Membership Equity Payment Program for 2023 Patronage

Membership support makes your Co-op successful. Co-op membership is a $25.00 investment that grows. Our member-owners support in 2023 was amazing! The Slocan Valley Co-op had another record-breaking year with sales of over $34,760,000 and net savings of $1,756,158 (pending audited statement). The member equity allocation on Food, Liquor, Petroleum, and Oil & Grease was $596,901 with 50% paid back to member-owners in CASH! Combined with the senior’s rebate, the total cash back to the member-owners was $400,776. The allocation represents an average fuel savings to our member-owners of over 6.1¢ per liter!

Slocan Valley Co-op equity payment is based on each member’s purchases from November 1st, 2022 to October 31st, 2023. Of your purchases, referred to as “patronage” for this year, 6% of Food, 2.5% of Liquor, 4% of Fuel, and 6% of Lubricants was allocated to your equity account. Please retain your equity statement for your records, or forward to your accountant for the 2024 tax year. Please note the minimum value of the cash portion of each member’s equity allocation is ten dollars in order to produce a cheque, and that no cheques are issued for under this amount. The remaining amount of this year’s allocation is then added to your equity account balance shown on your statement.

Your equity statement is an inspiration for everyone. You don’t have to put hard earned savings on the line to build equity when you’re already earning equity just for purchasing your products through your own Co-op! Over the past 10 years, the Slocan Valley Co-op has returned to its members over $3,433,598.

Slocan Valley Co-op is required under the Federal Income Tax Act to withhold and forward to Canada Customs and Excise 15% of any patronage refund that exceeds $100.00. Please note that the first $100.00 is tax-free, it is only the amount of the allocation exceeding $100.00 that is taxed at 15%. This amount is forwarded to the Canada Revenue Agency by the Slocan Valley Co-op on the member’s behalf.

A T4-A is generated for all members with an allocation over $100. It is based on the information from the prior year’s equity allocation. The allocation is based on the patronage from the year prior. For this allocation, a T4-A will be sent before the end of February of next year for your annual tax filing. The withholding tax should be claimed as a credit when filing your tax return next year. To reiterate, the T4-A you may receive next year (2025) is not based on the purchases from this year (2024), but on the allocation you received this year (2024) on last year’s purchases (2023).

Note: Members should retain their purchase receipts if they require them for income tax reporting purposes.
The Co-op does not retain store cash register information for the purpose of future retrieval requests.

Thank you for your support! We value our member-owners. Should you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please drop us a line or speak with the General Manager or member of the Board of Directors.

Yours truly,
The Board of Directors of the Slocan Valley Co-operative Association