Does anyone know if SHC lost its tax incentive they received from the State of Illinois for not relocating to another state? I can’t recall what the threshold was re:number of employees required to get the incentive. And, if so, what is the financial liability, and if they go BK, will the debt be released?
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@1pcb Yeah, for income tax. This is about a credit for property tax, and some other program called "EDGE" which seems to be a fully-refundable credit from the state tax office. And BTW, Sears had a special "EDGE" status which exempts them from having to pay back any of the undeserved credits now that they've become ineligible.
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20170613/NEWS07/170619964/with-layoffs-sears-loses-state-tax-credits
Dont you have to make a profit first before you have to pay taxes
Nov 7, 2017 article
But while it’s waiting for shoppers, Sears is also waiting on the state of Illinois, which has yet to decide whether the department store chain has lived up to the terms of an agreement inked six years ago to give it millions of dollars in tax credits. Not getting the credits, worth $15.3 million in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, 2016, would be another blow for a company that just last month had to tap a $200 million credit line from affiliates of its billionaire chairman and CEO, Edward Lampert.
At issue is that Sears submitted its request for 2016 tax credits in March of this year, shortly after it notified the state of plans to lay off 120 corporate workers, mostly at its Hoffman Estates headquarters. After layoffs of another 400 employees announced in June, Sears told the Tribune it had fallen below the minimum of 4,250 employees in Hoffman Estates and its Loop satellite office needed to secure the tax break for 2017.
The state is taking a closer look at the company’s records to verify when Sears fell short of the employment benchmarks its agreement requires and “the legal significance of such noncompliance,” Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity spokeswoman Jacquelyn Reineke said. The state told the Tribune in June it was reviewing the company’s records.