[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2834 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2834

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat income received by 
  partners for performing investment management services as ordinary 
            income received for the performance of services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 22, 2007

Mr. Levin (for himself, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Stark, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Lewis 
of Georgia, Mr. Neal of Massachusetts, Mr. Pomeroy, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, 
Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Kind, Mr. Pascrell, and 
 Mr. Frank of Massachusetts) introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat income received by 
  partners for performing investment management services as ordinary 
            income received for the performance of services.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. INCOME OF PARTNERS FOR PERFORMING INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT 
              SERVICES TREATED AS ORDINARY INCOME RECEIVED FOR 
              PERFORMANCE OF SERVICES.

    (a) In General.--Part I of subchapter K of chapter 1 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to determination of tax 
liability) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

``SEC. 710. SPECIAL RULES FOR PARTNERS PROVIDING INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT 
              SERVICES TO PARTNERSHIP.

    ``(a) Treatment of Distributive Share of Partnership Items.--For 
purposes of this title, in the case of an investment services 
partnership interest--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding section 702(b)--
                    ``(A) any net income with respect to such interest 
                for any partnership taxable year shall be treated as 
                ordinary income for the performance of services, and
                    ``(B) any net loss with respect to such interest 
                for such year, to the extent not disallowed under 
                paragraph (2) for such year, shall be treated as an 
                ordinary loss.
            ``(2) Treatment of losses.--
                    ``(A) Limitation.--Any net loss with respect to 
                such interest shall be allowed for any partnership 
                taxable year only to the extent that such loss does not 
                exceed the excess (if any) of--
                            ``(i) the aggregate net income with respect 
                        to such interest for all prior partnership 
                        taxable years, over
                            ``(ii) the aggregate net loss with respect 
                        to such interest not disallowed under this 
                        subparagraph for all prior partnership taxable 
                        years.
                    ``(B) Carryforward.--Any net loss for any 
                partnership taxable year which is not allowed by reason 
                of subparagraph (A) shall be treated as an item of loss 
                with respect to such partnership interest for the 
                succeeding partnership taxable year.
                    ``(C) Basis adjustment.--No adjustment to the basis 
                of a partnership interest shall be made on account of 
                any net loss which is not allowed by reason of 
                subparagraph (A).
                    ``(D) Prior partnership years.--Any reference in 
                this paragraph to prior partnership taxable years shall 
                only include prior partnership taxable years to which 
                this section applies.
            ``(3) Net income and loss.--For purposes of this section--
                    ``(A) Net income.--The term `net income' means, 
                with respect to any investment services partnership 
                interest, for any partnership taxable year, the excess 
                (if any) of--
                            ``(i) all items of income and gain taken 
                        into account by the holder of such interest 
                        under section 702 with respect to such interest 
                        for such year, over
                            ``(ii) all items of deduction and loss so 
                        taken into account.
                    ``(B) Net loss.--The term `net loss' means with 
                respect to such interest for such year, the excess (if 
                any) of the amount described in subparagraph (A)(ii) 
                over the amount described in subparagraph (A)(i).
    ``(b) Dispositions of Partnership Interests.--
            ``(1) Gain.--Any gain on the disposition of an investment 
        services partnership interest shall be treated as ordinary 
        income for the performance of services.
            ``(2) Loss.--Any loss on the disposition of an investment 
        services partnership interest shall be treated as an ordinary 
        loss to the extent of the excess (if any) of--
                    ``(A) the aggregate net income with respect to such 
                interest for all partnership taxable years, over
                    ``(B) the aggregate net loss with respect to such 
                interest allowed under subsection (a)(2) for all 
                partnership taxable years.
            ``(3) Disposition of portion of interest.--In the case of 
        any disposition of an investment services partnership interest, 
        the amount of net loss which otherwise would have (but for 
        subsection (a)(2)(C)) applied to reduce the basis of such 
        interest shall be disregarded for purposes of this section for 
        all succeeding partnership taxable years.
            ``(4) Distributions of partnership property.--In the case 
        of any distribution of appreciated property by a partnership 
        with respect to any investment services partnership interest, 
        gain shall be recognized by the partnership in the same manner 
        as if the partnership sold such property at fair market value 
        at the time of the distribution. For purposes of this 
        paragraph, the term `appreciated property' means any property 
        with respect to which gain would be determined if sold as 
