The Senate was in session the week in Springfield. The House was in Springfield on Thursday. Committee hearings continued this week.

The Senate returns to Springfield next Tuesday. The House is not scheduled to return to Springfield until April 13. House and Senate committees will continue to meet next week.

The Senate Revenue committee met this week in Thursday. The Senate Revenue committee is scheduled to meet next Wednesday. The following bills were considered by the committee this week and moved to the floor:

SB 81 creates an income tax checkoff for donations to the Ronald McDonald Charities Fund.

SB 157 amends the Illinois Income Tax Act to extends the credit for expenditures incurred in the restoration and preservation of a qualified historic structure located in a River Edge Redevelopment Zone to January 1, 2027 from January 1, 2022.

SB 253 amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that the abatement for property located in an area of urban decay also applies to newly remodeled single-family or duplex residential dwelling units (currently, only newly constructed single-family or duplex dwelling units). Provides that provisions requiring the abatement to be reduced in 20% increments annually during the last 4 years of the abatement period apply only to abatements granted prior to the effective date.

SB 1582 is an Illinois Department of Revenue initiative. The legislation amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Provides that, when a taxpayer sells or transfers the major part of (i) the stock of goods which he is engaged in the business of selling, (ii) furniture or fixtures, (iii) machinery and equipment, or (iv) real property, then the taxpayer shall notify the Department of Revenue (currently, the Chicago office of the Department of Revenue) no more than 10 business days before (currently, after) the sale or transfer. Provides that payments of winnings from sports wagering conducted in accordance with the Sports Wagering Act are allocable to this State. In provisions concerning the Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) Tax Credit, provides that, if, during any taxable year, a taxpayer ceases operations at a project location that is the subject of an EDGE agreement with the intent to terminate operations in the State, then the taxpayer's State income tax liability shall be increased by the amount of any credit allowed prior to the date the taxpayer ceases operations.

SB 1814 - is an extension of a TIF located in Effingham, Illinois.

The House Revenue committee met briefly on March 18. No bills were considered by the Revenue committee this week. The committee was held subject matter hearings on the following bills, but the House session lasted well into the evening and subject matter testimony on the bills was postponed until a later date:

HB 805 - Tarver - Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides for a reduction in the assessed value of newly-constructed or rehabilitated rental property if the owner of the residential real property commits that, for a period of 10 years, at least 15% of the multifamily building's units will have rents that are at or below maximum rents and are occupied by households with household incomes at or below maximum income limits. Provides that the chief county assessment officer of a county with 3,000,000 or more inhabitants shall establish such a program. Sets forth application requirements and the amount of the reduction. Effective immediately.

HB 860 - Davis - This bill is the Cook County Assessor's so-called data modernization law.

HB 3529 - Zalewski - Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that owners of income producing properties shall file physical descriptions of their properties with the chief county assessor, on a form and format determined by the chief county assessor. Effective immediately.

The House Revenue committee will meet again next Thursday. Next Friday is the ostensible deadline to move bills out of committee, so I expect that there will be some consideration of substantive legislation by the committee next week although it is unclear which bills may be called. I characterized the deadline as an ostensible deadline because the deadline can and will be extended for some legislation.

Last week I discussed the SB 217 which amends the Parking Tax which was rumored to be a possible vehicle for the Governor's decoupling legislation. The Governor's decoupling proposal didn't surface this week either as an amendment to SB 217 or any other legislation. I suspect there was not sufficient support in House to move decoupling legislation forward this week. I am sure the Governor's efforts to pursue decoupling legislation will continue.

Tax-related Amendments:

SB 2182 - Sims - Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the provisions of the introduced bill with changes. Provides that a "qualifying Illinois data center" means a new or existing data center that, among other criteria, is located in the State of Illinois, is located within a 5-mile geographic radius, and is connected by common infrastructure. Provides that a data center and an associated tenant may enter into an ancillary memorandum of understanding, as prescribed by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, for purposes of receipt of an exemption. Provides that the Department is authorized to conform existing memorandums of understanding with the provisions concerning data center investments. Modifies the definition of "tenant". Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

HB 859 - Zalewski and McCombie - Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Amends the Property Tax Code. In provisions concerning applications for judgment and order of sale for delinquent properties during a statewide COVID-19 public health emergency, provides that the application for judgment and order of sale shall be filed no later than 90 days after the first day in which there is no longer an active disaster declaration as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Provides that no subsequent annual tax sale may begin earlier than 180 days after the last day of the prior delayed tax sale, and no scavenger tax sale may begin earlier than 90 days after the last day of the prior delayed tax sale. Effective immediately.

HB 2871 - Manley and Wheeler - Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the provisions of the introduced bill, but removes provisions concerning a credit for foreign taxes. Effective immediately.

The Department of Revenue issued an announcement that the State of Illinois will extend the individual income tax filing and payment deadline from April 15 to May 17 to match the extension granted by the Internal Revenue Service earlier this week.

The Illinois Department of Revenue issued an announcement this week that it is currently reviewing the federally enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, that includes a retroactive provision making the first $10,200 per taxpayer of 2020 unemployment benefits nontaxable for individuals with an Adjusted Gross Income of less than $150,000. IDOR strongly urges taxpayers who fall in this category to not file returns related to these changes at this time. Additionally, taxpayers who received unemployment benefits last year and have already filed their 2020 tax return should not file an amended return at this time. IDOR will issue guidance for taxpayers and tax professionals on how to correctly report unemployment income on their 2020 tax return once our review is complete.

The March 19 edition of the Illinois Register contained no proposed or adopted rulemakings by the Illinois Department of Revenue or the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

None this week.

No new decisions were issued by the Tribunal this week.

Two new case may be of interest. Trane Technologies Company LLC v. Department of Revenue is an income tax case that is a protest of notice of deficiency that resulted from the disallowance of certain net operating losses. This looks like another case where the Department's processing division has issued a notice of deficiency because the Department relied on its inaccurate records of net operating losses.

Trane is represented by David Kupiec of Tax Institute member law firm Kupiec & Martin.

American Aviation Supply LLC v. Department of Revenue was just posted this morning and is a refund claim in the amount of $134,000,000. The petitioner alleges that purchases of aviation fuel were subject to the expanded temporary storage exemption that was in effect from 2002 through 2016 and should not have been subject to tax. It is a bit unclear from the petition, but it appears that the taxpayer registered with the Department for the expanded temporary storage exemption at some point and then filed refund claims for the periods from January 2012 to December 2014 - periods that were prior to registration for the expanded temporary storage exemption. I am sure the Department will vigorously contest this refund.

The Cook County Assessor's office recently issued A Reference Manual for the Cook County News Media.