8947 / What is a publicly traded partnership?
A publicly traded partnership is a partnership that is either (1) traded on an established securities market, or (2) is readily tradable on a secondary market or the substantial equivalent thereof (discussed below).1
Generally, a partnership that is not traded on an established securities market will be treated as readily tradable on a secondary market or the substantial equivalent thereof if, taking into account all of the facts and circumstances, the partners are readily able to buy, sell, or exchange their partnership interests in a manner that is comparable, economically, to trading on an established securities market. This occurs if any of the following are true:
(1) Partnership interests are regularly quoted by any person making a market in the interests.
(2) Any person regularly makes bids or offers quotes pertaining to the interests available to the public and stands ready to effect buy or sell transactions regarding same for itself or on behalf of others.