HB2717eng 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB2717 Engrossed LRB100 08541 HLH 18666 b

AN ACT concerning revenue.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Retailers' Occupation Tax Act is amended by changing Section 11 as follows:

(35 ILCS 120/11) (from Ch. 120, par. 450)

Sec. 11. All information received by the Department from returns filed under this Act, or from any investigation conducted under this Act, shall be confidential, except for official purposes, and any person, including an eligible third party, who divulges any such information in any manner, except in accordance with a proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law including, but not limited to, this Section, shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor with a fine not to exceed $7,500.

Nothing in this Act prevents the Director of Revenue from publishing or making available to the public the names and addresses of persons filing returns under this Act, or reasonable statistics concerning the operation of the tax by grouping the contents of returns so the information in any individual return is not disclosed.

Nothing in this Act prevents a municipality or county from aggregating the information provided to the municipality or county by the Department under this Section and presenting that information to the public, as long as the information in any individual return is not disclosed.

Nothing in this Act prevents the Director of Revenue from divulging to the United States Government or the government of any other state, or any officer or agency thereof, for exclusively official purposes, information received by the Department in administering this Act, provided that such other governmental agency agrees to divulge requested tax information to the Department.

The Department's furnishing of information derived from a taxpayer's return or from an investigation conducted under this Act to the surety on a taxpayer's bond that has been furnished to the Department under this Act, either to provide notice to such surety of its potential liability under the bond or, in order to support the Department's demand for payment from such surety under the bond, is an official purpose within the meaning of this Section.

The furnishing upon request of information obtained by the Department from returns filed under this Act or investigations conducted under this Act to the Illinois Liquor Control Commission for official use is deemed to be an official purpose within the meaning of this Section.

Notice to a surety of potential liability shall not be given unless the taxpayer has first been notified, not less than 10 days prior thereto, of the Department's intent to so notify the surety.

The furnishing upon request of the Auditor General, or his authorized agents, for official use, of returns filed and information related thereto under this Act is deemed to be an official purpose within the meaning of this Section.

Where an appeal or a protest has been filed on behalf of a taxpayer, the furnishing upon request of the attorney for the taxpayer of returns filed by the taxpayer and information related thereto under this Act is deemed to be an official purpose within the meaning of this Section.

The furnishing of financial information to a municipality or county, upon request of the chief executive officer thereof, including the furnishing of financial information to an eligible third party as provided in this paragraph, is an official purpose within the meaning of this Section, provided the municipality, or county, and, if applicable, the eligible third party agree agrees in writing to the requirements of this Section. Information provided to municipalities and counties under this paragraph shall be limited to: (1) the business name; (2) the business address; (3) the standard classification number assigned to the business; (4) net revenue distributed to the requesting municipality or county that is directly related to the requesting municipality's or county's local share of the proceeds under the Use Tax Act, the Service Use Tax Act, the Service Occupation Tax Act, and the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act distributed from the Local Government Tax Fund, and, if applicable, any locally imposed retailers' occupation tax or service occupation tax; and (5) a listing of all businesses within the requesting municipality or county by account identification number and address. Notwithstanding the first paragraph of this Section, the incidental or inadvertent disclosure of such information to an employee of a county or municipality, or to a public official representing that county or municipality, in the scope of his or her employment or representation is not a criminal offense under this Section. On and after July 1, 2015, the furnishing of financial information to municipalities and counties under this paragraph may be by electronic means. If the Department may furnish financial information to a municipality or county under this paragraph, then the chief executive officer of the municipality or county may in writing authorize the Department to disclose that information to eligible third parties, including, but not limited to, consultants, attorneys, accountants, auditors, and financial advisors. The furnishing of financial information to an eligible third party is an official purpose within the meaning of this Section, provided the third party agrees in writing to the requirements of this Section and meets the criteria set forth in this paragraph. To be eligible to receive information from the Department, the third party (1) must enter into a confidentiality agreement with the Department prior to receiving the financial information, (2) must have an existing contract with the municipality or county at the time the third party enters into the confidentiality agreement with the Department, and (3) must abide by the same conditions as the municipality or county with respect to the furnishing of financial information. The third party may use the financial information only for the purpose of providing services to the municipality as specified in the contract with the municipality and may not use the information for any other purpose, including verifying the accuracy of amounts indicated on returns submitted to the Department by a taxpayer; however, the third party may verify the accuracy of amounts remitted to the municipality, except as otherwise prohibited by law. Electronic data submitted to third parties under this paragraph must be encrypted and must be accessible only to authorized users with secure passwords. Notwithstanding the first paragraph of this Section, disclosure of information under the requirements of this paragraph is not a criminal offense under this Section.

