PLR 200827018 is a private letter (PLR) ruling that allowed two selling shareholders of a C Corporation to include the time period that they owned a predecessor LLC that was merged into a newly created C Corporation in the 3-year holding period defined in IRC Section 1042(b)(4) - Sales of stock to employee stock ownership plans or certain cooperatives – Requirements to qualify for nonrecognition – 3-year holding period.

Last month we discussed how a recent Study Asserts that Broader Employee Ownership and Participation Improves Company Performance and Social Welfare. New University of Pennsylvania Study Finds S ESOPs Yield Billions in New Benefits for U.S. Workers and the Economy announces that a new study finds that S ESOPs create new jobs and savings that would not have otherwise been earned:

Open The Books - The Minds Will Open is a blog post that discusses the benefits of open-book management:

Houchens Industries (Bowling Green, KY)

Sharing the Reins: 10 Reasons To Sell Your Company To Your Employees contains an article by John Abrams, the former owner of South Mountain Co., that discusses 10 reasons to consider selling a company to the employees:

The IRS Office of Employee Plans (EP) has produced an IRS Employee Plans Video Webpage that currently contains nine videos:

The U.S. Social Security Administration has an online Retirement Estimator that will estimate retirement earnings:

Rable Machine Inc. (Mansfield, OH)

Required Amendments (Revised 7/8/2008) is a chart with a list of required amendments and due dates for defined contribution plans since the GUST restatement:

August Recess is Approaching - Time to Setup a Meeting with Your Member of Congress discusses how the August Recess provides a great opportunity to invite a member of Congress to visit your company:

The July 15, 2008 Employee Ownership Update is online and discusses the following:

Sovereign slide hits retirement shares discusses how a group of Sovereign Bancorp Inc. employees are suing the company:

Pay, Your Own Way: Firm Lets Workers Pick Salary discusses how an employee-owned company allows its top managers to choose between a higher base salary and a lower base salary with a higher potential bonus:

The latest Employee Ownership Blog post, Presidential Candidates and ESOPs, publishes a copy of a November 2, 2005 letter from Senator Barack Obama regarding a version of The ESOP Promotion and Improvement Act of 2007 (S. 1322):

Morton Community Bank and Alpha Bank (Morton, IL)

The IRS's Tax Talk Today program returns today at 2 pm and was discussed in IRS's July Tax Talk Today: "Retirement Plan Pitfalls":

We have recently discussed ESOP Sustainability and The Legacy of an ESOP Company. Sustaining Employee Ownership for the Long Term discusses how a company's success can be one of the biggest obstacles to sustaining an ESOP or other employee ownership program in the long-term. The article identifies six solutions to meeting the obligation to provide liquidity to shareholders, noting that only the first three solutions are sustainable solutions:

The Employee Ownership Blog has posted a link to The Little ESOP That Did, the winner of the 2008 AACE Award, Category 3 - Audio Visual, by Harrell Remodeling, Inc. (Mountain View, CA):

Marine Hydraulics International Inc. (Norfolk, VA) and Técnico Corp. (Chesapeake, VA)

Employee Plans News - Special Edition, July 1, 2008 announces that Sample Plan Language for Section 409(p) Transfers is now available:

The July 1, 2008 Employee Ownership Update is online and discusses the following: