Professional Documents
Culture Documents
the professional partnership, which is tax exempt, but on the partners themselves in their
individual capacity computed on their distributive shares of partnership profits.
Section 23 of the Tax Code, which has not been amended at all by Republic Act 7496, is
explicit:
"SECTION 23. Tax liability of members of general professional partnerships. (a) Persons
exercising a common profession in general partnership shall be liable for income tax only in
their individual capacity, and the share in the net profits of the general professional partnership
to which any taxable partner would be entitled whether distributed or otherwise, shall be
returned for taxation and the tax paid in accordance with the provisions of this Title.
"(b) In determining his distributive share in the net income of the partnership, each partner
"(1) Shall take into account separately his distributive share of the partnership's income, gain,
loss, deduction, or credit to the extend provided by the pertinent provisions of this Code, and
"(2) Shall be deemed to have elected the itemized deductions, unless he declares his
distributive share of the gross income undiminished by his share of the deductions."
There is, then and now, no distinction in income tax liability between a person who
practices his profession alone or individually and one who does it through partnership (whether
registered or not) with others in the exercise of a common profession.
In the case, SNIT is not envisioned by the Congress to cover corporations or
partnerships which are independently subject to the payment of income tax.
2. Limited partnership art 1843 limited to capital contribution
ARTICLE 1843. A limited partnership is one formed by two or more persons under the
provisions of the following article, having as members one or more general partners and one or
more limited partners. The limited partners as such shall not be bound by the obligations of the
partnership.
C. As to duration
1. Partnership with a fixed term art 1785
ARTICLE 1785. When a partnership for a fixed term or particular undertaking is continued
after the termination of such term or particular undertaking without any express agreement, the
rights and duties of the partners remain the same as they were at such termination, so far as is
consistent with a partnership at will.
A continuation of the business by the partners or such of them as habitually acted therein during
the term, without any settlement or liquidation of the partnership affairs, is prima facie evidence
of a continuation of the partnership. (n)
On appeal, the SEC en banc reversed the decision. The parties sought a
reconsideration but was denied.
The parties filed with the appellate court separate appeals. During the pendency of the
case with the Court of Appeals, Attorney Jesus Bito and Attorney Mariano Lozada both died.
The death of the two partners, as well as the admission of new partners, in the law firm
prompted Attorney Misa to renew his application for receivership. He expressed concern over
the need to preserve and care for the partnership assets. The other partners opposed the
prayer.
The Court of Appeals AFFIRMED in toto the SEC decision and order appealed from.
ISSUE:
Whether or not the Court of Appeals has erred in holding that the partnership of Bito,
Misa & Lozada (now Bito, Lozada, Ortega & Castillo) is a partnership at will.
HELD:
A partnership that does not fix its term is a partnership at will. That the law firm "Bito,
Misa & Lozada," and now "Bito, Lozada, Ortega and Castillo," is indeed such a partnership need
not be unduly belabored. We quote, with approval, like did the appellate court, the findings and
disquisition of respondent SEC on this matter; viz:
The partnership agreement does not provide for a specified period or undertaking. The
"DURATION" clause simply states:
"5.
DURATION. The partnership shall continue so long as mutually satisfactory and upon
the death or legal incapacity of one of the partners, shall be continued by the surviving
partners."
The birth and life of a partnership at will is predicated on the mutual desire and consent
of the partners. The right to choose with whom a person wishes to associate himself is the very
foundation and essence of that partnership. Its continued existence is, in turn, dependent on the
constancy of that mutual resolve, along with each partner's capability to give it, and the absence
of a cause for dissolution provided by the law itself. Verily, any one of the partners may, at his
sole pleasure, dictate a dissolution of the partnership at will. He must, however, act in good
faith, not that the attendance of bad faith can prevent the dissolution of the partnership 4 but that
it can result in a liability for damages. 5
IV. KINDS OF PARTNERS
A. Definitions
1. General and limited partners art 1843; 1844; 1816 based on liability
ARTICLE 1843. A limited partnership is one formed by two or more persons under the
provisions of the following article, having as members one or more general partners and one or
more limited partners. The limited partners as such shall not be bound by the obligations of the
partnership.
ARTICLE 1844. Two or more persons desiring to form a limited partnership shall:
(1) Sign and swear to a certificate, which shall state
(a) The name of the partnership, adding thereto the word "Limited";
(b) The character of the business;
(c) The location of the principal place of business;
(d) The name and place of residence of each member, general and limited partners being
respectively designated;
(e) The term for which the partnership is to exist;
( f ) The amount of cash and a description of and the agreed value of the other property
contributed by each limited partner;
(g) The additional contributions, if any, to be made by each limited partner and the times at
which or events on the happening of which they shall be made;
(h) The time, if agreed upon, when the contribution of each limited partner is to be returned;
(i) The share of the profits or the other compensation by way of income which each limited
partner shall receive by reason of his contribution;
( j) The right, if given, of a limited partner to substitute an assignee as contributor in his place,
and the terms and conditions of the substitution;
(k) The right, if given, of the partners to admit additional limited partners;
(l) The right, if given, of one or more of the limited partners to priority over other limited partners,
as to contributions or as to compensation by way of income, and the nature of such priority;
(m) The right, if given, of the remaining general partner or partners to continue the business on
the death, retirement, civil interdiction, insanity or insolvency of a general partner; and
(n) The right, if given, of a limited partner to demand and receive property other than cash in
return for his contribution.
