Article 2545-sexies of the Italian Civil Code requires the criteria for allocating patronage refunds to be set in proportion to the quantity and quality of mutual exchanges. Cooperatives must also report separately the business carried out with members.
The key distinction is that a patronage refund rewards mutual exchange, not invested capital. It should therefore not be allocated automatically by reference to shareholdings or split equally without evidence that members' mutual exchanges are equivalent.
What should be checked before the calculation
The cooperative should review its articles and internal regulations, identify the result attributable to mutual operations, reconstruct member-level data and apply the limits that govern worker-members. Accounting profit as a whole does not automatically equal the distributable patronage-refund pool.
The 30% limit for worker-members
Article 3 of Law no. 142/2001 allows the members' meeting, when approving the annual financial statements, to award additional economic treatment as a patronage refund up to 30% of the relevant remuneration identified by the law.
This is not 30% of the cooperative's profit. It is a member-level ceiling that must be tested together with the mutuality allocation criteria and the overall amount available for distribution.
Allocation criteria
Depending on the cooperative's rules, objective indicators may include hours or days worked, remuneration connected with mutual services, number and type of services, qualifications, responsibilities, productivity or other verifiable parameters.
An equal split is defensible only where the underlying mutual exchanges are substantially equivalent and that equivalence can be documented.
Employee and self-employed members
A worker-member may have an employment or self-employment relationship with the cooperative. A self-employed member who invoices the cooperative is not automatically excluded, provided the invoiced work genuinely represents the mutual exchange and the relationship is consistent with the cooperative's governing documents.
Payroll records, attendance and working-time data will normally support the calculation for employees, while contracts, invoices and service reports are important for self-employed members.
What if analytical records are missing?
The cooperative should reconstruct the available evidence from payroll reports, invoices, attendance records, job orders, service schedules and management accounting. Where a reliable reconstruction is not possible, an arbitrary allocation creates accounting and supervisory risk and should be avoided.
Accounting treatment
OIC 28 distinguishes two cases. If an obligation to allocate patronage refunds already exists at the reporting date under the cooperative's rules, the amount is recognised as a liability with the corresponding entry in profit or loss. If no such obligation exists, the refund is accounted for as a distribution of profit when the members' meeting resolves to allocate it.
Operational checklist
Before approving a patronage refund
01 · Review articles and internal regulations
02 · Determine the mutual-operation result
03 · Separate business carried out with members
04 · Apply quantity and quality criteria
05 · Reconstruct member-level data
06 · Test the individual 30% ceiling
07 · Retain the calculation schedule
08 · Confirm the OIC 28 accounting treatment
FAQ
Can the refund be split equally?
Only where members' mutual exchanges are equivalent in quantity and quality and that equivalence is supported by records.
Is the 30% limit calculated on profit?
No. For worker-members it is linked to the remuneration identified by Article 3 of Law no. 142/2001.
Can a self-employed member receive a refund?
Potentially yes, where the invoiced services form part of the genuine mutual exchange and the applicable corporate rules are met.
Official sources
FC Consulting & Management advises Italian cooperatives on corporate, accounting and tax matters, worker-member rules and patronage-refund calculations.
This article is for general information only and does not replace an assessment of the individual cooperative's circumstances.