The budget bill signed by President Barack Obama on Nov. 2 included a significant change in the way IRS partnership audits will be handled.
Partnership audits have become a more pressing issue for the IRS as more businesses are taxed as partnerships, including limited liability companies.
Because the IRS must generally assess and collect any deficiencies from the individual partners after a partnership audit, enforcement can be difficult.
The new rules will allow the IRS in most cases to assess any additional tax against the partnership itself instead of having to proceed against the individual partners.