against the partnership by reason of being a partner; (2) had authority to contract on behalf of the partnership; or (3) participated in the partnership’s trade or business for more than 500 hours.

In response to criticism from the business community, Congress immediately imposed a temporary moratorium on finalizing the proposed regulations, which expired in 1998; however, the 1997 proposed regulations were never finalized.

Subsequently, however, some Courts had the opportunity to shed light on the issue in the context of cases in which taxpayers attempted to distinguish between a partner’s wages and his share of partnership income. The Courts explained that a limited partnership has two fundamental classes of partners, general and limited. General partners typically have management power and unlimited personal liability. Limited partners lack management powers but enjoy immunity from liability for debts of the partnership. Indeed, a limited partner could lose his limited liability protection were he to engage in the business operations of the partnership. Consequently, the interest of a limited partner in a limited partnership is akin to that of a passive investor.

According to these Courts, the intent of the “limited partner exclusion” was to ensure that individuals who merely invested in a partnership and who were not actively participating in the partnership’s business operations would not receive credits toward Social Security coverage. In addition, the Courts noted that the legislative history of the “limited partner exclusion” did not support the conclusion that Congress contemplated excluding partners who performed services for a partnership in their capacity as partners (i.e., acting in the manner of self-employed persons) from liability for self-employment taxes. In addition, the Courts stated that “members of a partnership are not employees of the partnership” for purposes of self-employment taxes. Instead, a partner who participates in the partnership business is “a self-employed individual.” Thus, such a partner should treat all of his partnership income as self-employment income, rather than characterizing some of it as wages.

The IRS’s Analysis . . .

The IRS stated that, in general, a partner must include his distributive share of partnership income in calculating his net earnings from self-employment.

While the Code excludes from self-employment tax the gain on the disposition of certain property, the exclusion does not apply to a restaurant or retail operation’s sales of food or inventory. Thus, the IRS noted, the Code contemplates that a capital-intensive business such as a retail operation with stock in trade or inventory may generate income subject to self-employment tax. Because LLC earned its income from food sales in the ordinary course of its trade or business, the exclusion in the Code does not apply to LLC’s income.

Therefore, unless Taxpayer was a limited partner, he was subject to self-employment tax on his share of LLC’s income, notwithstanding the capital investments made, the capital-intensive nature of the business, or the fact that LLC had many employees.

Surprisingly, LLC did, in fact, take the position that Taxpayer was a limited partner for purposes of the “limited partner exclusion”.

The IRS disagreed. Relying upon the legislative history of the “limited partner exclusion,” the IRS explained that it was intended to apply to those who “merely invested ” rather than those who “actively participated” and “performed services for a partnership in their capacity as partners (i.e., acting in the manner of self-employed persons).”

The IRS further explained that “the interest of a limited partner in a limited partnership is generally akin to that of a passive investor,” and stated that limited partners are those who “lack management powers but enjoy immunity from liability for debts of the partnership.”

. . . And Conclusion

Taxpayer had sole authority over LLC, and was the majority owner, with ultimate authority over every employee and each aspect of LLC’s business. Even though LLC had many employees, including several executive level employees, Taxpayer was the only partner of LLC involved with the business and was not a mere investor, but rather actively participated in the partnership’s operations and performed extensive executive and operational management services for LLC in his capacity as a partner (i.e., acting in the manner of a self-employed person). Thus, the income Taxpayer earned through LLC was not income of a mere passive investor that Congress sought to exclude from self-employment tax.

LLC conceded that “service partners in a service partnership acting in the manner of self-employed persons” were not limited partners. However, LLC argued that a different analysis should apply to partners who: (1) derived their income from the sale of products, (2) made substantial capital investments, and (3) delegated significant management responsibilities to executive-level employees. LLC asserted that in these cases the IRS should apply “substance over form” principles to exclude from self-employment tax a reasonable return on the capital invested.

LLC interpreted the legislative history to mean that the “limited partner exclusion” applied to exclude a partner’s reasonable return on his capital investment in a capital-intensive partnership, regardless of the extent of the partner’s involvement with the partnership’s business.

Essentially, LLC argued that the self-employment tax rules for capital-intensive businesses carried on by partnerships were identical to the employment tax rules for corporate shareholder-employees: only reasonable compensation should be subject to employment tax.

Under this analysis, LLC argued that (1) LLC’s guaranteed payments to Taxpayer were reasonable compensation for his services, and (2) Taxpayer’s distributive share represented a reasonable return on capital investments in LLC’s business, and, therefore, Taxpayer was not subject to self-employment tax on his distributive share.

The IRS rejected these arguments, pointing out that they “inappropriately conflate the separate statutory self-employment tax rules for partners and the statutory employment tax rules for corporate shareholder employees.” The Code, it said, provides an exclusion for limited partners, not for a reasonable return on capital, and it does not indicate that a partner’s status as a limited partner depends on the presence of a guaranteed payment or the capital-intensive nature of the partnership’s business.

Lessons?

A partnership cannot change the character of a partner’s distributive share for tax purposes simply by making guaranteed payments to the partner for his services. A partnership is not a corporation and the “wage” and “reasonable compensation” rules which are applicable to corporations do not apply to partnerships.

The “limited partner exclusion” was intended to apply to those partners who “merely invest” rather than those who actively participate in and perform services for a partnership in their capacity as partners.

Instead, a partner who is not a “limited partner” within the meaning of the exclusion is subject to self-employment tax on his full distributive share of the partnership’s income, even in cases involving a capital-intensive business.

However, it should be noted that there remain other transactions involving payments from a partnership to a partner that do not generate self-employment income, including interest on loans from the partner to the partnership, and rental payments for the partnership’s use of the partner’s property. Not only are such payments excluded from the partner’s self-employment income, they also reduce the partnership’s net operating income, the partner’s distributive share of which is subject to self-employment tax.