Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a) For taxable years ending on or after
December 31, 2004, an "investment partnership" is exempt from Illinois income
taxation. (IITA Section 205(b)) For tax years ending before December
31, 2023, the term "investment partnership" means any entity
that is treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes and that meets
each of the following requirements:
1)
No less than 90% of the
partnership's cost of its total assets consists of qualifying investment
securities, deposits at banks or other financial institutions, and office space
and equipment reasonably necessary to carry on its activities as an investment
partnership. (IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(A)(i)) The "asset test" under
this subsection (a)(1) is applied for each taxable year by computing the
percentage of the partnership's cost of its total assets that consists of
qualifying investment securities, deposits at banks or financial institutions,
and office space and equipment as of the beginning of the taxable year and as
of the end of each month of the taxable year, and then computing the average of
those percentages; and
2)
No less than 90% of its gross income consists of interest, dividends,
and gains from the sale or exchange of qualifying investment
securities. (IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(A)(ii)) The "gross income
test" under this subsection (a)(2) is computed separately for each taxable year
on the basis of gross income for the entire taxable year, determined using the
method of accounting used for federal income tax purposes for the taxable year;
and
3)
The partnership is
not a dealer in qualifying investment securities. (IITA Section
1501(a)(11.5)(A)(iii))
A) A partnership is a
dealer in qualifying investment securities if it regularly purchases qualifying
investment securities from or sells qualifying investment securities to
customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business or regularly offers to
enter into, assume, offset, assign or otherwise terminate positions in
qualifying investment securities with customers in the ordinary course of a
trade or business. (IRC Section 475(c)(1))
B) A partnership that, at any time during a
taxable year, holds or derives gross income from any qualifying investment
security in which it is a dealer shall not qualify as an investment partnership
for that taxable year.
b)
For tax years ending on or after
December 31, 2023, the term "investment partnership" means any entity that is
treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes and that meets each of
the following requirements:
1)
No less than 90% of the partnership's cost of its total assets consists
of qualifying investment securities, deposits at banks or other financial
institutions, and office space and equipment reasonably necessary to carry on
its activities as an investment partnership. (IITA Section
1501(a)(11.5)(A-5)(i)) The "asset test" under this subsection (b)(1) is applied
for each taxable year by computing the percentage of the partnership's cost of
its total assets that consists of qualifying investment securities, deposits at
banks or financial institutions, and office space and equipment as of the
beginning of the taxable year and as of the end of each month of the taxable
year, and then computing the average of those percentages; and
2)
No less than 90% of its gross
income consists of interest, dividends, gains from the sale or exchange of
qualifying investment securities, and the distributive share of partnership
income from lower-tier partnership interests meeting the definition of
qualifying investment security under subsection (c)(13). For
purposes of this subsection (b)(2), "gross income" does not
include income from partnerships that are operating at a federal taxable
loss. (IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(A-5)(ii)) The "gross income test"
under this subsection (b)(2) is computed separately for each taxable year on
the basis of gross income for the entire taxable year, determined using the
method of accounting used for federal income tax purposes for the taxable
year.
c) "Qualifying
investment securities" means and includes only:
1)
Common stock, including preferred
or debt securities convertible into common stock, and preferred stock.
(IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(B)(i)) "Stock" means shares in an association,
joint stock company, or insurance company. (IRC Section 7701(a)(7)) "Stock"
includes any interest in a publicly traded partnership that is treated as a
corporation under IRC Section 7704.
2)
Bonds, debentures, and other debt
securities. (IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(B)(ii)) "Debt security" means
any note, bond, debenture or other evidence of indebtedness, or any evidence of
an interest in or right to subscribe to or purchase any of the foregoing. (See
26 CFR
1.864-2(c)(2)(i)
(2007).)
3)
Foreign and
domestic currency deposits secured by federal, state, or local governmental
agencies. (IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(B)(iii)) "Currency deposits
secured by federal, state or local government agencies" means any balance in a
demand or time deposit at a bank, savings and loan, or similar financial
institution and that is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or
by a similar deposit insurance agency of a state or local government, including
any balance in an otherwise insured account that is in excess of any insurance
limit. Deposits secured by a foreign government agency, but not by an agency of
the federal or of a state or local government, do not qualify.
4)
Mortgage or asset-backed
securities secured by federal, state, or local governmental agencies.
(IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(B)(iv)) Examples of mortgage-backed securities
secured by a federal agency include securities issued or backed by the Federal
Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, the Federal National Mortgage Association and
the Government National Mortgage Association. Similar securities issued by a
similar agency of a state or local government also qualify. Mortgage or
asset-backed securities secured by a foreign government do not qualify under
this subsection (c)(4).
5)
Repurchase agreements and loan participations. (IITA Section
1501(a)(11.5)(B)(v))
A) A repurchase
agreement is a secured loan in which the loan agreement takes the form of a
purchase by the lender of the collateral with the borrower agreeing to
repurchase the collateral at a future date. See Nebraska Dept. of Revenue v.
Loewenstein, 513 U.S. 123 (1994). A repurchase agreement is a qualified
investment security only if the item that is sold subject to repurchase is a
qualified investment security.
B) A
loan participation is an undivided fractional interest in a loan that is
acquired by the participant by means of a sale of such undivided fractional
interest by the lead lender to the participant, in contrast to a loan
syndication, which is a loan made by an agent on behalf of a group of lenders
or syndicate in which the member of the lender group or syndicate is a lender
in the original loan. Generally, the borrower's obligations in a loan
participation run only to the lead lender and not to the participant, and the
participant's interest is generally limited to an undivided fractional interest
in payments of principal or interest under the loan agreement between the lead
lender and the borrower.
