The House and Senate are not scheduled to return to Springfield until the veto session.

Recently signed tax-related legislation:

HB 0034 (P.A. 102-108) - Enterprise Zone eligibility. Amends the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act. In a Section concerning eligibility for an Enterprise Zone based on the local labor market area, provides that the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity may consider information released in the most recent American Community Survey (currently, the federal decennial census only). Provides that the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity may award partial points if the applicant demonstrates specific job creation and investment below specified thresholds. Adds requirements concerning provisional certification and decertification of enterprise zones. Provides for the suspension of the benefits to specific businesses rather than an outright decertification of the particular Enterprise Zone for failure to submit specified information. Modifies the criteria for determining Enterprise Zones and underserved areas under the Act. Modifies reporting requirements under the Act. Makes conforming and other changes.

HB 571 (P.A. 102-0127) - Municipal Code - TIF Reporting Amends the Tax Increment Allocation Redevelopment Act in the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that the municipality may chose the financial advisor or underwriter who shall prepare an analysis required to be submitted to the Comptroller and taxing districts relating to setting forth the: (i) nature and term of obligation; (ii) projected debt service including required reserves and debt coverage; and (iii) actual debt service (currently, only (i) and (ii) are required). Requires, for Fiscal Year 2022 and each fiscal year thereafter, the following additional items to be included in the report required to be submitted before the annual meeting of the Joint Review Board to the Comptroller and taxing districts: (1) the number of jobs, if any, projected to be created for each redevelopment project area at the time of approval of the redevelopment agreement; (2) the number of jobs, if any, created as a result of the development to date for that reporting period under the same guidelines and assumptions as was used for the projections used at the time of approval of the redevelopment agreement; (3) the amount of increment projected to be created at the time of approval of the redevelopment agreement for each redevelopment project area; (4) the amount of increment created as a result of the development to date for that reporting period using the same assumptions as was used for the projections used at the time of the approval of the redevelopment agreement; and (5) the stated rate of return identified by the developer to the municipality for each redevelopment project area, if any. Stated rates of return required to be reported in item (5) shall be independently verified by a third party chosen by the municipality. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

HB 3289 (P.A. 102-136) - Property Tax - Homestead Exemption - Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that each chief county assessment officer may approve a homestead exemption for the 2021 taxable year, without application, for any property that was approved for the exemption for the 2020 taxable year, if: (1) the county board has declared a local disaster as provided in the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act related to the COVID-19 public health emergency; (2) the owner of record of the property as of January 1, 2021 is the same as the owner of record of the property as of January 1, 2020; (3) the exemption for the 2020 taxable year has not been determined to be an erroneous exemption as defined by the Code; and (4) the taxpayer for the 2020 taxable year has not asked for the exemption to be removed for the 2020 or 2021 taxable years. Effective immediately.

SB 2279 (P.A. 102-0040 - Department of Revenue omnibus legislation.

The July 30 edition of the did not contain any proposed or adopted rulemakings by the Illinois Department of Revenue or or tax-related proposed or adopted rulemakings of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Today's Illinois contained the emergency amendments of the Department of Revenue "Leveling the Playing Field" rules that I highlighted two weeks ago in the newsletter.

No new tax-related court cases were released this week..

The Illinois Supreme Court recently accepted our amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association v. County of Cook.

This case deals with the scope of the "lockbox" amendment to the Illinois Constitution that requires that funds collected from transportation related taxes and fees may be spent only for transportation purposes.

The plaintiffs sued Cook County claiming that the County violated the amendment by diverting tax revenues subject to the amendment to non-transportation uses. The trial court ruled the plaintiffs lack standing to sue. The appellate court found that the plaintiffs have standing to sue, but determined that the complaint fails to state a constitutional violation. The Illinois Supreme Court accepted the plaintiffs' appeal of the appellate court's decision.

One new case was filed this week. Schaefer's Greenhouses v. Department of Revenue. In this case, the greenhouse purchased natural gas from an out of state supplier. The greenhouses self-assessed the natural gas use tax and remitted the tax to the Department. The greenhouse determined that Nicor, the delivering supplier, had also charged the tax and remitted the tax to the Department. The greenhouse filed claims for refund of the duplicate payments of tax with the Department, which inexplicably, as least to me, denied the claims.

The Illinois Department of Revenue posted "Upcoming Changes for MyTax Illinois"

The Department issued a publication entitled 2021 Withholding Income Tax Payment and Return Due Dates

The Department asked me to list the following job postings:

Public Service Administrator opt 2 / Revenue Collections Supervisor for District 2 Des Plaines, IL

ITEP recently issued a report entitled Corporate Tax Avoidance Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This report is the usual nonsense in which they express outrage that some companies that have income for financial reporting purposes do not have tax income for federal income tax purposes and pay no federal income tax. I continue to review and cite these reports because the ITEP proposals tend to be translated into proposed legislation at the state level.

One of the primary reasons identified by ITEP that certain companies reduced their federal income tax liabilities is accelerated depreciation. Of course, accelerated depreciation only results in a shift of tax liabilities from the year of acquisition of depreciable property to later years.

The authors of the report also complain that "tax credits" the most significant of which is the research and development credit reduce federal income tax liability. One of their "solutions" is to "limit or repeal" all depreciation deductions and the research and development credits.

The Illinois Chamber is returning to its traditional Annual Luncheon & Reception format with its September 30^th get together at the Palmer House in Chicago. This year’s Keynote Speaker is Holly Sullivan, VP of Worldwide Economic Development, Amazon.