By Victor Alam, Esq We recently came across a company whose ESOP distribution procedures prohibited participants from electing a stock distribution. Those plan provisions were in the original plan document when the ESOP plan was first adopted years ago. When the company converted from an S corporation to a C corporation a few years later,…
By Trevor Gilmore Zweig Group’s recently released 2019 Valuation Survey of AEC Firms highlights an important trend in employee ownership performance. Zweig focused on nationwide AEC firms – i.e. architecture, engineering & construction firms, of all sizes. From a valuation perspective, firms with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) performed better than non-ESOP firms in five…
Growing numbers of U.S. companies are giving workers financial stakes via employee stock ownership plans Aritcle by Judy Stringer. Reposted from the original article at Crain’s Cleveland Business There are a few lingering questions when it comes to Great Lakes Brewing Co.’s newly announced employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP. How many shares employees will receive,…
Reposted from the original article at Business of Home HEATH CERAMICS, MADE ITS EMPLOYEES INTO OWNERS. SHOULD YOU? JAN 9, 2019 FRED NICOLAUS In 2015, Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey, co-owners of iconic California ceramics brand Heath, were looking ahead to the 15th anniversary of their tenure. Over the last decade, the couple had transformed the company from a struggling…
By John D. Menke, Esq. Now that the dust has settled following the passage last December of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“TCJA”), it is clear that the new tax act confers substantial tax benefits on businesses and their owners and also makes ESOPs even more attractive, both for existing ESOP companies…
Session 1 – Introduction Session 2 – ESOP and Retirement Plan Basics Session 3 – Basic ESOP Transactions Session 4 – S Corporation ESOPs Session 5 – Plan Operation Features: The Four Hurdles Session 6 – Advanced ESOP Transactions Session 7 – ESOP Valuation Session 8 – Corporate Governance Session 9 – Key Employee Incentive Plans Session 10 – Administration and Recordkeeping –…
SAN FRANCISCO – June 1, 2017 – PRLog — Menke & Associates, Inc., the nation’s largest and oldest employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) advisory firm, announced today that they are becoming a Founding Member of Certified Employee-Owned® (Certified EO), a new certification program for employee-owned companies. “Menke & Associates is majority owned by its employees.…
The Brix Group, a leader in onboard entertainment and communication systems for the commercial vehicle industry, has become 100% employee owned. With the help of The Menke Group, The Brix Group has extended ownership to their employees by way of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. In addition to helping create financial security for employees, the…
By John D. Menke, Esq. A & E firms, like other service businesses, face two challenges to business succession. First, how will the firm finance the buyout of the founders when they are ready to exit the business? Second, how will the firm best be able to provide equity incentives to attract and retain key…
This is a one-and-a-half hour live Audio/Web Seminar that covers the basics of ESOPs from A to Z. This Audio/Web Seminar is designed for company owners and financial officers who want to determine whether an ESOP might be a good fit for their company. This program is designed to provide a broad overview of the…
SolarCraft, a well established Novato solar panel design and installation firm, has become 100% employee owned. With the help of The Menke Group, the principal owners of SolarCraft have extended ownership to their employees by way of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. In addition to helping create financial security for employees, the plan is designed…
A new comprehensive tax reform proposal was introduced by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp on February 26th, 2014. Camp’s proposal would cut the tax rate for C corporations to 25% over a period of five years. It would also cut individual tax rates to two brackets (10% and 25%), but it would…
The following is a list of affected sections of the Code and the 2014 limitations of interest to the ESOP community Code Section Description 2016 Limitations 2015 Limitations 401(a)(17) Limit on the amount of annual compensation taken into account $265,000 $265,000 402(g)(1) Limitation on the exclusion for elective deferrals described in Section 402(g)(3) of the…
This may be the opportune time to take action to avoid the increase in capital gains tax rates that will most likely take effect next year. According to the Kiplinger Tax Letter, Congress will likely increase the tax rate on long term capital gains for high income individuals from 15% to 20% starting next year.…
ESOPs were first authorized by federal legislation in 1974. Since that date, there have been more than 25 separate pieces of legislation that have further defined what an ESOP is and what an ESOP is permitted to do. Despite this fact, significant misconceptions about ESOPs persist. The following describes some of the more prevalent myths…
