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New Member
posted Jun 6, 2019 7:45:19 AM

Does anyone know how to determine if i materially participated in the partnership?

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2 Replies
New Member
Jun 6, 2019 7:45:21 AM

Material participation tests:

You materially participated in a trade or business activity or partnership for a tax year if you satisfy any of the following tests.

1. You participated in the activity for more than 500 hours.

2. Your participation was substantially all the participation in the activity of all individuals for the tax year, including the participation of individuals who did not own any interest in the activity.

3. You participated in the activity for more than 100 hours during the tax year, and you participated at least as much as any other individual (including individuals who did not own any interest in the activity) for the year.

4. The activity is a significant participation activity, and you participated in all significant participation activities for more than 500 hours. A significant participation activity is any trade or business activity in which you participated for more than 100 hours during the year and in which you did not materially participate under any of the material participation tests, other than this test.

5. You materially participated in the activity (other than by meeting this fifth test) for any 5 (whether or not consecutive) of the 10 immediately preceding tax years.

6. The activity is a personal service activity in which you materially participated in any 3 (whether or not consecutive) preceding tax years. An activity is a personal service activity if it involves the performance of personal services in the fields of health (including veterinary services), law, engineering, architecture, accounting, actuarial science, performing arts, consulting, or any other trade or business in which capital is not a material income producing factor.

7. Based on the facts and circumstances, you participated in the activity on a regular, continuous, and substantial basis during the year.


You did not materially participate in the activity under test (7) if you participated in the activity for 100 hours or less during the year. Your participation in managing the activity does not count in determining whether you materially participated under this test if: 

* Any person other than you received compensation for managing the activity, or

* Any individual spent more hours during the tax year managing the activity than you did (regardless of whether the individual was compensated for the management services).

New Member
Jun 6, 2019 7:45:23 AM

For test #5, what if I only incorporated the business 3 years ago, but had been materially participating when it was a sole proprietorship for many years before that?