FAQs

Yes you may. Under the 1991 Amendments to ANCSA (43. U.S.C 1601 et seq.), you may only give stock to a person who is your child, grandchild, great-grandchild, niece, nephew, brother or sister and who is also a Native or a descendant of a Native.

In order to process an address change, we must have the change in writing from you, the shareholder. This is to ensure that only you are requesting this change. If you call with an address change, we will request that you send a letter. To download our address change form go here and mail or fax it to (907) 443-2985.

We require a legal document that reflects the new name. Mail in the document with our Name Change Form or fax them to (907) 443-2985.

You can download the Will Form and execute it. This will must be notarized. You can also write to or call the Shareholder Department for the form. You may also devise your shares to your heirs in a formal will or stock will.

Your shares of stock will be transferred to heirs under the Alaska State laws on intestate succession. This means that your shares will be transferred to your heirs by representation. (100 percent to spouse, no children; 50 percent to spouse, 50 percent to children; and so on)

You have the right to vote in elections for the board of directors. You also have the right to receive dividends or other distributions from the corporation. If you are a non-Native shareholder by inheritance, you do not have the right to vote.

The 1991 Amendments to ANCSA continue the stock restrictions. These restrictions were originally going to end Dec. 18, 1991. Native stock cannot be sold, cannot be pledged as an asset, cannot be subjected to a lien or judgment, cannot be assigned, cannot be treated as an asset in bankruptcy or insolvency, and cannot otherwise be taken away.

Yes, BSNC provides Shareholder Bereavement Assistance in the amount of $2,500 for the death of an original BSNC shareholder, a lineal descendent of an original BSNC shareholder, or the spouse of a living original BSNC shareholder.

BSNC honors the contributions of our Elder shareholders. The BSNC Board of Directors voted to issue a special Elder dividend of $1,500 for fiscal year 2019. This special dividend was paid to original BSNC shareholders who were 65 years of age or older on Nov. 4, 2019, the date of record.

The BSNC Beringia Settlement Trust, a legally separate trust dedicated to providing benefits to BSNC shareholders, descendants and Alaska Native people, was created after shareholders overwhelmingly voted to approve a resolution establishing the Trust at the 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Learn more about the BSNC Beringia Settlement Trust here.

Of the 70% pool that each regional corporation receives, 50% is kept and may be used for operating expense, payment toward its own shareholder dividend or investment. The other 50%, called a 7(j) payment, is divided among at-large shareholders and village corporations (based on their proportion of shareholders) in the BSNC region.

It is important to note that congress did not mandate that the village corporations distribute 7(j) payments to their own shareholders. Directors of each respective village corporation decide how to use their revenues in a wide variety of ways. At-large shareholders receive the payments directly because they do not have a village corporation to decide how the money will be used.

BSNC currently issues two classes of shares: Class A shares are held by at-large shareholders who are not associated with a village corporation in the region or who may have inherited or been gifted at-large shares. Class B shares are held by shareholders also enrolled with a village corporation in the region.

At-large shareholders are shareholders who did not enroll in a BSNC village corporation. At the time of enrollment, these shares were generally issued to people who were living outside the region but whose family was originally from the region. A shareholder may own class A shares through inheritance or gifting. Please contact the shareholder department at (907) 443-5252 to see if you have inherited or been gifted at-large shares.

Because the amount of 7(i) monies distributed in any given year depends on each corporation’s resource revenue activities for that year, it is not possible to predict 7(i) or 7(j) amounts. The amount is usually announced in February of each year and mailed out shortly thereafter. Sometimes there is variation due to the time that BSNC receives these payments from the other regional corporations.

Yes. BSNC at-large shareholders will receive a 1099-MISC form for this distribution. The distribution must be reported as income on personal income tax returns.

Under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Alaska Native Corporations can set up a special entity called a “Settlement Trust” that is legally separate from the Company and dedicated to providing benefits to shareholders, descendants and Alaska Native people. The purpose of a Settlement Trust is to provide for the health, education, cultural preservation and economic welfare of Alaska Native people and descendants who are the “beneficiaries” of the Settlement Trust.

In order to process an address change, we must have the change in writing from you, the shareholder. This is to ensure that only you are requesting this change. If you call with an address change, we will request that you send a letter. To download our address change form go here and mail or fax it to (907) 443-2985

No. Once funds or assets are contributed to the Trust they may only be used for the generation and distribution of benefits to the Trust beneficiaries. The Trust may not engage in active business operations. Funds or assets in the Trust must be invested and managed only for the purpose of providing benefits to the Trust beneficiaries.

Yes. BSNC transfers funds to the Trust which then makes the distribution to the shareholders.

A Settlement Trust can provide a broad range of benefits including, but not limited to, Elder distributions, scholarships, training and supporting cultural preservation.

Distributions from the Trust can be made on a tax-free basis, and BSNC intends to ensure that the Trust is operated so that distributions to the beneficiaries will be tax-free.

Funding of the Trust will come from BSNC. From time to time, the BSNC Board of Directors will decide how much money and what other BSNC assets should be contributed to the Trust.

Beneficiaries of the Settlement Trust, including shareholders, have a right to receive information about the Trust to the extent necessary to participate in a benefit program, as may be required by law, or as the Board of Trustees may determine. The financial statements of the Trust will be audited each year and an annual report will be prepared. The Board of Trustees will determine what information to communicate to shareholders and will coordinate with BSNC for including such information in corporate newsletters and other shareholder communications.

Under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the BSNC Board must appoint the Trustees.

The Board of Trustees, in conjunction with the BSNC Board of Directors, will decide whether additional benefit programs will be administered by the Trust.

Yes.