Illinois bill proposes to eliminate bond requirement for small breweries, wineries and distilleries and importing distributors.
It’s called House Bill 2577 (link to text) and it looks to accomplish what the federal government did a few years ago – eliminate the requirement that small manufacturers (breweries, distilleries and wineries as well as importing distributors) supply the requisite tax bond if they’re in good standing and have an annual tax of less than $50,000.00.
Since Illinois stopped accepting cash payments in lieu of bonds this bonding requirement has been quite an hassling piece of extra work that small businesses have needed to undertake. This may be of the most benefit to brewpubs who’ve been forced to meet this requirement.
This bill helps relieve that burden on small businesses, knowing full well that in an age of electronic reporting and tracking, the Illinois Department of Revenue will be able to track you down faster than they could when you sent in paper forms and weren’t online.
Also if you weren’t at the Illinois Liquor Control Commission hearing yesterday, you missed a scintillating discussion about infused ice cream and thoughts on regulating that chilled delicacy, and about the current initiative on getting a working rule regarding coupons and rebates. So… fun stuff to come.
