What You Need To Know About Important Illinois Tax Updates

As we begin 2021 and approach the legislative season, it’s clear there will be numerous changes that will impact tax compliance. This is spurred on by both the pandemic’s economic fallout and changes necessitated by our increasingly digital economy.

In this article, we examine several updates regarding tax compliance in Illinois and what they mean for any retailer doing business in the state.

Marketplace Facilitation in Illinois

After the 2018 Wayfair decision, Illinois enacted marketplace facilitation legislation, following in the footsteps of many other states. However, unlike other states, this legislation is creating friction with other pieces of tax law specific to Illinois.

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Illinois State Sales Tax Deduction

When the final results are in, car dealerships in Illinois likely noticed a spike in revenue during December 2019 by customers looking to avoid increased Illinois sales tax. This increase is a result of a new Illinois sales tax law that is set to go into effect January 1, 2020. The tax law that was signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on June 28th caps the sales tax deduction on the trade-in value of vehicles. Previously, Illinois had no cap on the sales tax deduction allowable on vehicles that are traded in as a part of the purchase of a new vehicle. State officials estimate that the change in Illinois tax law will generate roughly $60 million in additional revenue on an annual basis. Proceeds will go to funding roads and vertical infrastructure projects under the Rebuild Illinois Capital Plan.

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8 New State Laws You Should Know For 2020

In the state tax world, the beginning of the year means new legislation goes into effect. Are you curious about which laws changed at the beginning of the month? Keep reading for eight states with new and updated sales tax laws you won’t want to miss.

Georgia: 529 Plan State Tax Update

For Georgia residents using a 529 Plan to save for college expenses, state tax deductions will double to be:

  • $4,000 per child for single taxpayers
  • $8,000 per year for those filing jointly with a spouse

This deduction will be available beginning with the 2020 tax year.

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Monika Miles

Are you curious what state tax updates are on the horizon? October 1, 2019 is a big date coming up; numerous states have new online sales tax provisions, amnesty programs and other legislative changes going into effect in just a few weeks. Keep reading for a quick summary of new laws and programs to keep an eye out for beginning next month.

Alabama’s Simplified Sellers Use Tax

As of October 1, Alabama requires remote retailers selling more than $250,000 in total sales (taxable and nontaxable) to begin collecting and remitting sales tax. Although sellers need to file their Alabama state tax returns monthly, these sales and use taxes fall into the “simplified” category because they’re a flat 8 percent on all purchases, regardless of the shopper’s locality in the state.

Arizona Eases Into Online Sales Tax

Arizona’s transaction privilege tax (TPT) is designed to ease the smaller out-of-state retailers into online sales tax compliance. As the Arizona Department of Revenue explains, the threshold for remote alleges to pay TPT is:

  • $200,000 in 2019 (beginning October 1)
  • $150,000 in 2020
  • $100,000 in 2021 and thereafter

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Aaron Giles

Idaho State Sales And Use Tax

The state of Idaho levies a 6% state sales tax on the retail sale, lease or rental of most goods and some services. Several local jurisdictions impose additional sales taxes up to an additional 3%.

Use tax is also collected on the consumption, use or storage of goods in Idaho if sales tax was not paid on the purchase of the goods. The use tax rate is the same as the sales tax rate. Returns are to be filed on or before the 20th day of the month following the month in which the purchases were made. For example, purchases made in the month of January should be reported to the state of Idaho on or before February 20th.

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Tax Partner With Law Firm In Illinois

TaxConnections has been retained by a leading multinational law firm to locate a Tax Partner to lead the Midwest region in serving transfer pricing and international clients. This market facing role is due to the continued expansion of the international and transfer pricing practice. The Tax Partner will team with a group of talented economists who are already in place to grow the Midwest tax practice. The law firm currently has about 80 tax lawyers worldwide and this successful practice is expected to double in size over the next five years.

The Tax Partner will assist multinational clients to design, develop, implement, document and defend transfer pricing strategies. They will provide clients guidance in analyzing factual material, communicate the benefits of the transfer pricing methodologies both to government representatives and the courts and negotiate advance pricing agreements on a worldwide basis.

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Tax Partner- Transfer Pricing ( Law Firm Midwest)

TaxConnections has been retained by a leading multinational law firm to locate a Tax Partner to lead the Midwest region in serving transfer pricing and international clients. This market facing role is due to the continued expansion of the international and transfer pricing practice. The Tax Partner will team with a group of talented economists who are already in place to grow the Midwest tax practice. The law firm currently has about 80 tax lawyers worldwide and this successful practice is expected to double in size over the next five years.

The Tax Partner will assist multinational clients to design, develop, implement, document and defend transfer pricing strategies. They will provide clients guidance in analyzing factual material, communicate the benefits of the transfer pricing methodologies both to government representatives and the courts and negotiate advance pricing agreements on a worldwide basis.

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Tax Season Stress Relievers –

It’s almost that time of year that we all look forward to, especially accountants buckling down with their survival kits! It goes without saying that money and stress go hand in hand. For that reason it is easy to understand that the tax preparation season can be a stressful time of year for CPAs. It is not uncommon for them to put in 70-80 hours/week during the tax season including sleepless nights, lots of coffee, and weekends at the office. To help reduce some stress for our CPAs this tax season, we have put together a list of tips to help ease the stress and make these coming weeks as painless as possible: Read More

Today, there currently are nearly 3,000 tax credits and incentives programs in the United States, sponsored by federal, state and local governments to drive job creation, employee training, capital investment and new business development. These statutory and negotiated opportunities – including point-of-hire tax credits, to property & sales tax incentives, to utility & infrastructure abatements, to name a few – are available to companies of all sizes, across a broad range of industries.

But a relatively small number of companies, regardless of their size or financial sophistication, are benefiting fully from the tax credit and incentive-related benefits to which they are entitled. Industry estimates suggest that fewer than 25 percent of eligible US businesses participate in Read More

TaxConnections Blog Post The Supreme Court of Illinois recently affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the state’s click-through nexus legislation was preempted by a federal law governing taxes placed on electronic commerce.

In 2011, the Illinois General Assembly enacted Public Act 96-1544,1 which added new click-through nexus legislation and sought to tax a common contractual arrangement known as “performance marketing.” In performance marketing, an online retailer contracts with an individual to place hyperlinks for a retailer’s website in consumer-targeted or high-volume areas, as a means for creating online presence and directing potential customers to the retailer’s website. Illinois’s legislation sought to establish nexus with retailers making more than $10,000 per year through performance marketing relationships.

The Performance Marketing Association, Inc. (“PMA”) filed a complaint against the representative for the Illinois Department of Revenue, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from the click-through nexus element in Public Act 96-1544. The circuit court of Cook County sided with PMA, finding that the click-through nexus legislation was preempted by the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA), 2 which prohibits “multiple discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce.” Accordingly, the circuit court granted PMA’s motion for summary judgment. Read More

iStock_000013235100XSmallWhat is meant by a “cigarette” in Illinois? This question has been circulating through the tax community since December 2012. In August, 2013, it was reported that Illinois officially changed the definition of a “cigarette” and a “little cigar” for purposes of the Illinois tobacco tax regime. This is a major victory for tobacco products manufacturers and tobacco distributors in the state of Illinois.

As a starting point, Cigar Association of America v. Hamer, Cook County, 12 L 51033 was decided in December, 2012. That case was centered on a trade association arguing that Illinois’ definition of a cigarette was constitutionally invalid because it was too vague. In Illinois, a cigarette was defined as any roll containing tobacco that is suitable for smoking or if it met two of the following criteria: Read More