Section 1910.33  Electronic Filing

a)         Pursuant to the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act [815 ILCS 333/18(a)] and section 16-180 of the Property Tax Code [35 ILCS 200/16-180], the Board shall accept petitions for appeal and supporting evidence submitted electronically via the EFP.

b)         Use of the EFP does not alter any applicable filing deadline.

c)         Documents submitted via the EFP shall be uploaded individually and not as part of a portable document format (“PDF”) portfolio.  Documents that are part of a PDF portfolio will not be made part of the record.  Supporting evidence not available in a digital format (e.g., blueprints, large maps, a plat of survey) shall be filed in triplicate via U.S. mail or hand-delivery to the Springfield office.

d)         All petitions for appeal and supporting evidence submitted via the EFP shall bear the signature of the filer.  The EFP shall have a component for including an electronic signature on any petition submitted.  Such electronic signature shall have the same force and effect as a non-electronic signature.

e)         Petitions for appeal and supporting evidence submitted via the EFP which contain links to material either within the filed document or external to the filed document are for convenience purposes only.  The external material behind the link is not considered part of the filing or the petition.

f)         Petitions for appeal and supporting evidence submitted via the EFP shall not contain more than:

1)         a total of 50 megabytes of data; or

2)         50 attachments.

g)         Petitions for appeal and supporting evidence may be submitted via the EFP every day, 24 hours per day; however, the Board or its authorized vendor may cause the EFP to be unavailable for scheduled routine maintenance.  The Board shall post a notice on its website prior to and during periods of such scheduled routine maintenance.

h)         If a petition for appeal or supporting evidence is not successfully transmitted, or is materially delayed in being transmitted, to the Board via the EFP due to a "technical failure", the filer may file a motion with the Board showing good cause for the transmission failure.  Upon receipt of such a motion, the Board may order that the petition for appeal or supporting evidence be considered transmitted as of the date and time of the failed or delayed transmission.  For purposes of this subsection, a "technical failure" shall be defined as an unanticipated outage of the EFP, or a malfunction of the EFP’s hardware, software, or telecommunication equipment.  The malfunction of any of the filer’s equipment which results in a failed or delayed transmission shall not be considered a “technical failure".

i)          Petitions for appeal and supporting evidence submitted via the EFP shall not disclose any "personal information".  It is the filer’s responsibility to ensure that "personal information" is redacted from any petitions for appeal or supporting evidence submitted via the EFP.  For purposes of this subsection, the term "personal information" shall have the same meaning as that term is defined in Section 5 of the Personal Information Protection Act. [815 ILCS 530/5]

j)          The Property Tax Appeal Board Clerk shall acknowledge filings made via the EFP in accordance with Sections 1910.30(k) or 1910.30(l).

k)         This Section shall be construed to promote and facilitate the submission of petitions for appeal and supporting evidence via the EFP.  If any provision of this Section conflicts with another provision of this Part, the provision of this Section shall apply.

(Source:  Added at 47 Ill. Reg. 2075, effective January 27, 2023)