(a) In general. For purposes of determining income of a debtor from discharge of indebtedness (COD income), if a debtor partnership transfers a capital or profits interest in the partnership to a creditor in satisfaction of its recourse or nonrecourse indebtedness (a debt-for-equity exchange), the partnership is treated as having satisfied the indebtedness with an amount of money equal to the fair market value of the partnership interest.

(b) Determination of fair market value—(1) In general. All the facts and circumstances are considered in determining the fair market value of a partnership interest transferred by a debtor partnership to a creditor in satisfaction of the debtor partnership's indebtedness (debt-for-equity interest) for purposes of paragraph (a) of this section. If the fair market value of the debt-for-equity interest does not equal the fair market value of the indebtedness exchanged, then general tax law principles shall apply to account for the difference.

(2) Safe harbor—(i) General rule. For purposes of paragraph (a) of this section, the fair market value of a debt-for-equity interest is deemed to be equal to the liquidation value of the debt-for-equity interest, as defined in paragraph (b)(2)(iii) of this section, if the following requirements are satisfied—

(A) The creditor, debtor partnership, and its partners treat the fair market value of the indebtedness as being equal to the liquidation value of the debt-for-equity interest for purposes of determining the tax consequences of the debt-for-equity exchange;

(B) If, as part of the same overall transaction, the debtor partnership transfers more than one debt-for-equity interest to one or more creditors, then each creditor, debtor partnership, and its partners treat the fair market value of each debt-for-equity interest transferred by the debtor partnership to such creditors as equal to its liquidation value;

(C) The debt-for-equity exchange is a transaction that has terms that are comparable to terms that would be agreed to by unrelated parties negotiating with adverse interests; and

(D) Subsequent to the debt-for-equity exchange, the debtor partnership does not redeem the debt-for-equity interest, and no person bearing a relationship to the debtor partnership or its partners that is specified in section 267(b) or section 707(b) purchases the debt-for-equity interest, as part of a plan at the time of the debt-for-equity exchange that has as a principal purpose the avoidance of COD income by the debtor partnership.

(ii) Tiered-partnership rule. For purposes of this paragraph (b)(2), the liquidation value of a debt-for-equity interest in a partnership (upper-tier partnership) that directly or indirectly owns an interest in one or more partnerships (lower-tier partnership(s)) is determined by taking into account the liquidation value of such lower-tier partnership interests.

(iii) Definition of liquidation value. For purposes of this paragraph (b)(2), the liquidation value of a debt-for-equity interest equals the amount of cash that the creditor would receive with respect to the debt-for-equity interest if, immediately after the debt-for-equity exchange, the partnership sold all of its assets (including goodwill, going concern value, and any other intangibles) for cash equal to the fair market value of those assets and then liquidated.

(c) Example. The following example illustrates the provisions of this section:

(d) Effective/applicability date. This section applies to debt-for-equity exchanges occurring on or after November 17, 2011.

[T.D. 9557, 76 FR 71258, Nov. 17, 2011]