Partnership returns, 2002

Statistics of Income Bulletin, Fall, 2004 by Tim Wheeler, Maureen Parsons

The number of partnerships increased 5.2 percent, from 2,132,117 for Tax Year 2001 to 2,242,169 for Tax Year 2002. Since 1994, the number of partnerships has increased at an average annual rate of 4.8 percent. The number of partners increased by 0.7 percent, from 14,231,604 for 2001 to 14,328,108 for 2002.

This marked the second year of increase, following 3 consecutive years of decline. Total partnership net income (less deficit) decreased by 2.1 percent, from $276.3 billion for 2001 to $270.7 billion for 2002. Total assets of partnerships reporting balance sheets increased 5.2 percent, from $8.4 trillion for 2001 to $8.9 trillion for 2002. Partners classified as individuals received 45.8 percent of the total allocated income, while partners classified as corporations received a 30.0-percent share. For the first time, the number of limited liability companies surpassed all other entity types, including the number of general partnerships, which had been the leader for decades. For 2002, the number of limited liability companies increased 17.0 percent to 946,130, about 42.2 percent of all partnerships.