December 5, 2024

ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD HEARS TESTIMONY ON CALIFORNIA VEHICLE EMISSIONS STANDARDS 

This week, the Illinois Pollution Control Board held hearings on December 2nd and 3rd in Chicago and Springfield to discuss adopting California’s Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II), Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT), and NOx emission standards. These proposed rules demand drastic increases in electric vehicle (EV) sales starting with the 2029 model year and would place an unworkable burden on Illinois dealers and consumers alike.

What the Proposal Means for Illinois:

• By the 2029 model year, 59% of all new passenger vehicles sold in Illinois would need to be EVs.
• This requirement escalates to 100% EV sales by 2035.
• Illinois is currently at just 8% EV sales, meaning a staggering 625% increase in EV sales is needed by 2029 to meet these mandates.

Such an aggressive timeline is impractical and ignores Illinois' lack of EV infrastructure. California has invested $2.4 billion in vehicle incentives, charging infrastructure, and outreach, boasting over 15,000 public charging stations. Illinois, by contrast, has only 1,246 public chargers, leaving our state ill-equipped to support this transition.

These mandates would restrict consumer choice, force unrealistic sales targets on dealers, and penalize Illinoisans who rely on traditional gas-powered vehicles. With unreliable charging infrastructure, high costs, and limited battery range, many consumers are not ready to make the shift to EVs.

Earlier this year, similar legislation failed to pass through the Illinois General Assembly. However, environmental advocacy groups, including the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, and Chicago Environmental Justice Network, have bypassed the legislative process by petitioning the unelected Pollution Control Board to advance their agenda.

Earlier this year, at the opening of the Heartland Community College’s Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Training Academy, after IADA had successfully thwarted the bill in the General Assembly, Governor Pritzker stated that he opposes identical legislation that would require the state to adopt California's strict vehicle emissions standards. "I personally think now is not the right time for us to do that,” Pritzker said. He continued saying that a carbon-free transportation sector is the ultimate goal, but he'd like to use "carrots rather than sticks to move people in the right direction." (i.e. incentives)

IADA’s Position and Upcoming Hearings:

IADA has filed strong written opposition to these rules, highlighting the devastating impact they would have on our industry and the state economy. We will also present both written and oral testimony at the next hearings, scheduled for March 10th, 11th, and 12th in Springfield.

We defeated this mandate in the General Assembly, and we are fully prepared to defeat it again before the Illinois Pollution Control Board. IADA is steadfast in protecting Illinois dealers from unworkable policies and ensuring that any EV transition aligns with consumer readiness and infrastructure capacity.

We will keep you updated on this critical issue and continue to fight for Illinois’ franchised dealers.

Legal Reminder: Retailers’ Collection Allowance Cap on the Horizon

As we announced in our May 31 End of Session Report, one of the so-called budget solutions enacted by the Illinois General Assembly last Spring (Public Act 103-592) was to cap the retailers’ collection allowance for timely payment of sales tax at $1,000 per month.  Currently, retailers’ can retain a collection allowance of 1.75% of sales tax timely paid to the Illinois Department of Revenue, but once P.A. 103-592 becomes effective, the collection allowance may not exceed $1,000 per month.  

General Merchandise reported on Form ST-1 (parts) and motor vehicle sales and leases reported on Forms ST-556 and ST-556-LSE are subject to separate caps, meaning most dealers will be able to claim $2,000 month total in retailers’ collection allowance.  

Form ST-1 is due on a monthly basis, so claiming the retailers’ collection allowance is a fairly straightforward matter of claiming 1.75% of the tax remitted or $1,000, whichever is less, beginning with ST-1 returns due on and after January 1, 2025.  Additional guidance here: FY 2025-04, Retailers’ Discount for Certain Tax Returns Capped at $1,000 Per Month

Each motor vehicle purchase and lease transaction is subject to a transaction-by-transaction filing requirement, making it more complicated to determine when the $1,000 threshold has been reached.  Beginning with sales and leases delivered on December 12, 2024, motor vehicle dealers will no longer claim the retailers’ collection allowance on Forms ST-556 and ST-556-LSE.  Instead, IDOR will make a monthly reconciliation of dealer returns and calculate the appropriate retailers’ collection allowance for each dealer.  Dealers can elect to receive their retailers’ collection allowance by check or by direct deposit.  

IDOR has provided the following guidance: FY 2025-11, Retailers’ Allowance for Certain Transaction Returns Capped at $1,000 Per Month.  IADA has been working with CVR to make the necessary programming modifications.  Please feel free to contact the IADA Office if you have any questions.

