Resources | Articles

Marilyn A. Wethekam was recently featured in Tax Notes’ Behind the Board series. In her article, “Paying It Forward,” Marilyn reflects on her SALT career and shares the milestones, challenges and lessons she has experienced.

In this article, Aaron L. Hammer, Rick S. Rein, Dan Wen and Claudia Suszczynska provide an overview of the decline in the cryptocurrency industry in 2022, otherwise known as a “crypto winter,” and the potential impacts of a surge in Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings by …

In this article, Rick S. Rein discusses how an equity receivership can be an effective tool to address financial fraud related to a business’s mismanagement or improper use of assets.

Marilyn A. Wethekam’s “Pushing the Scope of Wayfair,” was recently published in Tax Notes State’s article, “Post-Wayfair: Burden or Favor.” In her section, she reflects on the Wayfair decision and the impact it has had on the state tax landscape four years later.

With more states and countries legalizing cannabis in varying forms, the industry is likely to continue to expand. However, cannabis remains an illegal drug at the federal level, presenting numerous challenges for cannabis-related companies and their counsel. In his article for Practical Law, David S. …

Bankruptcy fraud, which lessened during the pandemic, could increase this year according to HMB’s Rick S. Rein and Brad Sargent, Founder of The Sargent Consulting Group, LLC. In an article published by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) FRAUD magazine, Rick and Brad provide …

Marilyn A. Wethekam’s “Tin Cans and Sheep,” was recently published in Tax Notes State’s article, “Justice Stephen Breyer: A Model of Clarity.” In her section, she reflects on Justice Stephen Breyer’s role in interpreting and shaping state tax law and discusses what his retirement will …

In his article, David A. Hughes discusses how to approach unclaimed property self-audits and provides a brief history and overview of Illinois’s Unclaimed Property Act.

In this installment of Board Briefs, Tax Notes State advisory board members, including HMB’s Marilyn A. Wethekam, welcome the 2022 new year. Read the entire Board Briefs here. Download Marilyn’s article here. 2022: The New Normal By Marilyn A. Wethekam 2020 could be characterized as the year one learned to manage the shock of COVID. 2021 could be characterized as…

In State Tax Notes' Board Briefs, Marilyn A. Wethekam discusses "State and Local Tax Policy in a COVID-19 World". Download the full Board Briefs by State Tax Notes here. 2020 began on an optimistic note. The economy, in several sectors, was thriving. States over the last couple of years had seen continued revenue growth and even in some cases were…

In less than a decade, Illinois went from treating cannabis as a criminal issue to developing a heavily-regulated legal medical and adult use cannabis industry. Illinois law uses cannabis as a blanket term covering regulated products, including cannabis-infused products, such as edibles. Medical cannabis is a term that covers the same types of product as cannabis, but refers to products…

Read the full article by ABA here. Pursuing legal relief against foreign parties and assets is a complex task that requires a well-developed plan to achieve a cross-border recovery. Globalization has created new challenges for parties threatened by, or involved in, cross-border disputes. Internet communication has made electronic transactions seamless and easy to operate anywhere in the world. Tax havens…

In this excerpt in Board Briefs from Tax Notes State, Marilyn honors the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Download the full article by Tax Notes State here. On September 18, 2020, this nation lost not only an exceptionally accomplished jurist but a powerful voice for gender equality and those who have been made to feel they don’t belong.…

In her excerpt from the first installment of Board Briefs in 2020 from Tax Notes State, Marilyn addresses tax issues related to the digital economy. Download the full article by Tax Notes State here. In the words of that great philosopher Snoopy, “When you can’t control what’s happening around you, challenge yourself to control the way in which you respond.”…

In an opinion for our troubled times, Northern District of Illinois Bankruptcy Judge Donald Cassling granted debtor Hitz Restaurant Group (“Hitz”) some reprieve from § 365(d)(3)’s strict requirements due to a combination of COVID-19 shutdown orders and a favorably-worded force majeure clause. (more…)…

In this second of a three-part series, Breslow discusses the Internet Tax Freedom Act and whether the digital world has really been protected from the tax man. Adoption and Intent of the ITFA Initially adopted in 1998 under the Clinton administration with the mantra “no new internet taxes,” the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) was made permanent on February 24,…

In her excerpt from the first installment of Board Briefs in 2020 from Tax Notes State, Marilyn addresses tax issues related to the digital economy. Download the full article from Tax Notes State here. Generally, you cannot put a square peg in a round hole. However, that is precisely what may be occurring as a result of the meteoric growth…

Read the full article on Tax Notes here (subscription required). Samantha Breslow discusses how the sluggishness of legislation does not often adjust itself to the speed and terminology of technology. However, there are a few states that are adapting to overcome the discrepancies. Download a PDF of the full article here. Debugging the (State Tax) Code: Outdated Sales Tax Terminology…

Read the full article on Tax Notes here (subscription required). Marilyn Wethekam discusses how federal tax reforms do not always coincide with state tax policies. Download the full article here. The 2017 enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made significant changes to the federal tax system. One of the drivers for the reform was to make the United States…

Read the full article on State Tax Notes here (subscription required). In his new column on State Tax Notes, Chris discusses how states and Congress should address challenges presented by Public Law 86-272 and criticizes state efforts to interpret the law out of existence. In the past 15 years, the state corporate income tax landscape has undergone significant change. Although…

Disclosing tax return information has always been a dicey topic. Under the guise of transparency, there have been several proposals by tax advocates over the years to disclose tax information. The focus of these proposals has generally been on the taxes paid by corporate America and the use of tax planning strategies. As a general principle, this type of limited…

Illinois’ tax treatment of leases is an anomaly when compared to most other jurisdictions.[1] The general rule in most jurisdictions is to impose sales tax on the receipts collected from the lessee, the actual user of the equipment. However, Illinois differs, at least in the context of a long-term lease (i.e., more than one year), by treating the lessor of…

David provides an overview of the regulation of cannabis and considers the top legal issues faced by a cannabis-related business, focusing on the conflict between federal law and state laws where medical or adult use recreational marijuana is legal.

Should states embrace GILTI? Marylin Wethekam gives her opinion: “While the rationale for GILTI may work at the federal level, its adoption at the state level raises several issues and concerns.” Read the full brief here.

John Guzzardo and Rick Rein wrote an article for NABT American Bankruptcy Trustee Journal regarding the use of Consent Directives to locate offshore assets. A consent directive is a "rare bird" investigatory tool that litigants in the US may use to discover assets and information from debtors or third parties located anywhere in the world. Recently, the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy…