Title 26 › Subtitle A — Income Taxes › CHAPTER 1 — NORMAL TAXES AND SURTAXES › Subchapter K — Partners and Partnerships › PART III — DEFINITIONS › § 761
Treats many unincorporated groups used to run a business or venture as partnerships for tax rules, but lets all members ask the tax agency to exclude the group from partnership rules if it’s used only for certain limited purposes (only investing, only jointly using or extracting property without selling what’s made, or short-term underwriting/selling by securities dealers) and each member’s income can be figured without computing partnership taxable income. Partnership: an unincorporated group (like a syndicate, pool, or joint venture) used to carry on business and not a corporation, trust, or estate. Partner: a member of a partnership (capital interests count even if received as a gift). Partnership agreement: the partners’ written rules, including changes agreed before the partnership tax return is due. Liquidation of a partner’s interest: when a partner ends their whole stake by getting distributions. Distribution treated as an exchange: a partnership interest given out is treated as an exchange for rules including sections 708 and 743. Qualified joint venture: a husband-and-wife business that won’t be treated as a partnership if only they are members, both materially work in it, they file jointly, and they both elect this; income is split by their shares and each reports their share as sole-proprietor income. See sections 704(b) and 706(c)(2) for sale or reduction rules.
Full Legal Text
Internal Revenue Code, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
26 U.S.C. § 761
Title 26, Internal Revenue Code
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110