Illinois Sales Tax Fraud Crack Down
- May 25, 2012 | Susan McLain

Illinois House Bill 5289 (HB5289) is pending final concurrence vote from the House before being sent to the Governor. HB 5289 adds to the existing penalties for sales tax fraud and creates “…a new offense, sales tax evasion, with tougher penalties for large-scale offenders.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, this legislation has come on the coat-tails of a 3-year investigation of gasoline stations and convenience stores that revealed “…more than 600 establishments may have willfully withheld sales taxes.” For Illinois, that means “…about 27 percent of the state’s 2,400 gas station operators.”
According to Senator Jeff Schoenberg, D-Evanston, “when business owners collect sales tax on purchases but then refuse to remit those amounts to the state, they steal from their customers as well as depriving all Illinois residents of tax dollars that could be used for pressing statewide priorities.”
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