If a partner leaves a partnership during a fiscal year, this raises the problem of the tax treatment which should be applied to the profits generated during the period between the start of the fiscal year and the date on which the shares are sold. Can the selling partner enter into a promise to sell his shares with immediate effect at the same time as entering into a promise to share profits which is only to take effect at the end of the fiscal year? In a ministerial reply (no.28318; JOAN of February 26, 1996), the Administration reiterated that, under certain conditions, it will agree to take into consideration an agreement granting different rights to corporate profits. However, it went on to state that the profits of commercial companies are not considered as proceeds, under civil law, and are not therefore deemed to accrue day by day during each fiscal year. According to the Administration, the solution proposed in the event a partner leaves the partnership during the fiscal year would not alter these rules. In this context, the contractually agreed retrocession of a share in the partnership's profits at the end of the fiscal year constitutes utilization of his income for the new partner and should be considered as part of the purchase cost of his shares.
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