Chicago Business Attorney Blog

The Illinois Supreme Court overrules the Amazon Tax Law

Illinois lawmakers’ attempts to level the playing field for Illinois small businesses took a major hit by our own Illinois Supreme Court last week.

We all know that we don’t pay Illinois sales taxes on purchases made thru the web.  Those books we buy thru Amazon.com don’t have the Illinois sales/use tax added.  But, the same book purchased at a “bricks and mortar” business in Illinois is subject to the Illinois sales tax.    What consumers don’t know is that if the retailers don’t collect the pay the sales tax, the buyer must report the sale and pay the “use tax” on the transaction.   (Which is why it is called the Sales/Use tax!)

So, the Illinois legislature adopted a law requested by Illinois business owners to level the playing field by requiring the sellers on the web to collect and pay the Illinois sales tax on sales made to Illinois citizens, and the Illinois legislature responded with the a taxing statute – Public Act 96-1544 effective in 2011 – called the “Main Street Fairness Act” which has been referred to as the “Amazon.com Tax Law.” Continue reading

It’s started.  The federal courts are beginning to shut down.

On October 7, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued an Order which stated that all civil cases involving the U.S. as a party are suspended and nothing will be done in those cases unless there is a special need.

This Order does not affect any criminal cases.

Congress has breached its contract with the taxpayers.  Can we sue?

Client comes to me with a problem.   She hired a consultant to take care of her company’s computers and telephone systems, and agreed to pay them a monthly retainer.  She is paying for their services.  But, the company shut down and is no longer performing the services that she pays for. 

The answer is obvious – Stop making the payments.  It’s basic contract law.  You know, the law that Professor Kingsfield in “The Paper Chase” pounded into the first year law students brains.   They had a contract, they breached it by not paying, so your performance is excused.    In fact, they owe her money for services she paid for but did not receive. 

Litigation Against Modern Day Pirates

Pirates have gone from sailing to surfing.  Surfing the Internet that is.  They are no longer found sailing the open seas, but rather pillaging materials, many of which are copyrighted, off of the Internet.  Modern day pirates are able to steal copyrighted materials because they hide behind the mask of an anonymous IP address.  These anonymous pirates steal music, t.v. shows, computer software and electronic books every day.

Plaintiff’s attorneys must become familiar with the current technology and the various obstacles that arise during these types of copyright infringement cases.  For starters, Plaintiff’s attorneys need to understand the terminology used in these cases. Below is a list of common terminology used in these types of copyright infringement cases:

Small Businesses in Illinois are Offered Tax Credits for Providing Health Insurance to Employees Under the Affordable Care Act

The federal statute commonly referred to as the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) takes effect in 2014.  One of the many goals of the ACA is to increase the number of Americans with health insurance coverage. The Act requires that large businesses provide health insurance coverage for all full time employees or face penalties and provides incentives for small businesses to provide health insurance coverage.

Who is considered a full time employee?

Illinois Bans the Use of Cell Phones in Cars –

Effective January 1, 2014, Illinois drivers will not be able to use their cell phones for calling or texting unless they use hands free devices such as Bluetooth.

Distracting driving has gotten a lot of attention recently, particularly with the increased use of texting.  DON’T TEXT AND DRIVE!   In fact the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been studying the problems associated with distracted driving for some time (http://www.nhtsa.gov/Research/Human+Factors/Distraction) and has noted that there are many types of ways to divert a driver’s attention such as eating, applying makeup, tuning a radio, use of cell phones, and playing music.

DOMA Implications for Illinois Small Businesses

On June 26, 2013 the SCOTUS in United States v. Windsor found Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional.  Section 3 had prohibited marriages between same-sex couples from being acknowledged by the federal government.  This meant that under DOMA same-sex couples were denied federal marriage benefits.

With the Supreme Court’s ruling in Windsor businesses are going to need to update and evaluate their current employee benefit plans.  Currently, the Windsor ruling only applies to the 12 states and the District Columbia that recognized same-sex marriage at the time of the ruling. 

A–Rod and his legal hassles:

Essentially, A–Rod was suspended for 211 games (the remainder of the 2013 season and all of the 2014 season).  The other 12 players were suspended for 50 games which were imposed under an agreement with MLB.  As part of the other 12 suspensions, they all agreed not to appeal.

A–Rod is the only one who chose to appeal.

Credit Card Processors come under government scrutiny.

Those credit card processors who promise substantial savings for processing Visa or MasterCard or bank credit cards have come under the scrutiny of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Washington State AG’s Office.  The complaints allege that these companies represent that they are associated with the business’s current credit card processor or a credit card company and offer significant savings with a fixed fee.  The hook comes later when the customer signs a long term contract that includes a number of additional charges. 

The FTC posted a notice about the charges on their web site: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/07/merchantservices.shtm.

One of the latest scams hitting the mailbox of corporations is an offer to prepare the corporate filing documents that need to be filed with the Secretary of State annually.   The letter looks official and looks like it comes from a state office in Springfield.  A return envelope is included to make it easy. 

But, it’s just another scam that targets small business owners.

We warned our clients about this scam in an email alert we sent to our clients in Wednesday November 21, 2012.  https://ui.constantcontact.com/rnavmap/emcf/email/view?flow=view&camefrom=view&agent.uid=1111559141824