Information so provided shall be subject to all confidentiality provisions of this Section. The written agreement shall provide for reciprocity, limitations on access, disclosure, and procedures for requesting information.

The Department may make available to the Board of Trustees of any Metro East Mass Transit District information contained on transaction reporting returns required to be filed under Section 3 of this Act that report sales made within the boundary of the taxing authority of that Metro East Mass Transit District, as provided in Section 5.01 of the Local Mass Transit District Act. The disclosure shall be made pursuant to a written agreement between the Department and the Board of Trustees of a Metro East Mass Transit District, which is an official purpose within the meaning of this Section. The written agreement between the Department and the Board of Trustees of a Metro East Mass Transit District shall provide for reciprocity, limitations on access, disclosure, and procedures for requesting information. Information so provided shall be subject to all confidentiality provisions of this Section.

The Director may make available to any State agency, including the Illinois Supreme Court, which licenses persons to engage in any occupation, information that a person licensed by such agency has failed to file returns under this Act or pay the tax, penalty and interest shown therein, or has failed to pay any final assessment of tax, penalty or interest due under this Act. The Director may make available to any State agency, including the Illinois Supreme Court, information regarding whether a bidder, contractor, or an affiliate of a bidder or contractor has failed to collect and remit Illinois Use tax on sales into Illinois, or any tax under this Act or pay the tax, penalty, and interest shown therein, or has failed to pay any final assessment of tax, penalty, or interest due under this Act, for the limited purpose of enforcing bidder and contractor certifications. The Director may make available to units of local government and school districts that require bidder and contractor certifications, as set forth in Sections 50-11 and 50-12 of the Illinois Procurement Code, information regarding whether a bidder, contractor, or an affiliate of a bidder or contractor has failed to collect and remit Illinois Use tax on sales into Illinois, file returns under this Act, or pay the tax, penalty, and interest shown therein, or has failed to pay any final assessment of tax, penalty, or interest due under this Act, for the limited purpose of enforcing bidder and contractor certifications. For purposes of this Section, the term "affiliate" means any entity that (1) directly, indirectly, or constructively controls another entity, (2) is directly, indirectly, or constructively controlled by another entity, or (3) is subject to the control of a common entity. For purposes of this Section, an entity controls another entity if it owns, directly or individually, more than 10% of the voting securities of that entity. As used in this Section, the term "voting security" means a security that (1) confers upon the holder the right to vote for the election of members of the board of directors or similar governing body of the business or (2) is convertible into, or entitles the holder to receive upon its exercise, a security that confers such a right to vote. A general partnership interest is a voting security.

The Director may make available to any State agency, including the Illinois Supreme Court, units of local government, and school districts, information regarding whether a bidder or contractor is an affiliate of a person who is not collecting and remitting Illinois Use taxes for the limited purpose of enforcing bidder and contractor certifications.

The Director may also make available to the Secretary of State information that a limited liability company, which has filed articles of organization with the Secretary of State, or corporation which has been issued a certificate of incorporation by the Secretary of State has failed to file returns under this Act or pay the tax, penalty and interest shown therein, or has failed to pay any final assessment of tax, penalty or interest due under this Act. An assessment is final when all proceedings in court for review of such assessment have terminated or the time for the taking thereof has expired without such proceedings being instituted.

The Director shall make available for public inspection in the Department's principal office and for publication, at cost, administrative decisions issued on or after January 1, 1995. These decisions are to be made available in a manner so that the following taxpayer information is not disclosed:

(1) The names, addresses, and identification numbers of the taxpayer, related entities, and employees.

(2) At the sole discretion of the Director, trade secrets or other confidential information identified as such by the taxpayer, no later than 30 days after receipt of an administrative decision, by such means as the Department shall provide by rule.

The Director shall determine the appropriate extent of the deletions allowed in paragraph (2). In the event the taxpayer does not submit deletions, the Director shall make only the deletions specified in paragraph (1).

The Director shall make available for public inspection and publication an administrative decision within 180 days after the issuance of the administrative decision. The term "administrative decision" has the same meaning as defined in Section 3-101 of Article III of the Code of Civil Procedure. Costs collected under this Section shall be paid into the Tax Compliance and Administration Fund.

Nothing contained in this Act shall prevent the Director from divulging information to any person pursuant to a request or authorization made by the taxpayer or by an authorized representative of the taxpayer.

(Source: P.A. 98-1058, eff. 1-1-15; 99-517, eff. 6-30-16.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.