HB5422 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB098 17773 HLH 52894 b

98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014
HB5422

Introduced , by Rep. Natalie A. Manley

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

35 ILCS 120/11	from Ch. 120, par. 450
65 ILCS 5/8-11-16	from Ch. 24, par. 8-11-16

Amends the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act and the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that, upon resolution of a municipality, the Department shall permit any duly authorized officer of employee of the municipality, or any other person designated by that municipality, to examine all of the records reported to the Department pertaining to the collection of use and occupation taxes for the municipality by the Department. Provides that designated individuals, other than officers and employees of the municipality, must meet certain criteria before they are allowed to examine the records. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

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 who divulges any such information in any manner, except in accordance with a proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.

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 the Director of Revenue from divulging to the United States Government or the government of any other state, or any municipality village that does not levy any real property taxes for village operations and that receives more than 60% of its general corporate revenue from taxes under the Use Tax Act, the Service Use Tax Act, the Service Occupation Tax Act, and the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act, or any designated officer, authorized agent, 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.

When requested by resolution of the corporate authorities of a municipality, the Department shall permit any duly authorized officer of employee of the municipality, or any other person designated by that municipality, to examine all of the records reported to the Department pertaining to the collection of use and occupation taxes for the municipality by the Department pursuant to the Reciprocal Agreement on Exchange of Information with the Department. The resolution shall certify that the person designated by the resolution meets all of the following conditions:

(1) the person has an existing contract with the municipality to examine those use and occupation tax records;

(2) the person is required by that contract to disclose information contained in or derived from those records only to an officer or employee of the municipality who is authorized by the resolution to examine the information;

(3) the person is prohibited by the contract from performing consulting services for any retailer during the term of the contract; and

(4) the person is prohibited by the contract from retaining the information contained in or derived from those records after the contract has expired.

An officer or employee of the municipality is not required to meet the criteria set forth in items (1) through (4).

This Section shall not be construed to allow any officer, employee, or other person authorized or designated by a municipality to examine use and occupation tax records, except as specifically provided in this Section.

The furnishing of financial information to a municipality home rule unit or non-home rule unit that has imposed a tax similar to that imposed by this Act pursuant to its home rule powers or the successful passage of a public referendum by a majority of the registered voters of the community, or to any village that does not levy any real property taxes for village operations and that receives more than 60% of its general corporate revenue from taxes under the Use Tax Act, the Service Use Tax Act, the Service Occupation Tax Act, and the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act, upon request of the corporate authorities Chief Executive thereof, is an official purpose within the meaning of this Section, provided the corporate authorities of the municipality agree home rule unit, non-home rule unit with referendum approval, or village that does not levy any real property taxes for village operations and that receives more than 60% of its general corporate revenue from taxes under the Use Tax Act, the Service Use Tax Act, the Service Occupation Tax Act, and the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act agrees in writing to the requirements of this Section.

For a village that does not levy any real property taxes for village operations and that receives more than 60% of its general corporate revenue from taxes under the Use Tax Act, Service Use Tax Act, Service Occupation Tax Act, and Retailers' Occupation Tax Act, the officers eligible to receive information from the Department of Revenue under this Section are the village manager and the chief financial officer of the village.

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. 93-25, eff. 6-20-03; 93-939, eff. 8-13-04; 94-1074, eff. 12-26-06.)

Section 10. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by changing Section 8-11-16 as follows:

(65 ILCS 5/8-11-16) (from Ch. 24, par. 8-11-16)

Sec. 8-11-16. The Department of Revenue shall submit to each municipality each year a list of those persons within that municipality who are registered with the Department under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act.

The list shall indicate the street address of each retail outlet operated in the municipality by the persons so registered and the name under which the retailer conducts business, if different from the corporate name. Any duly authorized officer or employee of the municipality, or any designated authorized agent The municipal clerk shall forward any changes or corrections to the list to the Department within 6 months. The Department shall update and correct its records to reflect such changes, or notify the municipality in writing that the suggested changes are erroneous, within 90 days. The Department shall also provide monthly updates to each municipality showing additions or deletions to the list of retail outlets within the municipality. The Department shall provide a copy of the annual listing herein provided for contiguous jurisdictions when a municipality so requests. The list required by this Section shall contain only the names and street addresses of persons who are registered with the Department and shall not include the amount of tax paid by such persons. The list required by this Section shall be provided to each municipality no later than September 1 annually.

When certifying the amount of a monthly disbursement to a municipality under Section 8-11-1, 8-11-5, 8-11-6 of this Act or Section 6z-18 of "An Act in relation to State finance", the Department shall increase or decrease such amount by an amount necessary to offset any misallocation of previous disbursements. The offset amount shall be the amount erroneously disbursed within the previous 6 months from the time a misallocation is discovered.

The Department of Revenue must upon the request of any municipality received pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph furnish to such municipality data setting forth the aggregate amount of retailers' occupation tax collected on behalf of such municipality from any shopping center identified in such request and located within such municipality for each month beginning with the first month following the month within which such a request is received by the Department, provided that such data may be provided only with respect to shopping centers (1) which consist of 50 or more persons registered with the Department to pay Retailers' Occupation Tax, and (2) where the developers or owners thereof or their predecessors in interest have entered into written agreements with the municipality to transfer property to or perform services for or on behalf of such municipality in exchange for payments based solely or in part on the amount of retailers' occupation tax collected on behalf of the municipality from persons within such shopping centers. Data given pursuant to this paragraph shall not identify by amounts the individual sources of such taxes. A request for data pursuant to this paragraph shall first be submitted to the Department of Revenue by the Municipal Clerk, City Council or Village Board of Trustees. The Department of Revenue shall review each such request to determine whether the requirements of item (2) of the first sentence of this paragraph have been met and, within 30 days following its receipt of such a request, shall either certify that the request meets such requirements, or notify the person submitting the request that the request does not meet such requirements.

As used in this Section, "Municipal" or "Municipality" means or refers to a city, village or incorporated town, including an incorporated town which has superseded a civil township, and "shopping center" means a group of retail stores and other business and service establishments in an integrated building arrangement operated under common ownership or diverse ownership under unified control involving common parking areas and mutual easements.

(Source: P.A. 91-51, eff. 6-30-99.)

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