LLP Company

Limited liability partnership

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Companies law
Company · Business Sole proprietorship Partnership (General · Limited · LLP) Corporation Cooperative
United States
S corporation · C corporation LLC · LLLP · Series LLC Delaware corporation Nevada corporation Massachusetts business trust
UK / Ireland / Commonwealth
Limited company (by shares · by guarantee Public · Proprietary) Unlimited company Community interest company
European Union / EEA
SE · SCE · SPE · EEIG
Elsewhere
AB · AG · ANS · A/S · AS · GmbH K.K. · N.V. · OY · S.A. · more
Doctrines
Corporate governance Limited liability · Ultra vires Business judgment rule Internal affairs doctrine De facto corporation and corporation by estoppel Piercing the corporate veil Rochdale Principles
Related areas
Contract · Civil procedure
v • d • e

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (May 2008)

This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help addinline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (May 2008)

A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liability. It therefore exhibits elements of partnerships and corporations.^[1] In an LLP one partner is not responsible or liable for another partner's misconduct or negligence. This is an important difference from that of a limited partnership. In an LLP, some partners have a form of limited liability similar to that of the shareholders of a corporation.^[2] In some countries, an LLP must also have at least one "general partner" with unlimited liability. Unlike corporate shareholders, the partners have the right to manage the business directly. As opposed to that, corporate shareholders have to elect a board of directors under the laws of various state charters. The board organizes itself (also under the laws of the various state charters) and hires corporate officers who then have as "corporate" individuals the legal responsibility to manage the corporation in the corporation's best interest. An LLP also contains a different level of tax liability from that of a corporation.

Limited liability partnerships are distinct from limited partnerships in some countries, which may allow all LLP partners to have limited liability, while a limited partnership may require at least one unlimited partner and allow others to assume the role of a passive and limited liability investor. As a result, in these countries the LLP is more suited for businesses where all investors wish to take an active role in management.

There is considerable confusion between LLPs as constituted in the U.S. and that introduced in the UK in 2001 and adopted elsewhere - see below - since the UK LLP is, despite the name, specifically legislated as a Corporate body rather than a Partnership.

Contents [hide] 1 National variations 1.1 Canada 1.2 China 1.3 Germany 1.4 Greece 1.5 India 1.6 Japan 1.7 Kazakhstan 1.8 Poland 1.9 Romania 1.10 Singapore 1.11 United Kingdom 1.12 United States 2 See also 3 Notes 4 External links

...

India

The Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008 was published in the official Gazette of India on January 9, 2009 and has been notified with effect from 31 March 2009. However, the Act, has been notified with limited sections only.^[4]. The rules have been notified in the official gazette on April 1, 2009. The first LLP was incorporated in the first week of April 2009.

In India for all purposes of taxation, an LLP is treated like any other partnership firm.

The salient features of the LLP Act, 2008 are as under:-

1. The LLP has an alternative corporate business vehicle that would give the benefits of limited liability but allows its members the flexibility of organizing their internal structure as a partnership based on an agreement.

2. The LLP Act does not restrict the benefit of LLP structure to certain classes of professionals only and would be available for use by any enterprise which fulfills the requirements of the Act.

3. While the LLP has a separate legal entity, liable to the full extent of its assets, the liability of the partners would be limited to their agreed contribution in the LLP. Further, no partner would be liable on account of the independent or unauthorized actions of other partners, thus allowing individual partners to be shielded from joint liability created by another partner’s wrongful business decisions or misconduct.

4. LLP shall be a body corporate and a legal entity separate from its partners. It will have perpetual succession. Indian Partnership Act, 1932 shall not be applicable to LLPs and there shall not be any upper limit on number of partners in an LLP unlike an ordinary partnership firm where the maximum number of partners can not exceed 20, LLP Act makes a mandatory statement where one of the partner to the LLP should be an Indian.

5. Provisions have been made for corporate actions like mergers, amalgamations etc.

6. While enabling provisions in respect of winding up and dissolutions of LLPs have been made, detailed provisions in this regard would be provided by way of rules under the Act.

7. The Act also provides for conversion of existing partnership firm, private limited company and unlisted public company into a LLP by registering the same with the Registrar of Companies (ROC)

8. Nothing Contained in the Partnership Act 1932 shall effect an LLP.

9. The Registrar of Companies (Roc) shall register and control LLPs also.

10. The governance of LLPs shall be in electronic mode based on the successful model of the present Ministry of Corporate Affairs Portal. Visit LLP Portal to register a new LLP.