20 ILCS 655/8.1

(20 ILCS 655/8.1)

Sec. 8.1. Accounting.

(a) Any business receiving tax incentives due to its location within an Enterprise Zone or its designation as a High Impact Business must annually report to the Department of Revenue information reasonably required by the Department of Revenue to enable the Department to verify and calculate the total Enterprise Zone or High Impact Business tax benefits for property taxes and taxes imposed by the State that are received by the business, broken down by incentive category and enterprise zone, if applicable. Reports will be due no later than May 31 of each year and shall cover the previous calendar year. The first report will be for the 2012 calendar year and will be due no later than May 31, 2013. Failure to report data may result in ineligibility to receive incentives. To the extent that a business receiving tax incentives has obtained an Enterprise Zone Building Materials Exemption Certificate or a High Impact Business Building Materials Exemption Certificate, that business is required to report those building materials exemption benefits only under subsection (a-5) of this Section. No additional reporting for those building materials exemption benefits is required under this subsection (a). In addition, if the Department determines that 80% or more of the businesses receiving tax incentives because of their location within a particular Enterprise Zone failed to submit the information required under this subsection (a) to the Department in any calendar year, then the Enterprise Zone may be decertified by the Department. If the Department is able to determine that specific businesses are failing to submit the information required under this subsection (a) to the Department in any calendar year to the Zone Administrator, regardless of the Administrator's efforts to enforce reporting, the Department may, at its discretion, suspend the benefits to the specific business rather than an outright decertification of the particular Enterprise Zone. The Department, in consultation with the Department of Revenue, is authorized to adopt rules governing ineligibility to receive exemptions, including the length of ineligibility. Factors to be considered in determining whether a business is ineligible shall include, but are not limited to, prior compliance with the reporting requirements, cooperation in discontinuing and correcting violations, the extent of the violation, and whether the violation was willful or inadvertent.

(a-5) Each contractor or other entity that has been issued an Enterprise Zone Building Materials Exemption Certificate under Section 5k of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act or a High Impact Business Building Materials Exemption Certificate under Section 5l of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act shall annually report to the Department of Revenue the total value of the Enterprise Zone or High Impact Business building materials exemption from State taxes. Reports shall contain information reasonably required by the Department of Revenue to enable it to verify and calculate the total tax benefits for taxes imposed by the State, and shall be broken down by Enterprise Zone. Reports are due no later than May 31 of each year and shall cover the previous calendar year. The first report will be for the 2013 calendar year and will be due no later than May 31, 2014. Failure to report data may result in revocation of the Enterprise Zone Building Materials Exemption Certificate or High Impact Business Building Materials Exemption Certificate issued to the contractor or other entity.

The Department of Revenue is authorized to adopt rules governing revocation determinations, including the length of revocation. Factors to be considered in revocations shall include, but are not limited to, prior compliance with the reporting requirements, cooperation in discontinuing and correcting violations, and whether the certificate was used unlawfully during the preceding year.

(b) Each person required to file a return under the Gas Revenue Tax Act, the Gas Use Tax Act, the Electricity Excise Tax Act, or the Telecommunications Excise Tax Act shall file, on or before May 31 of each year, a report with the Department of Revenue, in the manner and form required by the Department of Revenue, containing information reasonably required by the Department of Revenue to enable the Department of Revenue to calculate the amount of the deduction for taxes imposed by the State that is taken under each Act, respectively, due to the location of a business in an Enterprise Zone or its designation as a High Impact Business. The report shall be itemized by business and the business location address.

(c) Employers shall report their job creation, retention, and capital investment numbers within the zone annually to the Department of Revenue no later than May 31 of each calendar year. High Impact Businesses shall report their job creation, retention, and capital investment numbers to the Department of Revenue no later than May 31 of each year. With respect to job creation or retention, employers and High Impact Businesses shall use best efforts to submit diversity information related to the gender and ethnicity of such employees.

(d) The Department of Revenue will aggregate and collect the tax, job, and capital investment data by Enterprise Zone and High Impact Business and report this information, formatted to exclude company-specific proprietary information, to the Department and the Board by August 1, 2013, and by August 1 of every calendar year thereafter. The Department will include this information in their required reports under Section 6 of this Act. The Board shall consider this information during the reviews required under subsection (d-5) of Section 5.4 of this Act and subsection (c) of Section 5.3 of this Act.

(e) The Department of Revenue, in its discretion, may require that the reports filed under this Section be submitted electronically.

(f) The Department of Revenue shall have the authority to adopt rules as are reasonable and necessary to implement the provisions of this Section.

(Source: P.A. 102-108, eff. 1-1-22.)