Even if the audit was successfully completed and an adjustment needed to be made, figuring out how to apportion the liability among the partners was often an exercise in frustration, as Forms 1065, Schedule K-1s and the partners’ 1040s must be linked together in a process that remains largely manual and paper-driven. 

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 created a new set of streamlined rules. As under current law, the IRS will audit partnerships at the entity level. What's changed, though, is that any taxes due after the audit can now be assessed against the partnership as a whole, meaning that the IRS won't have to then pursue individual partners for the money. Instead that will be handled by a partnership representative, who is the only person who will receive notice of any administrative proceeding that has been initiated, notice of any proposed partnership adjustment, and notice of any final partnership adjustment, and further will have the sole authority to act on behalf of the partnership.