The House and Senate remained in Springfield in session over the weekend through Monday May 31. The Senate was in session on June 1.

It is possible that the Senate and the House will return to Springfield this month to address issues such as the various energy-related proposals that were discussed, but not passed during the spring session.

In the special edition of the newsletter sent out early in the morning of June 1, I outlined the tax-related elements of the budget implementation bill SB 2017. Today, I'll highlight other tax-related legislation, good and bad, that passed the General Assembly and discuss some proposals that did not pass, but will likely reappear either in the fall veto session or next year.

Legislation we supported that was passed by the General Assembly.

•      SB 2531 - Stoller – This bill is an Illinois Chamber Tax Institute legislative initiative. Federal SALT cap work around for owners of pass-through entities. Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act to tax income of partners of partnerships and S Corporation shareholders at the entity level to work around the federal $10,000 SALT deduction cap. Passed both houses.

•      HB 2411 - Amends the data center exemption to change the required timeframe for green energy certification as a condition of qualifying for the exemption from 90 days to 2 years. Passed both houses.

•      SB 58 - Amends the Use Tax Act and the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act. Provides that, beginning on January 1, 2022, the $10,000 cap on automobile trade-ins is eliminated. Defines "utility trailer". Passed both Houses.

•      SB 2066 – This bill is sales tax clean up legislation. For calendar year 2020 only, sales of tangible personal property made by a marketplace seller over a marketplace for which tax is due, but for which use tax has been collected and remitted to the Department of Revenue by a marketplace facilitator are exempt. Passed both Houses.

Legislation we opposed that did not pass.

•      SB 2182 - Sims – This bill began as an Illinois Chamber initiative. As introduced, it amended the Data Center exemption legislation to address implementation issues identified by taxpayers and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The bill was hijacked in the House and amended to insert a requirement of a “labor peace agreement” as a new condition for receiving a data center tax exemption agreement or renewal of an agreement. We opposed the amendment and the bill did not move forward in the Senate after passing the House over our objections.

•      SB 1794 - Murphy - This legislation would grant additional authority to 3rd party bounty hunters to conduct audits dealing with locally-imposed and locally-collected utility taxes. As introduced, the bill provides that the statute of limitations set by a unit of local government for the determination and assessment of taxes covered by the Local Government Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act may not exceed 10 years (currently, 4 years) after the end of the calendar year for which the return for the period was filed or the end of the calendar year in which the return for the period was due, whichever occurs later. concerning municipal audits of public utilities, provides that municipalities may request information from public utilities no more than annually (currently, no more than once every 2 years). As amended, the statute of limitations was changed to 7 years. The bill did not pass the House but we will continue to watch this issue.

•      HB 1839 – As proposed and passed the House, the bill established the “Corporate Good Citizen Act.” The bill set forth certain criteria that must be met by company seeking a tax credit or exemption administered and granted by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. We opposed the bill. When the bill reached the Senate, it was amended to turn it into a shell bill. We are continuing to watch this bill. After it was turned into a shell bill the 3rd reading deadline for the bill was extended to June 15. If the Senate returns to Springfield in June, this bill is positioned to be a vehicle for something.

•      HB 860 - Davis - This was the Cook County Assessor's so-called "data modernization legislation. The bill provides that, in counties with 3,000,000 or more inhabitants, taxpayers of income producing property shall submit income and expense data annually to the chief county assessment officer on or before July 1 of each year. Counties of fewer than 3,000,000 inhabitants may opt into this legislation as well.

•      HB 3529- Zalewski – SB 2062 – Castro – These bills were an attempt by the Cook County Assessor to place new information reporting requirements on owners of income producing property. These bills amend the Property Tax Code and require 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. We testified in opposition to these bills. The bills did not move forward.

Legislation that passed after being amended to eliminate language we opposed.

•      SB 508 – As amended in the House, the bill incorporated the language from HB 3529 and SB 2062 discussed above. Along with other members of the business community, we opposed this legislation as amended. The legislation was amended to delete the Cook County Assessor’s information reporting requirements in Amendment #5 which passed the House and in which the Senate concurred. The bill has passed both houses.

•      SB 2279 – Stadelman - This bill is an Illinois Department of Revenue clean up bill. We opposed one portion of the bill. As originally proposed, the bill amended various tax Acts to provide that upon filing a claim for a credit or for a refund, if the statute of limitations will expire less than 12 months after the date a taxpayer files the claim for credit or refund, that will trigger an automatic 12-month extension of the statute of limitations for assessing additional tax due.

•      SB 338 – This is a legislative initiative of the Treasurer amending the Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. We objected to the portion of the bill that requires “negative reports” by businesses. The bill requires companies that have no unclaimed property to report to file annual reports reporting that they have nothing to report.

This bill also contains provisions dealing with reporting of cryptocurrency which I am advised may be somewhat problematic.

The June 4 edition of the Illinois Register not contain any proposed or adopted rulemakings by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity or the Department of Revenue.

No tax-related cases this week.

American Aviation Supply LLC v. Department of Revenue if a protest of a denial of a claim for refund for tax paid on jet fuel. At issue is the scope of the expanded temporary storage exemption that was effect during the tax periods at issue in the refund claims.

The Federal Reserve issued the latest edition of The Beige Book. The Beige Books is a summary of commentary on economic conditions by each of the Federal Reserve districts.

The Illinois General Assembly's bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability has issued its monthly report for the month ending May 2021