IRS Publication 541

A document published by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that provides tax information for partners and partnerships. IRS Publication 541 is a supplement to Form 1065, used to report a partnership's income, and Schedule K-1. Income earned by a partnership is not typically taxed by the IRS; rather, the partnership's income is passed on to the individual partners and taxed as regular income.

Partnerships organized before 1996 fall under a different set of guidelines than today, but the IRS still treats them as partnerships provided that the partnership still has two or more members. IRS Publication 541 indicates which organizational types with at least two members are not considered partnerships, including insurance companies, real estate investment trusts and tax-exempt organizations.