With 3 partners assuming the profits is split equally is about £20k each.
With the new change to dividends coming in from April 2016 it isnt really worth incorporating a business from tax viewpoint if the profits are less than £50k per person so in your case wouldnt incorporate from a tax viewpoint though there is also many other reason for creating a limited company.
I will say that I've never personally witnessed a successful partnership unless the partners are also sleeping together (and I don't think thats always a guarantee!).
Sure that successful partnerships must exist but I think that they are about as common as Unicorn poop. For that reason I do not work with partnerships.
Its worth noting that a partnership has joint and several liability so one partner can (financially) throw the other partners under a bus. (where a carefully worded partnership agreement to override the default 1890 act is not in place).
Thats not saying that such cannot happen with a limited company but the participants "should" all need to sign up to an agreement rather than one partner being able to bind the others without their knowledge or consent (again, there are exceptions to that but such would involve the other directors being naive, stupid or both).
limited companies offer more protection but always remember that the veil of incorporation can be lifted such as directors needing to sign away their protection in exchange for loans.
This is not advice but rather personal opinion and my opinion is that I personally would not advise anyone to become a partnership and if a company is formed by a group rather than an individual I would advise that proper legal council is invested in up front to establish binding terms of agreement either seperately or embedded within the new companies memorandum & articles.
kind regards,
shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.