AS THE PAGES of Taxation magazine have testified over the years, the taxation of companies repurchasing their own shares — while deceptively straightforward — is often fraught with difficulties. Most such problems seem to be caused by an incomplete understanding of the company law issues involved in a share repurchase and the effect that these can have on the tax treatment.
MANY BUSINESSES, PARTICULARLY professional practices, operate as partnerships. Partnerships are assumed to exist where the parties actually share profits and losses proportionally, even though there may not be a written partnership agreement signed between the partners. Most advisers would advise their clients to have a written partnership agreement in place which could prevent problems arising between the partners in the future.

