The Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) is set to release a consultation looking at the application of the Companies Act for such partnerships in the coming weeks and many lawyers expect the treatment of overseas LLPs to feature in it.
The issue — debated ahead of draft regulations planned to be released next spring — is controversial and provoked fierce complaints from
At the moment, in contrast to equivalent
Forcing the firms to disclose the information would be a significant change as US LLPs are not required to disclose their accounts in the
Jeremy Black, an associate partner in Deloitte’s professional practice group, told Legal Week: “It would have a massive impact as currently US LLPs do not have to report. This would mean, to avoid reporting the full results, US firms would have to put the UK branch in a separate LLP — either US or UK — but either way, their UK figures would be publicly reported.”
Richard Linsell, a partnership expert at Addleshaw Goddard, said: “It is a controversial subject. Last time it was debated there was much vociferousness from US firms about the fact that their LLPs were partnerships rather than body corporates, and so did not have to file accounts.”
A BERR consultation earlier this year said overseas LLPs would be considered. A spokesperson for BERR this week said the position was still being finalised.
Reed Smith director of strategic planning Michael Pollock said: “We are a private company and we would prefer to keep our financials private. Many of our
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