Title 26 › Subtitle A — Income Taxes › CHAPTER 1 — NORMAL TAXES AND SURTAXES › Subchapter K — Partners and Partnerships › PART II — CONTRIBUTIONS, DISTRIBUTIONS, AND TRANSFERS › Subpart B — Distributions by a Partnership › § 734
Partnerships must change the tax basis of their property after giving a partner property only if the partnership made the section 754 election or the distribution causes a big basis drop. When one of those things happens, the partnership must raise its basis by any taxable gain the receiving partner reports and, for property where section 732 decides the partner’s starting basis, by the amount the partnership’s old basis exceeded the partner’s basis. The partnership must lower its basis by any taxable loss the receiving partner reports and, for property where section 732 applies, by the amount the partner’s basis exceeds the partnership’s old basis. The rule about adding the partnership’s old-basis excess does not apply when the distributed item is an interest in another partnership that has not made a section 754 election. How the partnership spreads these increases or decreases among its properties follows the rules in section 755. A “substantial basis reduction” happens when the total decrease amounts are more than $250,000 (see rules under section 743(d)(2)). Securitization partnerships are never treated as having a substantial basis reduction.
Full Legal Text
Internal Revenue Code, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
26 U.S.C. § 734
Title 26, Internal Revenue Code
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110