        described in the preceding sentence.
    ``(c) Investment Services Partnership Interest.--For purposes of 
this section--
            ``(1) In general.--The term `investment services 
        partnership interest' means any interest in a partnership which 
        is held by any person if such person provides (directly or 
        indirectly), in the active conduct of a trade or business, a 
        substantial quantity of any of the following services to the 
        partnership:
                    ``(A) Advising the partnership as to the value of 
                any specified asset.
                    ``(B) Advising the partnership as to the 
                advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling 
                any specified asset.
                    ``(C) Managing, acquiring, or disposing of any 
                specified asset.
                    ``(D) Arranging financing with respect to acquiring 
                specified assets.
                    ``(E) Any activity in support of any service 
                described in subparagraphs (A) through (D).
        For purposes of this paragraph, the term `specified asset' 
        means securities (as defined in section 475(c)(2) without 
        regard to the last sentence thereof), real estate, commodities 
        (as defined in section 475(e)(2))), or options or derivative 
        contracts with respect to securities (as so defined), real 
        estate, or commodities (as so defined).
            ``(2) Exception for certain capital interests.--
                    ``(A) In general.--If--
                            ``(i) a portion of an investment services 
                        partnership interest is acquired on account of 
                        a contribution of invested capital, and
                            ``(ii) the partnership makes a reasonable 
                        allocation of partnership items between the 
                        portion of the distributive share that is with 
                        respect to invested capital and the portion of 
                        such distributive share that is not with 
                        respect to invested capital,
                then subsection (a) shall not apply to the portion of 
                the distributive share that is with respect to invested 
                capital. An allocation will not be treated as 
                reasonable for purposes of this subparagraph if such 
                allocation would result in the partnership allocating a 
                greater portion of income to invested capital than any 
                other partner not providing services would have been 
                allocated with respect to the same amount of invested 
                capital.
                    ``(B) Special rule for dispositions.--In any case 
                to which subparagraph (A) applies, subsection (b) shall 
                not apply to any gain or loss allocable to invested 
                capital. The portion of any gain or loss attributable 
                to invested capital is the proportion of such gain or 
                loss which is based on the distributive share of gain 
                or loss that would have been allocable to invested 
                capital under subparagraph (A) if the partnership sold 
                all of its assets immediately before the disposition.
                    ``(C) Invested capital.--For purposes of this 
                paragraph, the term `invested capital' means, the fair 
                market value at the time of contribution of, any money 
                or other property contributed to the partnership.''.
    (b) Application to Real Estate Investment Trusts.--Subsection (c) 
of section 856 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph:
            ``(8) Exception from recharacterization of income from 
        investment services partnership interests.--Paragraphs (2), 
        (3), and (4) shall be applied without regard to section 710 
        (relating to special rules for partners providing investment 
        management services to partnership).''.
    (c) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Subsection (d) of section 731 of such Code is amended 
        by inserting ``section 710(b)(4) (relating to distributions of 
        partnership property),'' before ``section 736''.
            (2) Section 741 of such Code is amended by inserting ``or 
        section 710 (relating to special rules for partners providing 
        investment management services to partnership)'' before the 
        period at the end.
            (3) Paragraph (13) of section 1402(a) of such Code is 
        amended--
                    (A) by striking ``other than guaranteed'' and 
                inserting ``other than--
                    ``(A) guaranteed'',
                    (B) by striking the semi-colon at the end and 
                inserting ``, and'', and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraph:
                    ``(B) any income treated as ordinary income under 
                section 710 received by an individual who provides a 
                substantial quantity of the services described in 
                section 710(c)(1);''.
            (4) Paragraph (12) of section 211(a) of the Social Security 
        Act is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``other than guaranteed'' and 
                inserting ``other than--
                    ``(A) guaranteed'',
                    (B) by striking the semi-colon at the end and 
                inserting ``, and'', and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraph:
                    ``(B) any income treated as ordinary income under 
                section 710 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
                received by an individual who provides a substantial 
                quantity of the services described in section 710(c)(1) 
                of such Code;''.
            (5) The table of sections for part I of subchapter K of 
        chapter 1 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the 
        following new item:

``Sec. 710. Special rules for partners providing investment management 
                            services to partnership.''.
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