Capital Credits Checks to arrive in mid-April

An Alliance customer receives his capital credits check in the mail.
An Alliance customer receives his capital credits check in the mail.

At Alliance, our cooperative thrives because of the exceptional people like you who make up our communities. When Alliance performs well financially, we share our success with our customer-owners in their capital credits checks.

This year, you’ll receive a payout if you were a cooperative customer in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2013 or 2012, and/or you have special allocations from 2001.

You accrue capital credits during the years you use Alliance services. We allocate margins to our cooperative-owners based on their purchases during the year. The dollar amount you receive depends on how long you’ve been a customer and the number of services you’ve purchased.

By contrast, investor-owned providers like CenturyLink, Midco, or Verizon give their profits to outside investors, shareholders, or an ownership group, not customers. Meanwhile, we’re keeping money in our local communities by putting money back into the pockets of our customer-owners.

That’s why Alliance is truly all yours.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I become eligible to receive capital credits?

As either a current member or a former cooperative member, you are eligible to receive capital credits. Capital credits will be issued to the member whose name the account is in.

When you live within Alliance’s cooperative territory and you use Alliance for your communications provider, you are part owner of the cooperative. Every time you pay your communications bill, you are investing in the equity of the cooperative. These equity investments are known as capital credits, which are invested back into the company and eventually returned to members.

Can I accrue capital credits if I don’t use Alliance’s service?

No. To accrue capital credits, you must be an Alliance cooperative customer. If you disconnect your Alliance account, the money in your capital credits account will stop growing.

Why am I receiving a capital credits check, and is it okay to cash it?

Your capital credits check is yours to cash and spend as you wish! Capital credits are one of the many benefits of being an Alliance Communications Cooperative customer-owner.

Is there any reason that I would not receive a capital credits refund?

1. Customer-owners who have a bad debt with Alliance won’t receive the capital credits allocated to them. In this case, Alliance Communications would deduct what is owed to the cooperative and the rest of the capital credits, if any, would be issued at the current refund schedule.

2. You will only receive a payout if you were a cooperative customer in 2021, 2022, 2019, 2013, or 2012, and/or you have special allocations from 2001.

3. If you live outside of Alliance’s cooperative service territory, you won’t receive capital credits. Alliance serves approximately 1,500 customers who are not cooperative members.  These customers are part of a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary that Alliance owns, and commercial companies do not pay capital credits. Additionally, Alliance is still recovering the costs of constructing the new fiber-optic networks for these 1,500 customers.

Why did I receive more than one check?

If any changes are made to the owners of the membership account, a new membership account is created under the new name. The member will continue to get checks for both the old and new membership accounts until all patronage amounts are retired in those accounts, so there is a potential that a member may receive multiple checks. An example would be John Doe adds his wife Susan to the account. For a period of time, John will get checks for John Doe and for John and Susan Doe until capital credits are all paid out in the old membership.

How does Alliance handle capital credits if members of a joint account get divorced or separate?

If a membership is in the name of John AND Jane Doe and they are divorced or no longer together, Alliance cannot change the AND to OR. If it is a divorce situation, the capital credits need to be addressed in the divorce decree, and Alliance needs a copy of the decree to know how to split the capital credits. Without a divorce decree that addresses capital credits payments, both account owners must sign the check in order for it to be cashed.

What do I need to do if I move to keep receiving capital credit checks?

To receive your capital credits checks once you leave our service, it is important to keep us informed of your current address. Many checks go unclaimed each year because we are unable to locate previous members.

What do I do if I receive a capital credits check that’s more than $600.00?

If your check exceeds $600.00 AND you have deducted your Alliance bill on a personal or business tax return, please notify us by completing and mailing a W-9 to our office. This will help our office determine whether we need to issue a 1099MISC for 2023. If you need assistance, please contact your tax advisor. A W-9 can be found online at the IRS website: irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf. Please include your member number on the W-9. You can find your member number on the check and/or check stub. Please return your completed and signed W-9 to Alliance Communications, PO Box 349, Garretson, SD 57030.

Why doesn’t Alliance pay out the allocations all at one time?

Alliance needs to maintain adequate cash flow and collateral to show stability to obtain loans. If the business showed no margin/profit, Alliance would be unstable and unable to build, improve or maintain its communication network.

How do I find out if I have any unclaimed capital credits checks?

If you think you may have any unclaimed capital credits checks, please contact us by dialing 611 from any phone with Alliance service or (605) 582-6311 from your cell phone. You also can send a message to accounting@alliance.coop. In your correspondence, include your name, current address, phone number and, if possible, your member number. We will reply as quickly as possible.

What happens if a member passes away?

Alliance can pay out the capital credits at that time. We ask that the personal representative or executor of your estate contact our office so that we can mail the appropriate paperwork to them. If there is no personal representative or executor, we ask that the spouse or another family member contact us by dialing 611 from any phone with Alliance service or (605) 582-6311 from your cell phone. You also can send a message to accounting@alliance.coop. In your correspondence, include your name, current address, phone number and, if possible, the member number. We will reply as quickly as possible.

What happens if I owned a business that earned capital credits and the business no longer exists?

We need to know the business’s classification. For example, was the business a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or a limited liability company (LLC)? If you do not know the answer, you will need to contact the person who prepares your annual tax return to find out. Then after you know the classification, you can contact Alliance and we will mail the appropriate paperwork to you.

Do I have to report the allocations or capital credits checks as income?

The best advice we can give you is to contact your tax preparer. He or she is the expert.

How do I contact Alliance Communications with my capital credits questions?

If you don’t find the answer you need in the questions here, you can reach Alliance Communications by dialing 611 from any phone with Alliance service or (605) 582-6311 from your cell phone. You also can send a message to accounting@alliance.coop. In your correspondence, include your name, current address, phone number and, if possible, your member number. We will reply as quickly as possible.