Can one partner be assigned 0% of profits in a family partnership?

Hi,
My other thread 'Discretionary trust or family partnership with my fiance' still has not received any answers, so want to ask a quick question that will help me keep going...

In short, can one partner be assigned 0% or 1% of profits in a family partnership? We aim to establish an importing/e-commerce business in the 1st quarter of 2012, while keeping our day jobs and my partner is a low income earner...For income distribution/taxation benefits, can you establish a family partnership and assign one partner - me 0% or 1% of profits and her 100% of the business profits - in order to distribute the income tax-effectively?

Please see my questions about whether doing all this will be better in a Discretionary Trust in the other thread - if you will suggest a Discretionary Trust instead...

Thanks...

 

It wouldn't be much of a partnership then.

 

Yes you can assign 1 partner 0% or 1%, but it may look suss if you change the percentage from year to year.

I would suggest establishing a discretionary trust with yourself as the trustee. There is only a one-off cost of a few hundred $$ and no yearly fees (if you use a company as a trustee then there will be an annual company fee). With a trust it's definitely possible to vary the profit distributions each year.

Hope this helps.