Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) retain the flexibility of a partnership with the added advantage that a partners personal liability is limited. At least two members must be ‘designated members’ and the law places extra responsibilities on them.
For Capital Gains Tax purposes, the transfer of a business from a partnership to a LLP will not constitute a disposal by the partners of their interests in the original partnership’s assets unless their fractional interests in partnership assets are changed as a result of the transfer.
In addition, the transfer to an LLP of a partner’s rights to an annuity and/or the transfer of obligations to former partners in respect of annuities will, not be regarded as a chargeable disposal by the original partnership provided that the rights remain substantially the same.
The formation of an LLP is generally more complex and costly than that of a conventional partnership. Problems can still arise when there are disagreements between the members. There is also the prospect of paying more tax on high profits than for companies.