'Tis the Season for Government

As we are staring into our season of performing Government and Not-for-profit audits and tax filings, the State of Illinois has been busy as well. While these bills may not have made headlines, these are some bills that were approved in the most recent legislative session that we will be keeping our eye on:

• Changes to Local Government Auditing Standards – SB 1806 may not seem exciting on the surface, but we were worried in the audit department that the State of Illinois was going to change legislation that would not permit government audits to be performed under cash basis of accounting or a similar framework, and to our relief, they have written into law that cash basis of accounting and other similar basis are allowable for submission to the Illinois Comptroller. Phew!

• Estimated Income Tax Payments Threshold Raised – SB 1800 raised the threshold that requires individuals to pay estimated taxes. If you are not expecting total Illinois tax of more than $1,000 for the year, no need to do Illinois estimated taxes! This increased from $500 in the past.

• Healthy Workplace Bill Mandates Paid Sick Leave – While this has only been approved by the Illinois Senate, SB 471 requires employers to provide 40 hours (or a pro-rated amount for part-time employees) of paid sick time during each 12-month period. This will be monitored by the Illinois Department of Labor so we will be keeping our eye on when the final bill is approved to see the effective date and what kind of exceptions may apply.

Enjoy your summer!