Newbie K Posted August 13, 2024 Posted August 13, 2024 I've got a tax/accounting question regarding how to handle dividend payments. The company made a compensation contribution as well as paid a dividend on preferred shares. (The ESOP holds all of the preferred stock.) These two payments were then returned to the company as payment for the ESOP loan principle. These two payments paid off the remaining ESOP loan balance. The issue has to do with the fact that there were not enough shares available to be released for the "make whole" principle. There were approximately 54,000 shares available to be released but 71,000 were needed for the dividend to abide by the make whole rule. How would this payment be accounted for? How much of the payment would be tax deductible?
QDROphile Posted August 13, 2024 Posted August 13, 2024 Could you elucidate on what you mean by the “make whole” principle/rule?
ESOP Guy Posted August 14, 2024 Posted August 14, 2024 You don't want free advice. Someone needs an ERISA attorney that is good with ESOPs. I am serious here. I have been working on ESOPs since the mid 90s and I wouldn't dare advice the client how to clean this up. Belgarath and Griswold 2
MBESQ Posted August 15, 2024 Posted August 15, 2024 There are deduction, plan qualification and prohibited transaction issues involving failure to adhere to the make-whole rule when dividends paid on allocated shares are used to make ESOP loan payments. It’s pretty complex, and echoing ESOP guy, you need an experienced ESOP attorney to address these.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now