A study released today by Alex Brill, former advisor to the Simpson-Bowles bipartisan deficit reduction commission and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, finds that private employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) organized as S corporations increased employment over the last decade more quickly than the overall private sector. Among surveyed “S-ESOP” companies, the Brill…
An increasing number of companies are turning to Employee Stock Ownership Trust financing as a means to simultaneously raise low cost capital and provide increased employee incentives and retirement benefits while reducing the cost of qualified plan benefits. The Employee Stock Ownership Plan is a qualified plan under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.…
Advantages to C Corporations Many companies that have ESOPs fail to realize that their ESOP can be used to the finance acquisitions with pre-tax dollars. Normally, when debt is incurred to finance an acquisition, only the interest payments are deductible. Principal payments are not deductible. However, if the acquisition is financed through an ESOP, both…
The Los Angeles Times featured an article about Howard’s Appliance & Flat Screen Superstores, which has been 100% employee-owned since 2000. The company, which started as a radio repair shop in San Gabriel, sold nearly half of the company over to the employees when the government approved employee stock ownership plans in 1976. Employees acquired 100%…
Mills James, a comprehensive creative media production company based out of Columbus, Ohio has made an animated film explaining how their Employee Stock Ownership Plan (and how ESOPs in general) work. Mills James employs about 150 employees and specializes in the following areas: Teleproduction, Broadcast Production, Business Video, Meetings & Events, Web Interactive and Original…
Below you will find the links to watch each of the Technical Issues Webinar Sessions On-Demand: Session 1: Introduction What is an ESOP? History of ESOPs CLICK HERE TO WATCH SESSION 1 Session 2: Retirement Plan Basics Qualified vs. Nonqualified plans Types of Plans CLICK HERE TO WATCH SESSION 2 Session 3: Basic ESOP Transactions…
Local business owners say they’re spreading the wealth in Great Falls by offering long term employees stock ownership plans or ESOP’s. It’s a structure that is set up and its federally recognized, so the employees are then part of a trust that then owns either a 100% of the company or some portion of the…
Program Agenda Valuation Considerations Sell Now Or Sell Later? Tax Considerations Pay Uncle Sam Now Or Pay Uncle Sam Later? To Participate In Esop Or Not To Participate? Financing Considerations To Borrow Or Not To Borrow? To Lend Or Not To Lend? Fiduciary Considerations To Serve As An Internal Fiduciary? Appointing An Independent Fiduciary Control…
Read the original posting at the Cal-Tex Website Cal-Tex is 97% employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).As the 2011 Grand Prize Winner of theNational Center for Employee Ownership’s Innovations in Ownership Award and the 2011 ESOP Association’s Best Communications Award (Small Company), Cal-Tex is committed to providing a company structure that will benefit the employee and…
Click here to read the original article at bizjournals.com For business owners who want to cash out but still oversee the direction of the company and take care of their workers, an employee stock ownership plan might be the best bet. That was the message from panelists Tuesday morning at the monthly meeting of ACG…
(Why Selling Your Stock to an ESOP is Better than Selling to a Third Party) If you are the owner of a successful decorative plumbing or hardware business, sooner or later you will face the prospect of having to exit the business, either because you wish to retire or because you wish to cash in…
National Van Lines Inc. said it has changed the company’s structure, selling itself to an employee stock ownership plan entity. The third-generation, family-run business said it has been working on transitioning to an ESOP-owned S Corp. structure since July 2010 effort to “find an ownership and liquidity succession plan that did not disrupt the culture…
Employee Stock Ownership Plans (“ESOPs”) are federally qualified employee benefit programs governed by U.S. law. Since our president and founder, John Menke, wrote some of the original ESOP legislation in 1974, more than 25 additional laws have been passed to promote and broaden the benefits of ESOPs. In general, ESOPs offer owners of companies tax…
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Results from the Employee Ownership Foundation’s 20th Annual Economic Performance Survey of ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) companies that are members of The ESOP Association show that ESOPs, while not immune to economic developments beyond their control, have seen an upturn over the past year. The survey shows ESOP…
