A New Era of Tax Policy for Business Owners
On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed into law, ushering in sweeping changes to the federal tax code. While the law has drawn national attention for its b
roader political implications, it contains several key provisions that Illinois business owners should take seriously. These changes affect everything from depreciation schedules and pass-through deductions to employer tax credits and employee compensation planning.
Small business owners and startup founders now have a powerful reason to take another look at Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS). A new federal law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed on July 4, 2025, makes QSBS more valuable than ever for growing companies and their stakeholders.
These changes give business owners, employees, and early investors more flexibility and larger tax breaks when selling shares. Whether you’re raising capital, attracting top talent, or planning an exit, this law could have a direct impact on your bottom line.
What Changed And Why It Matters
Employee or Freelancer?
Is a person who works for your business financially dependent on you, or can they potentially independently profit based on their skill set? Will they be part of your company indefinitely? Do they perform a central, daily, integral role? Do you dictate when, where and how they work? Do you limit their ability to work for others? Can the person apply what they do to other endeavors, widening their market reach and leading to other revenue streams?
Small businesses and other employers will need ask themselves this set of questions and consider the “totality of the circumstances” in determining whether to classify people who work for them as employees or independent contractors, in a rule change published by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division on January 10, set to take effect March 11.
Looking for a reason not to use a cryptocurrency exchange account?
If you are looking for a reason to use a cryptocurreny exchange account, you may now have a reason not to use one…..or at least check out the terms and conditions of the exchange.
One thorny question has arisen and needs the attention of everyone using an exchange account.
Small Business Pandemic Survival Information
The $900 billion pandemic relief package included relief for Small Businesses. The updated programs are intended to make it easier for small business owners to apply and gain funds.
The Small Business Administration (“SBA”) approved $5 billion in new Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans on January 19 and expanded the network of lenders who can make the loans. At least $25 billion is being set aside for Second Draw PPP Loans to eligible borrowers with a maximum of 10 employees or for loans of $250,000 or less to eligible borrowers in low or moderate income neighborhoods. More info is available on the SBA Website here.
State Requires Sexual Harassment Prevention Training
If you’re a small business owner and you haven’t trained your employees on sexual harassment prevention, you have until December 31 to stay in compliance with Public Act 101-0221, which amended the Illinois Human Rights Act to require such training this year and every year hereafter.
This recent law mandated that the Illinois Department of Human Rights put together a model training program for sexual harassment prevention, which the department has made publicly available to employers online.
Employment Issues in the Pandemic
Employees who decline to show up to a physical work location based on a city, state or doctor’s coronavirus-related health order are protected from employer retaliation under a newly passed City of Chicago ordinance.
Chicago-based businesses, defined as those with physical facilities in the city, or subject to its licensing requirements, must not take adverse actions against any employee following the COVID-19 dictates of the Chicago mayor, city Department of Public Health, governor of Illinois, or their own treating healthcare provider.
By Jillian Tattersall, Chicago Employment Lawyer & Guest Blogger
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) was created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020. The United States Department of Labor has provided the following useful succinct summary of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance:
Unemployment Benefits under CARES Act
Marijuana became legal in Illinois on January 1, yet licensed cannabis dispensaries are generally forced to operate like their street-corner, black-market counterparts in at least one respect: They are cash-only businesses because they have no access to banking services.
Illinois Cannabis Laws create new issues
That’s because federal law still classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, and classifies marijuana businesses as illegal. And since banking is regulated by federal law, banks technically could be subject to charges like aiding and abetting, or money laundering, should they make loans, provide credit or otherwise service these businesses.
If you’ve watched any of the Democratic presidential debates, you might have heard candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang – you know, the guy with the $1,000 per month guaranteed income plan – talk about something called the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” This is a recognition that technology is imploding and changing everything about our lives.
In describing the ways social media and technology have redefined communication, in 2009 journalist Graeme Wood said that “Change has never happened this fast before, and it will never be this slow again.”
Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, coined the phrase “fourth industrial revolution” in his 2016 best seller. This is techie-speak for disruptive technologies and trends like robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and the Internet of Things – i.e. everyday devices like doorbells and thermostats that you can control remotely – that are changing how we live and work. This Fourth Industrial Revolution is bringing together digital, physical and biological systems. It will open up our minds to all kinds of new things: Mobile supercomputing; Artificially-intelligent robots; Self-driving cars; Neuro-technological brain enhancements; Genetic editing. We can see the evidence of these revolutionary changes all around us – and it’s happening faster and faster.
Chicago Business Attorney Blog