Great News From Illinois

Just when everything was beginning to look bleakest for CPAs with out of state clients, Illinois came through with emergency legislation that alleviates most of our concerns.

Just a few weeks ago, I had spoken with representatives of the Illinois CPA Society. They told me that they were resigned to the fact that the toughest restrictions in the country were indeed going to go into effect on October 1, 2006 and they were unable to stop it. In fact, some of them had adopted a new "spin" that the rules which would prevent out of state practitioners from preparing even a non resident Illinois tax return without registering in Illinois were actually a good thing for the profession - Huh?

On September 29th the Governor signed emergency legislation that exempts the most onerous parts of the registration requirements.

Here is what it says:

An individual certified public accountant lawfully practicing in another state shall not be required to file for temporary practice or obtain registration as a certified public accountant under this Section so long as the individual CPA is temporarily practicing in this state incidental to practice in another state and does not solicit Illinois clients nor have a physical presence in Illinois.

Interestingly, just like in Georgia, a letter from a California CPA to an official in Illinois seemed to play a large part in overturning the planned restrictions.

I will continue to keep you informed of new developments with regard to out of state licensing as we approach tax season 2007.