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Q: Our company would like to redeem shares if someone dies and recycle other shares from former employees. Can we do that?

Q: A closely held company has a shareholders’ agreement that provides for the company—an S corporation—to buy out the shares of a shareholder upon his or her death, and that repurchase obligation is funded by life insurance policies on each of the shareholders. What do companies normally do with those kinds of policies before they convert to an ESOP?

Q: Can a trust sell to an ESOP and take the tax deferral on the gains under Section 1042?

Q: Can a leasing company (also called a professional employer organization, or PEO) have an ESOP for its employees?

Q: If a company takes on new debt to buy additional shares, how can the interests of employees be protected?

Q: What are the accounting implications of redeeming versus recycling shares?

Q: We are an S ESOP trying to decide on a dividend policy. How do most companies handle this?

Q: We are starting an account segregation policy in which the shares in the ESOP for departing employees will be converted into other investments until distribution. How should we communicate this change to employees? Our stock has done well, and we are concerned people might not be happy.

Q: We are considering funding our ESOP in part with cash reserves we already have. Can we loan these to the ESOP trust in the same way a bank or other lender would?

Q: We get acquisition offers frequently but don’t want to sell. We know that at some price we would have to say yes, but how can we have more control over our destiny as an ESOP?