- Illinois Appeals Court partially affirms False Claims Act Qui Tam claim against Lowe’s
- Case brought by Richard and Ralph Lindblom against Sears, Home Depot, and Lowe’s
- Allegation that retailers failed to collect and remit sales tax on certain appliance sales
- Lowe’s claimed appliances were purchased as part of the “contractor business” to avoid local taxes
- Appeals Court found Lowe’s did not act with knowledge and reckless disregard required under False Claims Act
- Department of Revenue issued compliance alert in 2015 clarifying Lowe’s collection responsibilities
- Trial court awarded damages based on unpaid sales tax, Relators argued for all local municipalities
- Appeals Court denied plaintiff’s appeal for failure to include significant allegations of fraud relating to local governments
- Lowe’s entitled to setoff for use tax it did remit to the state
Source: salestaxinstitute.com
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