(2) File for record the certificate in the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A limited partnership is formed if there has been substantial compliance in good faith with the
foregoing requirements.
ARTICLE 1816. All partners, including industrial ones, shall be liable pro rata with all their
property and after all the partnership assets have been exhausted, for the contracts which may
be entered into in the name and for the account of the partnership, under its signature and by a
person authorized to act for the partnership. However, any partner may enter into a separate
obligation to perform a partnership contract. (n)
ARTICLE 1767. By the contract of partnership two or more persons bind themselves to
contribute money, property, or industry to a common fund, with the intention of dividing the
profits among themselves.
Two or more persons may also form a partnership for the exercise of a profession. (1665a)
ARTICLE 1789. An industrial partner cannot engage in business for himself, unless the
partnership expressly permits him to do so; and if he should do so, the capitalist partners may
either exclude him from the firm or avail themselves of the benefits which he may have obtained
in violation of this provision, with a right to damages in either case. (n)
3. Ostensible, nominal, and dormant partners art 1834 (2); - partner by estoppel based on
degree of connection to partnership
ARTICLE 1834. After dissolution, a partner can bind the partnership, except as provided in the
third paragraph of this article:
(1) By any act appropriate for winding up partnership affairs or completing transactions
unfinished at dissolution;
(2) By any transaction which would bind the partnership if dissolution had not taken place,
provided the other party to the transaction:
(a) Had extended credit to the partnership prior to dissolution and had no knowledge or notice
of the dissolution; or
(b) Though he had not so extended credit, had nevertheless known of the partnership prior to
dissolution, and, having no knowledge or notice of dissolution, the fact of dissolution had not
been advertised in a newspaper of general circulation in the place (or in each place if more than
one) at which the partnership business was regularly carried on.
The liability of a partner under the first paragraph, No. 2, shall be satisfied out of partnership
assets alone when such partner had been prior to dissolution:
(1) Unknown as a partner to the person with whom the contract is made; and
(2) So far unknown and inactive in partnership affairs that the business reputation of the
partnership could not be said to have been in any degree due to his connection with it.
The partnership is in no case bound by any act of a partner after dissolution:
(1) Where the partnership is dissolved because it is unlawful to carry on the business, unless
the act is appropriate for winding up partnership affairs; or
(2) Where the partner has become insolvent; or
(3) Where the partner has no authority to wind up partnership affairs; except by a transaction
with one who
(a) Had extended credit to the partnership prior to dissolution and had no knowledge or notice
of his want of authority; or
(b) Had not extended credit to the partnership prior to dissolution, and, having no knowledge or
notice of his want of authority, the fact of his want of authority has not been advertised in the
manner provided for advertising the fact of dissolution in the first paragraph, No. 2 (b).
Nothing in this article shall affect the liability under article 1825 of any person who after
dissolution represents himself or consents to another representing him as a partner in a
partnership engaged in carrying on business. (n)
4. Original and incoming partners based on time of joining partnership
5. Managing partner art 1800 based on duties; art 1818, par. 3
ARTICLE 1800. The partner who has been appointed manager in the articles of partnership
may execute all acts of administration despite the opposition of his partners, unless he should
act in bad faith; and his power is irrevocable without just or lawful cause. The vote of the
partners representing the controlling interest shall be necessary for such revocation of power.
A power granted after the partnership has been constituted may be revoked at any time.
(1692a)
ARTICLE 1818. Every partner is an agent of the partnership for the purpose of its business,
and the act of every partner, including the execution in the partnership name of any instrument,
for apparently carrying on in the usual way the business of the partnership of which he is a
member binds the partnership, unless the partner so acting has in fact no authority to act for the
partnership in the particular matter, and the person with whom he is dealing has knowledge of
the fact that he has no such authority.
An act of a partner which is not apparently for the carrying on of business of the partnership in
the usual way does not bind the partnership unless authorized by the other partners.
Except when authorized by the other partners or unless they have abandoned the business,
one or more but less than all the partners have no authority to:
(1) Assign the partnership property in trust for creditors or on the assignee's promise to pay the
debts of the partnership;
(2) Dispose of the good-will of the business;
(3) Do any other act which would make it impossible to carry on the ordinary business of a
partnership;
(4) Confess a judgment;
(5) Enter into a compromise concerning a partnership claim or liability;
(6) Submit a partnership claim or liability to arbitration;
(7) Renounce a claim of the partnership.
No act of a partner in contravention of a restriction on authority shall bind the partnership to
persons having knowledge of the restriction. (n)
6. Liquidating partner art 1836
ARTICLE 1836. Unless otherwise agreed, the partners who have not wrongfully dissolved the
partnership or the legal representative of the last surviving partner, not insolvent, has the right to
wind up the partnership affairs, provided, however, that any partner, his legal representative or
his assignee, upon cause shown, may obtain winding up by the court. (n)