The 2024 elections have brought a slight shift in Wisconsin's political landscape, with potential implications for main street retailers and the broader business community in the upcoming legislative session. While Republicans continue to control both legislative chambers, Democrats have made notable gains, marking their first significant progress since 2010. This evolving dynamic could shape how the 2025-2026 Wisconsin Legislature addresses business-related issues.

Key Changes in the Legislature...

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Effective January 1, 2025, if you lease or rent tangible personal property in the ordinary course of your business, you are considered a retailer subject to Illinois' Sales and Use Tax laws, and you must register with the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) and pay tax on your lease or rental receipts. See P.A. 103-592.

https://tax.illinois.gov/research/publications/bulletins/fy-2025-15.html

A new year is just around the corner and 2025 membership renewal time is almost upon us.

If you are setup for recurring renewals, your membership will automatically renew at the end of January. You will receive an email notification within the next two weeks, reminding you that your annual membership will automatically renew, the amount and the date your credit card will be charged. You may view and make changes to your membership subscription(s) and payment details anytime. Log in to your online account, navigate to your Profile and select “Subscriptions” from the left menu, then click on the three dots to the right of the membership subscription to view available options. Additional information about your automatic renewal will be included in your upcoming email notification. 

If you are not setup for recurring renewals, your membership will not automatically renew. Within the next few weeks, you will begin to receive renewal communications with additional information and instructions for renewing your 2025 membership.

If you are unsure whether your membership is setup to automatically renew or not, you may find this information when you log in to your account and navigate to your subscriptions page.

• If you are setup for recurring renewals, your current subscription will display the next billing date, which is the date your membership will automatically renew, and your credit card will be charged.



• If you are not setup for recurring renewals your current subscription will display an expiration date (instead of the next billing date) and you will have the option to renew after the expiration date.

Thank you for your continued support and loyalty to your association.

Although the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0) was enacted nearly two years ago, and many of its changes have already been implemented, some SECURE 2.0 provisions have yet to take effect. This article provides an overview of three significant SECURE 2.0 changes taking effect in 2025: higher catch-up limits for employees who reach ages 60 to 63, a one-year reduction in the service requirement for long-term, part-time employees, and required automatic enrollment for newly established 401(k) and 403(b) plans.

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When we were preparing to sell our family-owned hardware store, one of our biggest challenges was understanding its true worth. Opinions within the family varied widely. Some believed the business was worth very little and thought we should simply liquidate everything. Others viewed the store as invaluable, something no amount of money could truly compensate for.

But what was our store really worth?

Know Your Numbers

To determine the value of our business, we started with the fundamentals:

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