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91_SB0502
LRB9105217MWks
1 AN ACT to amend the Illinois Income Tax Act by changing
2 Section 917.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Illinois Income Tax Act is amended by
6 changing Section 917 as follows:
7 (35 ILCS 5/917) (from Ch. 120, par. 9-917)
8 Sec. 917. Confidentiality and information sharing.
9 (a) Confidentiality. Except as provided in this Section,
10 all information received by the Department from returns filed
11 under this Act, or from any investigation conducted under the
12 provisions of this Act, shall be confidential, except for
13 official purposes within the Department or pursuant to
14 official procedures for collection of any State tax or
15 pursuant to an investigation or audit by the Illinois State
16 Scholarship Commission of a delinquent student loan or
17 monetary award or enforcement of any civil or criminal
18 penalty or sanction imposed by this Act or by another statute
19 imposing a State tax, and any person who divulges any such
20 information in any manner, except for such purposes and
21 pursuant to order of the Director or in accordance with a
22 proper judicial order, shall be guilty of a Class A
23 misdemeanor. However, the provisions of this paragraph are
24 not applicable to information furnished to a licensed
25 attorney representing the taxpayer where an appeal or a
26 protest has been filed on behalf of the taxpayer.
27 (b) Public information. Nothing contained in this Act
28 shall prevent the Director from publishing or making
29 available to the public the names and addresses of persons
30 filing returns under this Act, or from publishing or making
31 available reasonable statistics concerning the operation of
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1 the tax wherein the contents of returns are grouped into
2 aggregates in such a way that the information contained in
3 any individual return shall not be disclosed.
4 (c) Governmental agencies. The Director may make
5 available to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United
6 States or his or her delegate, or the proper officer or his
7 or her delegate of any other state imposing a tax upon or
8 measured by income, for exclusively official purposes,
9 information received by the Department in the administration
10 of this Act, but that such permission shall be granted only
11 if the United States or such other state, as the case may be,
12 grants the Department substantially similar privileges. The
13 Director may exchange information with the Illinois
14 Department of Public Aid and the Department of Human Services
15 (acting as successor to the Department of Public Aid under
16 the Department of Human Services Act) for the purpose of
17 verifying sources and amounts of income and for other
18 purposes directly connected with the administration of this
19 Act and the Illinois Public Aid Code. The Director may
20 exchange information with the Director of the Department of
21 Employment Security for the purpose of verifying sources and
22 amounts of income and for other purposes directly connected
23 with the administration of this Act and Acts administered by
24 the Department of Employment Security. The Director may make
25 available to the Illinois Industrial Commission information
26 regarding employers for the purpose of verifying the
27 insurance coverage required under the Workers' Compensation
28 Act and Workers' Occupational Diseases Act.
29 The Director may make available to any State agency,
30 including the Illinois Supreme Court, which licenses persons
31 to engage in any occupation, information that a person
32 licensed by such agency has failed to file returns under this
33 Act or pay the tax, penalty and interest shown therein, or
34 has failed to pay any final assessment of tax, penalty or
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1 interest due under this Act. The Director may also make
2 available to the Secretary of State information that a
3 corporation which has been issued a certificate of
4 incorporation by the Secretary of State has failed to file
5 returns under this Act or pay the tax, penalty and interest
6 shown therein, or has failed to pay any final assessment of
7 tax, penalty or interest due under this Act. An assessment is
8 final when all proceedings in court for review of such
9 assessment have terminated or the time for the taking thereof
10 has expired without such proceedings being instituted. For
11 taxable years ending on or after December 31, 1987, the
12 Director may make available to the Director or principal
13 officer of any Department of the State of Illinois,
14 information that a person employed by such Department has
15 failed to file returns under this Act or pay the tax, penalty
16 and interest shown therein. For purposes of this paragraph,
17 the word "Department" shall have the same meaning as provided
18 in Section 3 of the State Employees Group Insurance Act of
19 1971.
20 (d) The Director shall make available for public
21 inspection in the Department's principal office and for
22 publication, at cost, administrative decisions issued on or
23 after January 1, 1995. These decisions are to be made
24 available in a manner so that the following taxpayer
25 information is not disclosed:
26 (1) The names, addresses, and identification
27 numbers of the taxpayer, related entities, and employees.
28 (2) At the sole discretion of the Director, trade
29 secrets or other confidential information identified as
30 such by the taxpayer, no later than 30 days after receipt
31 of an administrative decision, by such means as the
32 Department shall provide by rule.
33 The Director shall determine the appropriate extent of
34 the deletions allowed in paragraph (2). In the event the
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1 taxpayer does not submit deletions, the Director shall make
2 only the deletions specified in paragraph (1).
3 The Director shall make available for public inspection
4 and publication an administrative decision within 180 days
5 after the issuance of the administrative decision. The term
6 "administrative decision" has the same meaning as defined in
7 Section 3-101 of Article III of the Code of Civil Procedure.
8 Costs collected under this Section shall be paid into the Tax
9 Compliance and Administration Fund.
10 (e) Nothing contained in this Act shall prevent the
11 Director from divulging information to any person pursuant to
12 a request or authorization made by the taxpayer, by an
13 authorized representative of the taxpayer, or, in the case of
14 information related to a joint return, by the spouse filing
15 the joint return with the taxpayer.
16 (Source: P.A. 89-507, eff. 7-1-97; 90-491, eff. 1-1-98.)