6)
Foreign currency exchange
contracts and forward and futures contracts on foreign currencies.
(IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(B)(vi))
7)
Stock and bond index securities
and futures contracts and other similar financial securities and futures
contracts on those securities. (IITA Section
1501(a)(11.5)(B)(vii))
8)
Options for the purchase or sale of any of the securities, currencies,
contracts, or financial instruments described in subsections (c)(1)
through (7). (IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(B)(viii))
9)
Regulated futures
contracts. (IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(B)(ix)) A regulated futures
contract is a contract bought, sold or traded on a regulated exchange, such as
the Chicago Board of Trade.
10)
Commodities (not described in section
1221(a)(1) of the Internal
Revenue Code) or futures, forwards, and options with respect to such
commodities, provided, however, that any item of a physical commodity to which
title is actually acquired in the partnership's capacity as a dealer in such
commodity shall not be a qualifying investment security. (IITA Section
1501(a)(11.5)(B)(x)) IRC Section 1221(a)(1) provides that stock in trade of the
taxpayer or other property of a kind that would properly be included in the
inventory of the taxpayer if on hand at the close of the taxable year, or
property held by the taxpayer primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary
course of the taxpayer's trade or business are not capital assets.
11)
Derivatives. (IITA
Section 1501(a)(11.5)(B)(xi)) A derivative is:
A) An interest rate, currency (of a kind
customarily dealt in on an organized commodity exchange), equity, commodity or
notional principal contract; or
B)
An evidence of an interest, or a derivative financial instrument (including any
option, forward contract, short position and any similar financial instrument),
in any:
i) Commodity;
ii) Currency of a kind customarily dealt in
on an organized commodity exchange;
iii) Share of stock under subsection
(c)(1);
iv) Partnership or
beneficial ownership interest in a widely held or publicly traded partnership
or trust;
v) Note, bond, debenture
or other evidence of indebtedness; or
vi) Notional principal contract.
12)
A
partnership interest in another partnership that is an investment
partnership. (IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(B)(xii))
13)
For tax years ending on or after
December 31, 2023, a partnership interest that, in the hands of the
partnership, qualifies as a security within the meaning of
15 U.S.C.
77b(a)(1)
.
(IITA Section 1501(a)(11.5)(B)(xiii))
d) Items that are not "qualified investment
securities" include:
1) Loans, other than loan
participations and repurchase agreements that are characterized as
loans.
2) Bank deposits that are
not insured by the federal government or by one of the states.
3) Securities, for tax years ending on or
after December 31, 2023, subject to the dealer accounting rules in IRC Section
475 (26 U.S.C.
475).
e) Cost of Assets. For purposes of applying
the "cost of assets" test in IITA Sections 1501(a)(11.5)(A)(i) and
1501(a)(11.5)(A-5)(i), the cost of an asset shall be determined for federal
income tax purposes without regard to depreciation or amortization of the
asset, except that the cost of an asset shall include any accrued interest or
discount, and shall be reduced by any premium amortization, that has been
recognized in the computation of federal taxable income of the partnership and
that is included on the partnership's balance sheet as of the date the cost of
assets is determined.
f) Gross
Income. For purposes of applying the "gross income" test in IITA Sections
1501(a)(11.5)(A)(ii) and 1501(a)(11.5)(A-5)(ii):
1) "Gross income" means income minus costs of
sales or basis in an asset sold or traded, but without reduction for any other
expenses or deductions. For purposes of this Section, gross income does not
include any item of income that is excluded from base income of the
partnership, either because it is excluded from federal taxable income of the
partnership or because it is subtracted from taxable income in computing base
income, and gross income does not include income that results from transactions
outside the ordinary course of a partnership's regular activities. For example,
amounts received from the sale of an entity's office equipment shall be
disregarded, whether or not the gain is characterized as business income. For
tax years ending on or after December 31, 2023, "gross income" does not include
income from partnerships that are operating at a federal taxable
loss.
2) "Interest" means
"compensation for the use or forbearance of money". See Deputy v. du Pont, 308
U.S. 488, 498 (1940). Interest includes the amortization of any discount at
which an obligation is purchased and is net of the amortization of any premium
at which an obligation is purchased. Any amount in excess of the purchase price
received in payment of an obligation purchased at an arm's-length discount
shall be rebuttably presumed to be interest. Interest includes any amount
received upon the sale, exchange or other disposition of an obligation to the
extent that such amount represents the accrual of interest on the unpaid
balance of the obligation since the most recent payment made on that
obligation.
3) "Dividend" means any
item defined as a dividend under IRC Section 316 and any other item of income
characterized or treated as a dividend under the Internal Revenue
Code.
4) "Gain from sale or
exchange" of qualifying investment securities is the sum of all gains realized
on the sale or exchange of qualifying investment securities, without reduction
or offset for losses realized on such sales or exchanges.
5) For purposes of the gross income test,
gross income derived from investment in a partnership, subchapter S
corporation, trust or estate shall be characterized as if the taxpayer received
the income directly and, in the case of any item of income reported to the
taxpayer by the partnership, subchapter S corporation, trust or estate for
federal income tax purposes as net of related expenses, include only such net
amount. The provisions of this subsection (f)(5) only apply to tax years ending
before December 31, 2023.