Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.

35 ILCS 615/6

(35 ILCS 615/6) (from Ch. 120, par. 467.21)

Sec. 6.

If it appears, after claim therefor filed with the Department,
that an amount of tax or penalty or interest has been paid which was not
due under this Act, whether as the result of a mistake of fact or an error of
law, except as hereinafter provided, then the Department shall issue a credit
memorandum or refund to the person who made the erroneous payment or, if
that person has died or become a person under legal disability, to his or
her legal representative, as such.

If it is determined that the Department should issue a credit or refund
under this Act, the Department may first apply the amount thereof against
any amount of tax or penalty or interest due hereunder from the person
entitled to such credit or refund. For this purpose, if proceedings are
pending to determine whether or not any tax or penalty or interest is due
under this Act from such person, the Department may withhold issuance of
the credit or refund pending the final disposition of such proceedings and
may apply such credit or refund against any amount found to be due to the
Department as a result of such proceedings. The balance, if any, of the
credit or refund shall be issued to the person entitled thereto.

If no tax or penalty or interest is due and no proceeding is pending to
determine whether such person is indebted to the Department for tax or
penalty or interest, the credit memorandum or refund shall be issued to the
claimant; or (in the case of a credit memorandum) the credit memorandum may
be assigned and set over by the lawful holder thereof, subject to
reasonable rules of the Department, to any other person who is subject to
this Act, and the amount thereof shall be applied by the Department against
any tax or penalty or interest due or to become due under this Act from
such assignee.

As to any claim for credit or refund filed with the Department on or
after each January 1 and July 1, no amounts erroneously paid more than 3
years prior to such January 1 and July 1, respectively, shall be credited
or refunded, except that if both the Department and the taxpayer have agreed
to an
extension of time to issue a notice of tax liability under this Act, the claim
may be filed at any time prior to the expiration of the period agreed upon. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act to the contrary, for any period included in a claim for credit or refund for which the statute of limitations for issuing a notice of tax liability under this Act will expire less than 6 months after the date a taxpayer files the claim for credit or refund, the statute of limitations is automatically extended for 6 months from the date it would have otherwise expired.

Claims for credit or refund shall be filed upon forms provided by the
Department. As soon as practicable after any claim for credit or refund is
filed, the Department shall examine the same and determine the amount of
credit or refund to which the claimant is entitled and shall notify the
claimant of such determination, which amount shall be prima facie correct.

Any credit or refund that is allowed under this Act shall bear interest
at the rate and in the manner specified in the Uniform Penalty and Interest
Act.

In case the Department determines that the claimant is entitled to a
refund, such refund shall be made only from such appropriation as may be
available for that purpose. If it appears unlikely that the amount
appropriated would permit everyone having a claim allowed during the period
covered by such appropriation to elect to receive a cash refund, the
Department, by rule or regulation, shall provide for the payment of refunds
in hardship cases and shall define what types of cases qualify as hardship
cases.

(Source: P.A. 102-40, eff. 6-25-21.)