These are all terms used in the cooperative business community and sometimes their meanings are unclear or jumbled. This blog will discuss the definitions of these terms with examples of how they are used by different types of cooperatives. A patron patronizes a cooperative and receives a patronage dividend at the end of the year. …
Linda Phillips
Updated Section 1042 Tax Benefits
There is a section of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) that provides some tax benefits for people who sell their companies to either an ESOP or to a worker cooperative. This blog will explain how 1042 provides tax advantages when selling to a cooperative. If you are thinking of becoming employee-owned or selling your business to …
Selling to a Worker Coop Over Time
Many businesses are looking at the possibility of selling their companies to their employees through a worker cooperative. They have crunched the numbers, gotten the employees interested, have figured out the financing, but now want to explore the timing of a potential sale. Often there is a misconception that the owners have to sell 100% of the business in one lump sum, in …
Mandatory Business Owner Reporting
The federal government has passed some new legislation that will require small businesses to report personal information about the business’s owners to a database controlled by the Securities Exchange Commission. The legislation is called the Corporate Transparency Act (the “Act”), adopted as Title LXIV (64) of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The purpose of …
Cooperative Equity Capital, Income and Patronage: How They Work Together
Cooperatives have three areas of accounting that need to be understood by their members as the cooperatives are formed and as they are operated. Cooperatives obtain and track equity capital, usually through the members. As a business entity, the cooperative generates income through the products its sells or the services it provides to clients and …
Use of the term “Cooperative”
Edited June 26th, 2020: An earlier version of this blog post implied that only organizations incorporated as cooperatives under Massachusetts law may use the word “cooperative.” This post has been edited to accurately reflect that other businesses may use the term if they distribute earnings consistent with cooperative law. Entity formation is often the first …
Happy National Cooperative Month from the Jason Wiener | p.c. team
Business Plan Outline
Overview/Executive Summary: can be one paragraph or more extensive as needed. Description of the Business: purpose, goals, objectives. Products/Services: What will the business be providing to its members and/or to the public? Consider whether this is different in the short term versus the long term. The Market: Who are the potential customers, including, demographics (type …
Do I need a business plan?
Here at Jason Wiener PC, we get asked all the time about the process for starting a new business or converting to a different form of business. One of the first questions we ask any client is “Do you have a business plan?” I would estimate that six or seven times out of 10, the …
Tax Advantages of Selling to a Worker Cooperative
Why Try a Worker Co-op Business owners should think carefully and develop a strategic plan for exiting a business. You, the business owner looking to sell, can leave your business by selling it to family members or third parties, merging it into a larger organization, selling it to employees through an employee stock ownership plan …
