Illinois Workers' compensation laws aim to protect the injured sometimes fail employees
Hard
to believe that when a cement mixer working with heavy equipment daily
gets denied workers' comp for an on-the-job injury. That was the case
In the workers' compensation claim of Sparano v. City of Chicago. Mr.
Sparano, a cement mixer, injured his left knee while getting out of his
truck at work. He injured himself while stepping out of his truck.
When his first foot hit the ground, in a working area no less, it
slipped on debris. The worker recovered his balance and got both feet
out of the truck and was standing to close the door behind him. When
he did, the claimant twisted his knee in the process of closing his
door.
According to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, the
preponderance of the credible evidence support the findings that the
worker did injure his left knee while closing the door of his truck.
The Commission determined that the act of turning to close the truck
door does not expose the worker to a risk greater than that to which the
general public is exposed on a daily basis, even though the claimant
was doing work-related activities at the time!
This decision is a big set-back for Illinois Workers, as if the State
weren't already unfriendly toward labor. Workers beware! If you get
injured, make sure that the conditions under which you were working do
not exist in your day-to-day world or you may be out of vital benefits
under the Act.
WHILE ON PROBATION YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO OBSERVE THE FOLLOWING RULES
1. The Lee County Probation Office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. Your reporting time is restricted to weekdays during these times. Exceptions can be made if your are working and your employer writes a letter to your probation officer verifying your employment, stating the hours you work and stating that he does not want you to take time from work.
2. Each time you report you must bring verification of income and residence. EXAMPLE: Income: check, check stub, letter from employer/ Residence: rent receipt, bills, mail
3. If you are late for an appointment and fail to notify your probation officer it will be considered a missed appointment.
4. It is your responsibility to contact your probation officer to reschedule a missed appointment.
5. If you call the office and your probation officer is not available to talk with you, ALWAYS leave your name, phone number and a short message.
6. Each time you move, you need to notify your probation officer within 72 hours.
7. If you arrested while on probation, notify your probation officer immediately.
8. A travel permit is needed each time up leave the State. If you wish to go outside of Illinois, it is necessary for you to make an appointment with your probation officer who needs to know where and when you are going before the permit is issued.
9. If you request that your probation supervision be transferred to another State, you will be subject to a fee of $125.00. This fee must be paid in full prior to the request of transfer from Lee County. There is no refund of this fee if the transfer is denied from the receiving State.
10. If you have been drinking and come to the office with an odor of alcohol on your breath it will be considered a missed appointment.
11. Payments (court costs, fines, Public Defender Fees, Probation Service Fees, Restitution) are paid to the Lee County Clerk's Office 309 S. Galena Ave, Suite 320 Dixon, IL 61021
CASE NUMBERS MUST BE INCLUDED WITH EACH PAYMENT IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU KEEP ALL THE RECEIPTS AS PROOF OF PAYMENT
I have read the above rules and understand them. I have received and read a copy of my Court Order and understand the conditions of the Order.
Probationer Probation Officer Date
CHANGE IN ILLINOIS INCOME TAX LAW THAT IMPACTS SERVICE PARTNERSHIPS AND LLCs
By
JAMES C. SHANLEY
The Illinois income taxation of “Service Partnerships” (any partnership or limited liability company primarily engaged in providing personal services, such as the practice of law, accounting, consulting, engineering, or medicine) has changed dramatically with the enactment of the Emergency Budget Implementation Act of Fiscal Year 2010, L. 2009, S1912 (P.A. 96-45), effective July 15, 2009 (hereinafter the “2010 Budget Act”). Prior to the 2010 Budget Act, any Service Partnership, in calculating its liability for Personal Property Replacement Tax, was able to claim a deduction for a reasonable allowance for compensation paid for services rendered to the Service Partnership by its partners or members. Now, pursuant to Section 5-45 of the 2010 Budget Act, the Service Partnership will only be able to deduct the amount of any “Guaranteed Payments” made by the Service Partnership to its partners or members.
The term “Guaranteed Payment” is defined in Section 707(c) of the Internal Revenue Code to mean any payment made by a partnership to one of its partners for services or for the use of capital, but only if and to the extent that the payment being made by the partnership to the partner is determined without regard to the income of the partnership.
For a Service Partnership that maintains its books and records, and files its income tax returns, using the cash basis method of accounting (a “Cash Basis Service Partnership”), this change in Illinois income taxation may come as a big surprise. The reason is that, pursuant to Treasury Regulations §1.707-1, a Cash Basis Service Partnership will only be able to deduct, for any particular fiscal year, those Guaranteed Payments which are actually paid by the Service Partnership to its partners or members during that fiscal year.
Note that, for many, if not most, Service Partnerships, this change in Illinois income taxation is already effective, because Section 5-45 of the 2010 Budget Act applies to the first fiscal year of the Service Partnership that ends on or after December 31, 2009. Thus, if a Cash Basis Service Partnership maintains its books and records, and files its income tax returns, on the basis of the calendar year, this change in Illinois income taxation will apply to the Service Partnership’s fiscal year that began on January 1, 2009, and that will end on December 31, 2009. Accordingly, the Cash Basis Service Partnership would only be able to deduct those Guaranteed Payments which are actually paid to its partners or members during the period of time that starts on January 1, 2009, and that ends on December 31, 2009.
RECOMMENDATIONS
If a Cash Basis Service Partnership wants to reduce substantially the risk that the Illinois Department of Revenue (the “Department”) may contend that some or all of the amounts paid to its partners or members fail to satisfy the requirements for being valid Guaranteed Payments, then the following actions would be recommended:
(a) The partnership should determine, substantially before the end of its fiscal year, the amount of the Guaranteed Payment, if any, which is to be paid by the partnership to each of its partners or members.
(b) The partnership should take reasonable steps in order to be able to prove that the partnership did, in fact, determine, substantially before the end of its fiscal year, the amount of the Guaranteed Payment, if any, which is to be paid by the partnership to each of its partners or members.
(c) The Partnership should arrange its financing of its Guaranteed Payment obligations substantially in advance of the required payment date, in order to avoid any assertion by the Department of the use of “Circular Cash Flows” (a series of related financial transactions which are often ignored for income tax purposes, involving identical or substantially similar amounts of cash being transferred among two or more persons, but with the effect being that the economic position of each person is essentially the same both before and after these financial transfers).
(d) The amount of the Guaranteed Payment to be made by a Service Partnership to any of its partners or members should be based on the value of the services of that partner or member to the Service Partnership, and not based on that partner’s or member’s share of the projected income of the Service Partnership.
(e) Each partner or member of the Service Partnership that is entitled to receive a Guaranteed Payment should be required to execute an agreement with the Service Partnership that addresses what will happen if the partner or member (i) withdraws or is expelled from the Service Partnership, or (ii) receives Guaranteed Payments in excess of his or her share of the income of the Service Partnership, or (iii) receives aggregate payments from the Service Partnership which are less than the amount of the Guaranteed Payment promised by the Service Partnership to that partner or member.
DISCLAIMER
The information contained in this article constitutes the view of the author with respect to the various issues discussed herein, and is not intended to be, and should not be construed as, legal advice.
CHANGE IN ILLINOIS INCOME TAX LAW THAT