13 C.F.R. § 121.105 : Business Credit and Assistance — SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION — SMALL BUSINESS SIZE REGULATIONS — SIZE ELIGIBILITY PROVISIONS AND STANDARDS —PROVISIONS OF GENERAL APPLICABILITY — How does SBA define ''business concern or concern''?
(a)(1) Except for small agricultural cooperatives, a business concern eligible for assistance from SBA as a small business is a business entity organized for profit, with a place of business located in the United States, and which operates primarily within the United States or which makes a significant contribution to the U.S. economy through payment of taxes or use of American products, materials or labor.
(2) A small agricultural cooperative is an association (corporate or otherwise) acting pursuant to the provisions of the Agricultural Marketing Act (
12 U.S.C.A. 1141j ) whose size does not exceed the size standard established by SBA for other similar agricultural small business concerns. A small agricultural cooperative's member shareholders are not considered to be affiliates of the cooperative by virtue of their membership in the cooperative. However, a business concern or cooperative that does not qualify as small under this part may not be a member of a small agricultural cooperative.
(b) A business concern may be in the legal form of an individual proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, joint venture, association, trust or cooperative, except that where the form is a joint venture there can be no more than 49 percent participation by foreign business entities in the joint venture.
(c) A firm will not be treated as a separate business concern if a substantial portion of its assets and/or liabilities are the same as those of a predecessor entity. In such a case, the annual receipts and employees of the predecessor will be taken into account in determining size.
13 C.F.R. § 121.105
61 FR 3286, 1/31/1996, as amended at 70 FR 51248, 8/30/2005