Because Alliance is a customer-owned communications cooperative, we share our financial success with you in your capital credits checks.
You’ll receive a capital credits check in your mailbox if your amount is more than $50, you were a cooperative customer in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2014, or 2013, and/or you have special allocations from 2006.
If your amount is $50 or less, your capital credits appear as a credit on your April 1 bill.
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 Verizon, Midco, Bluepeak, AT&T, or T-Mobile give their profits to outside investors, shareholders, or an ownership group, not you. Meanwhile, we’re keeping money in our local communities by putting it back into the pockets of our customer-owners.
That’s why Alliance is truly all yours.
SAVE THE DATE
70th Anniversary Annual Meeting
Thursday, May 28, 2026
More details are available here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I contact Alliance Communications with my capital credits questions?
If you don’t find the answer you need in the questions below, you can reach Alliance Communications by dialing 611 from any phone with Alliance service or (605) 582-6311 from your cell phone. You can also 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 is a capital credits check, and can I cash it?
Yes, this check is yours to cash and use however you’d like. The check you received is a capital credits payment, one of the benefits of being a member-owner of Alliance Communications Cooperative.
Why you’re receiving it:
- Your membership earns equity As an Alliance customer, you’re also a part-owner of the cooperative. Each time you pay your bill, a portion is allocated to your ownership account as capital credits. These funds are reinvested in the cooperative and returned to members over time. This year, you’ll receive a capital credits check if you were a cooperative customer in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2014, or 2013.
- Special allocation from 2006 This payment also includes a special allocation from 2006. Special allocations come from one-time events, such as the sale of an investment. These are assigned based on your account’s unretired capital credit balance at the time, not based on when you had service.
Can I accrue capital credits if I don’t use Alliance’s services?
No. If you disconnect your Alliance services, your capital credits account will stop growing. To accrue capital credits, you must be an Alliance cooperative customer.
Why did I receive more than one check?
If any changes are made to the owners of the membership account, a new account is created under the new name. The member will continue to get checks for both the old and new 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 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 are the capital credits handled 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 for it to be cashed.
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. 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. Your member number can be found on the check and/or check stub. Please return your completed and signed W-9 to Alliance Communications, PO Box 349, Garretson, SD 57030.
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 is on the account.
Why aren’t the allocations paid out 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.
Is there any reason that I would not receive a capital credits refund?
- 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.
- You will only receive a payout if you were a cooperative customer in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2014, or 2013, and/or you have special allocations from 2006.
- If you live outside of Alliance’s cooperative service territory, you won’t receive capital credits. Alliance serves approximately 4,000 customers who are not cooperative members. These customers are part of a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary, and commercial companies do not pay capital credits. Additionally, Alliance is still recovering the costs of constructing the new fiber-optic networks for these 4,000 customers.
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.
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 can also 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?
The capital credits can be paid out 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 can also 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.
