Partnership stopped, then started up again

[joanmcq]

Last year I filed a final return for a general partnership that was selling antiques, but the one partner who was most involved got really sick and so they said they had stopped the activity and donated most of the stock. I treated the inventory as distributed to the partners and then each got a donation per the reciepts they had since the partners actually donated the pieces, not the p'ship.

So now the sick partner is doing better and once and antique dealer, always an antique dealer, I guess. He's picked up some more stock and has been trying to sell it on ebay, but did not have any sales but incurred some selling expenses. They are looking to getting another space in an antique mall nearby. So, if they are firing up the p'ship again, can I use the same EIN? file it as a first return, or just ignore that I checked the 'final' box last year? Or, since the expenses are pretty low, just ignore them until they are going in full swing? ($950 in expenses approx)

[ILLMAS]

Last year I filed a final return for a general partnership that was selling antiques, but the one partner who was most involved got really sick and so they said they had stopped the activity and donated most of the stock. I treated the inventory as distributed to the partners and then each got a donation per the reciepts they had since the partners actually donated the pieces, not the p'ship.

So now the sick partner is doing better and once and antique dealer, always an antique dealer, I guess. He's picked up some more stock and has been trying to sell it on ebay, but did not have any sales but incurred some selling expenses. They are looking to getting another space in an antique mall nearby. So, if they are firing up the p'ship again, can I use the same EIN? file it as a first return, or just ignore that I checked the 'final' box last year? Or, since the expenses are pretty low, just ignore them until they are going in full swing? ($950 in expenses approx)

Have the partners check with the IRS to see if they can reinstate the prior FEIN, also (if applicable in your state), you would have to check to see if the partnership was dissolved by the state. Things can get complicated, if they closed the bank account already and want to reopen another account, the bank is going to ask for a certificate of good standing along with a copy of the FEIN assigned by the IRS.

[OldJack]

I am not sure of the answer, but I would ignore the final checkbox and go ahead and use the same EIN filing a tax return as though nothing had happened.

[joanmcq]

They didn't get a state certificate (general partnerships appear to be the only entity NOT regulated to the hilt by CA) so no state dissolution. Very informal p'ship; 1065 required simply because they are not married for fed. Could be one of those joint Sch Cs if they were.