Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 157B, § 11

(1) as a dividend not to exceed ten per cent, noncumulative, upon one or more classes of stock;

(2) as an equitable distribution or refund to all patrons in proportion to their individual patronage except that (a) in the case of a subscriber patron, the distribution or refund may be credited to the subscriber's account until the subscription has been fully paid, and (b) in the case of a nonmember patron, the amount otherwise distributable may be retained by the cooperative corporation;

(3) this section does not prevent a cooperative corporation from disposing of the net savings by reducing the cost of goods, facilities or services or by applying such net savings otherwise for the common benefit of members;

(4) this section does not prevent a cooperative corporation from adopting a system by which the payment of net savings are deferred for a fixed period of time, nor from adopting a system in which the net savings distributed are partly in cash and partly in stock.