Reminder: Illinois Department of Revenue System Maintenance

The Illinois Department of Revenue MyTax system will be shut down for maintenance on December 12, 2024.  Any pending transactions in MyTax for vehicles sold on and after November 22, 2024 must be completed before 12:01 AM on December 12 for the transaction to qualify for the retailers’ collection allowance.  CVR will not be affected by the MyTax outage.

Below is the Department of Revenue message regarding the MyTax outage.

To allow for maintenance to the system, beginning December 12, 2024, MyTax Illinois will stop accepting new or saved Sales Tax Transaction Returns (Form ST-556-LSE) and Transaction Returns for Leases (Form ST-556-LSE). After December 12th, you will not be able to submit any returns that were saved but not submitted. Full functionality in MyTax Illinois is scheduled to resume the morning of December 16th.

It is *very* important that if dealers have sold a vehicle with a date of delivery on or after Friday, 11/22/2024 and want to claim the discount, the ST-556 must be filed prior to the system outage at 12:00:01 am on Thursday, December 12, 2024.

Locally Imposed Sales Tax Changes Effective January 1st

Beginning January 1, 2025, the rates of certain locally imposed sales taxes that are administered by the Illinois Department of Revenue will change. Please refer to the attached bulletin from the Illinois Department of Revenue to see if you are affected. Please note that these sales tax rate changes apply only to general merchandise and do not apply to vehicles. The Department of Revenue bulletin outlining the sales tax increases can be found here

Legal Reminder: Statewide Minimum Wage Increases To $15/Hour On January 1, 2025

The statewide minimum wage will increase from $14.00 per hour to $15.00 per hour on January 1, 2025. The current minimum wage in Chicago $16.20 per hour.

Illinois employers are advised to review their pay plans to make sure that they meet minimum wage obligations.

Legal Reminder: IRS Clean Vehicle Credit—Submit late Time of Sale Reports by December 10th

The IRS has added a feature to the Clean Vehicle Tax Credit Portal.   Through December 10th, IRS will permit dealers to submit time of sale reports for any 2024 transactions that were not timely submitted at the time of sale.

Additional information is available on the IRS website at: The IRS ECO tool will be open for dealers to temporarily submit time of sale reports for any prior unsubmitted calendar year 2024 transactions.

Illinois Equal Pay Act Amendment—Job Postings

Effective January 1, 2025, employers with 15 or more employees that post job openings must include the pay scale and benefits in the job posting, either as part of the posting, in a hyperlink that is part of the posting, or on an easily accessible, central, and public location on the employer’s website.  

For the purpose of the Equal Pay Act, the term “Pay scale and benefits” means the wage or salary, or wage or salary range, and a general description of benefits and other compensation, including, but not limited to, bonuses, stock options, or other incentives the employer reasonably expects in good faith to offer for the position, set by reference to any applicable pay scale, the previously determined range for the position, or the actual range of others currently holding equivalent positions, or the budgeted amount for the position, as applicable.  

The Equal Pay Act does not require an employer to make a job posting.  However, an employer must disclose to a job applicant the pay scale and benefits to be offered for the position prior to any offer or discussion of compensation at the applicant’s request if the job posting was not made available to the applicant.  

The job posting amendment to the Equal Pay Act can be found at: 103-0539.

Possible Phishing Scam

IADA has learned that a business called edigileads.live is trying to sell the IADA membership list.  IADA does not sell our members contact information.  Whatever edigileads.live is advertising is without IADA’s consent.  If you receive the following message, or any other message purporting to sell IADA membership list, we recommend that you delete the email immediately.  Scamdetector.com describes the edigileads.live website as “Controversial. High-Risk. Unsafe.” and scores it at 15.1 on a scale of 1 – 100.  Scamdetector.com reported that the edigileads.live website poses a high risk of exposure to phishing attempts, spamming, and other risks. 

KPA Offers “How to Create Written Safety Programs That Actually Protect Your Dealership Staff”

After completing your initial assessments and understanding what regulations apply to your facility, it’s time to put those findings into action. This is where written programs and policies come into play – and they’re more than just paperwork.

KPA says one of the most common mistakes they see is companies downloading generic templates from the internet, filing them away, and thinking “Great, we have a safety program now!” But that’s not how it works. A real safety program needs to be specific to your facility and something your employees can actually implement.  Click here to start with the Big Three.