Bipartisan Bill to Support Awareness of ESOPs

On July 19, Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced the Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act (S. 1589). The 22 sponsors include 10 Republicans and 12 Democrats, and the bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee. The bill, which had been introduced in prior sessions, would extend the deferral of capital gains taxation, which currently only applies to sellers of C corporation shares, to qualified sellers of S corporation shares. It would also protect the SBA certification of companies that establish ESOPs and extend technical assistance to support sales to ESOPs.

The bill is the Senate's version of House Bill 2092, introduced by David Reichert (R-WA-08) and Ron Kind (D-WI-03) in April.