Illinois Tax Amnesty Measure Goes to Governor
The Illinois General Assembly has passed a measure to implement an amnesty on taxes administered by the Department of Revenue and has sent the measure to Gov. Pat Quinn. The amnesty period would run from October 1, 2010, through November 8, 2010. Under the terms of the amnesty, upon payment by a taxpayer of all taxes due for any taxable period ending after June 30, 2002, and prior to July 1, 2009 (taxable period), the department would abate and not seek to collect any interest or penalties that may apply and would not seek civil or criminal prosecution for any taxpayer for the period of time for which the amnesty was granted.
Failure to pay all taxes due to the state during the amnesty period would invalidate any amnesty granted. Participation in the amnesty would not preclude a taxpayer from claiming a refund on an issue unrelated to the amnesty. Anyone who has a tax liability for the amnesty period and does not satisfy it during the amnesty program would be charged double the amount of any interest or penalty that would otherwise apply.
Steve Trojan, CPA is owner of SMT & Associates, Inc. (www.smt-associates.com), a Crystal Lake IL based tax and accounting firm, and Complete Payroll Inc, (www.completepayrollinc.com) a payroll processing firm. He specializes in tax and accounting issues affecting small business owners.
