Instructions for completing the tax return

The instructions are split into sections that align to each part of the tax return.

• Partnership information
• Business description and status – items 1 to 2
• Income (excluding foreign income) – items 5 to 15
• Deductions – items 16 to 20
• Foreign income – items 22 to 24
• Overseas transactions – items 29 to 30
• Taxation of financial arrangements – items 31 to 32
• Key financial information – items 33 to 36
• Business and professional items – items 37 to 52
• Statement of distribution – item 53
• Declarations

Partnership information

In this section:

• Tax file number (TFN)
• Name of partnership
• Australian business number (ABN)
• Previous name of partnership, current and previous postal address
• Full name of partner to whom notices should be sent
• Interposed entity election status
• Final tax return

Tax file number (TFN)

Print the TFN of the partnership in the boxes provided.

Name of partnership

The partnership name should be consistent from year to year, except in the year of a name change.

If the partnership name is legally changed, advise us in writing at the time the change is made and include the previous name of your partnership where required on the tax return.

If the partnership name has changed due to the partnership being reconstituted, you need to supply the following details on a schedule of additional information:

• the date of dissolution
• the date of the reconstitution
• the names of the new, continuing and retired partners
• the TFN or address and date of birth of all new partners
• the persons authorised to act on behalf of the partnership, if their details have changed.

Australian business number (ABN)

Write the ABN of the partnership in the boxes provided.

Previous name of partnership, current and previous postal address

Print:

• the previous name of the partnership if applicable, as shown on the last tax return
• the current postal address
• the previous postal address if applicable, as shown on the last tax return.

Use C/- when ‘care of’ is part of an address.

Full name of partner to whom notices should be sent

Show the surname or family name and given names of the partner to whom notices should be sent.

If the partner is:

• a company, show the name and the ABN of the company
• a trustee of a trust, show the name of the trustee and trust. If the trustee is a company, show the name and ABN of the company.

Interposed entity election status

You must complete this item if any of the following apply:

• The partners are making one or more interposed entity elections specifying a day in the 2004–05 or later income year in accordance with section 272-85 of Schedule 2F to the ITAA 1936.
• The partners have previously made one or more interposed entity elections specifying a day in any income years from 1994–95 to 2019–20 in accordance with section 272-85 of Schedule 2F to the ITAA 1936 and, if applicable, items 23 or 23A of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Laws Amendment (Trust Loss and Other Deductions) Act 1998 and at least one interposed entity election has not been revoked in an income year before 2020–21 in accordance with subsections 272-85(5) and 272–85(6) of Schedule 2F to the ITAA 1936.
• The partners have revoked, from a time in 2020–21, one or more previously made interposed entity elections in accordance with section 272-85 of Schedule 2F to the ITAA 1936.

A partner can't make an interposed entity election specifying a year earlier than 2004–05 (section 272-85 of Schedule 2F to the ITAA 1936).

Do not attach election forms for an interposed entity election made specifying an income year before 2004–05 to the Partnership tax return 2021.

Go to Interposed entity election or revocation 2021:

• to download the PDF form
• to order a paper copy
• for instructions on how to complete the form.

Lodging the interposed entity election

Once you have completed an Interposed entity election or revocation 2021, attach the schedule to the Partnership tax return 2021.

If the partnership’s tax return is not lodged electronically, send your partnership 2021 tax return and the Interposed entity election or revocation 2021 to:

Australian Taxation Office
GPO Box 9845
IN YOUR CAPITAL CITY

 

If the partners have previously made one or more elections specifying a day in an income year before 2020–21, write the earliest income year specified in the box at this item unless the partners are making one or more elections specifying a day in the 2004–05 or later.

 

If the partners have previously made one or more elections specifying a day in an income year before 2004–05 and took advantage of the former one-off opportunity in Law Administration Practice Statement PS LA 2004/1 (GA) Lodgment opportunity for family trust and interposed entity elections to specify an earlier year, write the earliest income year specified unless the partners are making one or more elections specifying a day in the 2004–05 or later income years.

Revocation

An interposed entity election can only be revoked by the partners of a partnership that satisfy all the relevant conditions in section 272-85 of Schedule 2F to the ITAA 1936.

The partners can't revoke an interposed entity election unless the revocation is in respect of an income year that occurs during the period:

• starting on 1 July 2007 and finishing on 30 June 2009
• starting at the later of      
  • the beginning of the income year specified in the election, and
  • the beginning of the income year in which the entity became a member of the family group, and
  • finishing at the end of the fourth income year after the income year referred to in the above two dot points.
   

The revocation must be made with the entity’s tax return for the income year from which the revocation is to be effective.

Lodging the interposed entity revocation

If the partners revoke from 2020–21 the interposed entity election they made:

• print R in the box at this item
• complete an Interposed entity election or revocation 2021
• attach the completed Interposed entity election or revocation 2021 to the Partnership tax return 2021.

Where a 2021 tax return for the partnership is not required, send the completed schedule to the address below no later than two months after the end of 2020–21 for the partnership.

Australian Taxation Office
GPO Box 9845
IN YOUR CAPITAL CITY

Family trust distribution tax

A consequence of a partnership making an interposed entity election is that, under section 271-25 of Schedule 2F to the ITAA 1936, a special tax, called family trust distribution tax (FTDT), is payable at 47%. FTDT applies to any conferral of present entitlement to, or distribution of, income or capital of the partnership to persons who are not members of the family group of the specified individual within the meaning of section 272-90 of that schedule.

A distribution of income or capital by a partnership is defined in sections 272-55 and 272-60 of Schedule 2F to the ITAA 1936.

Post the Family trust distribution tax payment advice with your FTDT payment to:

Australian Taxation Office
Locked Bag 1936
ALBURY  NSW  1936

Make cheques or money orders payable to the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation and print ‘Not negotiable’ across the cheque. Tender all cheques in Australian currency. Do not send cash by post. Other payment options are also available.

See also:

• How to pay

Final tax return

Print X in appropriate box.

If the partnership does not expect to lodge further tax returns, print X in the Yes box.

You must also attach to your return a statement providing:

• the reason further tax returns will not be lodged, and
• the manner of disposal of any assets of the partnership if not disclosed elsewhere on the tax return.

Attach the statement to the tax return and print X in the Yes box at Have you attached any 'other attachments'? at the top of page 1 of the tax return.

If it is the final tax return because the partnership has been reconstituted, include in the statement the names of the partners in the new partnership and the trading name, if any, of the new partnership.

Print X in the No box on page 2 of the tax return if this is the final tax return because:

• the partnership became a subsidiary member of a consolidated group or MEC group during 2020–21, and
• membership of the consolidated group or MEC group is the only reason for which the partnership will not be required to lodge future tax returns.

Continue to:

• Business description and status – items 1 and 2