Insights

Illinois has cleared one of the last remaining minefields for out-of-state businesses selling to Illinois residents to submit the state sales tax that they are required to collect on such sales. Starting in 2020, instead of trying to follow sometimes tricky state tax rules, these remote vendors can now use certified third-party providers to collect and remit required sales tax, often with no liability if mistakes are made.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that a trust beneficiary’s residence in a state by itself doesn’t give the state the right to tax the trust. More specifically, the justices decided that North Carolina couldn’t tax trust income that (a) has not been distributed to the resident beneficiary, (b) the resident beneficiary has no right to demand and (c) the resident beneficiary may not receive in the future.

From its recent inception, the Qualified Opportunity Zone program has generated a lot of interest from potential investors, but many have waited until receiving further guidance from the Internal Revenue Service about how, exactly, a variety of aspects of the program will be handled.

Attention businesses operating in Illinois: If you use a person’s “biometric” data for things like timekeeping or security, you must have a written policy under which you: (1) obtain written consent, (2) store the data confidentially and (3) destroy the data no later than three years after the last interaction with the person.

Early March has come in like a lion for employers, who are now facing potential new federal rules on overtime and classification, as well as changes to how much information they need to be reporting to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding pay rates broken down by gender and race.

By Richard S. ReizenCo-Chair, Construction Practice