A DRO requires a partner to restore any negative balance (deficit) in their capital account upon the liquidation of the partnership. The DRO demonstrates the partner's willingness to assume the economic risk of loss in the partnership.
The partner with a deficit contributes enough assets to offset the deficit balance. The deficit balance is removed from the accounting records with only the remaining partners sharing in future gains and losses. The other partners file a legal suit against the partner with the deficit balance.
How to zero out partner capital accounts in a final year Go into the Input Return tab. From the left of the screen, select Balance Sheet, M-1, M-2 and choose Sch M-2 (Capital Account). Scroll down to the Distributions section. In the field Other decreases (-) (Ctrl+E), enter the appropriate amount.
This means the ownership interest a partner has in a partnership is treated as a separate asset that can be purchased and sold.
A DRO requires a partner to restore any negative balance (deficit) in their capital account upon the liquidation of the partnership. The DRO demonstrates the partner's willingness to assume the economic risk of loss in the partnership.
But if his capital account is negative, all additional partnership losses are disallowed. He will need to keep track of his disallowed losses because he can use them to offset future income (once his capital account is positive again).