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Public Act 92-0474
HB0843 Enrolled LRB9205887REdv
AN ACT concerning telecommunications.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Conformity Act.
Section 5. Legislative intent. The General Assembly
recognizes that the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act,
Public Law 106-252, codified at 4 U.S.C Sections 116 through
126, was passed by the United States Congress to establish
sourcing requirements for state and local taxation of mobile
telecommunication services. In general, the rules provide
that taxes on mobile telecommunications services shall be
collected and remitted to the jurisdiction where the
customer's primary use of the services occurs, irrespective
of where the mobile telecommunications services originate,
terminate, or pass through. By passing this legislation in
the State of Illinois, the General Assembly desires to
implement that Act in this State by establishing the Mobile
Telecommunications Sourcing Conformity Act and to inform
State and local government officials of its provisions as it
applies to the taxes of this State.
Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Charges for mobile telecommunications services" means
any charge for, or associated with, the provision of
commercial mobile radio service, as defined in Section 20.3
of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations as in effect
on June 1, 1999, or any charge for, or associated with, a
service provided as an adjunct to a commercial mobile radio
service, that is billed to the customer by or for the
customer's home service provider regardless of whether
individual transmissions originate or terminate within the
licensed service area of the home service provider.
"Customer" means (i) the person or entity that contracts
with the home service provider for mobile telecommunications
services or (ii) if the end user of mobile telecommunications
services is not the contracting party, the end user of the
mobile telecommunications services, but this clause (ii)
applies only for the purpose of determining the place of
primary use. "Customer" does not include (i) a reseller of
mobile telecommunications service or (ii) a serving carrier
under an arrangement to serve the customer outside the home
service provider's licensed service area.
"Designated database provider" means a corporation,
association, or other entity representing all the political
subdivisions of a State that is:
(i) responsible for providing an electronic
database prescribed in Section 25 if the State has not
provided such electronic database; and
(ii) approved by municipal and county associations
or leagues of the State whose responsibility it would
otherwise be to provide such database prescribed by
Sections 116 through 126 of Title 4 of the United States
Code.
"Enhanced zip code" means a United States postal zip code
of 9 or more digits.
"Home service provider" means the facilities-based
carrier or reseller with which the customer contracts for the
provision of mobile telecommunications services.
"Licensed service area" means the geographic area in
which the home service provider is authorized by law or
contract to provide commercial mobile radio service to the
customer.
"Mobile telecommunications service" means commercial
mobile radio service, as defined in Section 20.3 of Title 47
of the Code of Federal Regulations as in effect on June 1,
1999.
"Place of primary use" means the street address
representative of where the customer's use of the mobile
telecommunications service primarily occurs, which must be:
(i) the residential street address or the primary
business street address of the customer; and
(ii) within the licensed service area of the home
service provider.
"Prepaid telephone calling services" means the right to
purchase exclusively telecommunications services that must be
paid for in advance that enables the origination of calls
using an access number, authorization code, or both, whether
manually or electronically dialed, if the remaining amount of
units of service that have been prepaid is known by the
provider of the prepaid service on a continuous basis.
"Reseller" means a provider who purchases
telecommunications services from another telecommunications
service provider and then resells, uses as a component part
of, or integrates the purchased services into a mobile
telecommunications service. "Reseller" does not include a
serving carrier with which a home service provider arranges
for the services to its customers outside the home service
provider's licensed service area.
"Serving carrier" means a facilities-based carrier
providing mobile telecommunications service to a customer
outside a home service provider's or reseller's licensed
service area.
"Taxing jurisdiction" means any of the several states,
the District of Columbia, or any territory or possession of
the United States, any municipality, city, county, township,
parish, transportation district, or assessment jurisdiction,
or any other political subdivision within the territorial
limits of the United States with the authority to impose a
tax, charge, or fee.
Section 15. Application of this Act. The provisions of
this Act shall apply as follows:
(a) General provisions. This Act shall apply to any
tax, charge, or fee levied by the State or a taxing
jurisdiction within this State as a fixed charge for each
customer or measured by gross amounts charged to customers
for mobile telecommunications services, regardless of whether
the tax, charge, or fee is imposed on the vendor or customer
of the service and regardless of the terminology used to
describe the tax, charge, or fee.
(b) General exceptions. This Act does not apply to:
(1) any tax, charge, or fee levied upon or measured
by the net income, capital stock, net worth, or property
value of the provider of mobile telecommunications
service;
(2) any tax, charge, or fee that is applied to an
equitably apportioned amount that is not determined on a
transactional basis;
(3) any tax, charge, or fee that represents
compensation for a mobile telecommunications service
provider's use of public rights of way or other public
property, provided that such tax, charge, or fee is not
levied by the taxing jurisdiction as a fixed charge for
each customer or measured by gross amounts charged to
customers for mobile telecommunications services;
(4) any generally applicable business and
occupation tax that is imposed by a State, is applied to
gross receipts or gross proceeds, is the legal liability
of the home service provider, and that statutorily allows
the home service provider to elect to use the sourcing
method required in this Act;
(5) any fee related to obligations under Section
254 of the federal Communications Act of 1934; or
(6) any tax, charge, or fee imposed by the Federal
Communications Commission.
(c) Specific exceptions. The provisions of this Act:
(1) do not apply to the determination of the taxing
situs of prepaid telephone calling services;
(2) do not affect the taxability of either the
initial sale of mobile telecommunications services or
subsequent resale of such services, whether as sales of
such services alone or as a part of a bundled product, if
the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act would preclude a
taxing jurisdiction from subjecting the charges of the
sale of such services to a tax, charge, or fee, but this
Section provides no evidence of the intent of the General
Assembly with respect to the applicability of the federal
Internet Tax Freedom Act to such charges; and
(3) do not apply to the determination of the taxing
situs of air-ground radiotelephone service as defined in
Section 22.99 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal
Regulations as in effect on June 1, 1999.
(d) Date of applicability. The provisions of this Act
apply to customer bills issued on or after August 1, 2002.
Section 20. Sourcing rules for mobile telecommunications
services.
(a) Notwithstanding the law of this State or any
political subdivision of this State, mobile
telecommunications services provided in a taxing jurisdiction
to a customer, the charges for which are billed by or for the
customer's home service provider, shall be deemed to be
provided by the customer's home service provider.
(b) All charges for mobile telecommunications services
that are deemed to be provided by the customer's home service
provider under this Act are authorized to be subjected to
tax, charge, or fee by the taxing jurisdictions whose
territorial limits encompass the customer's place of primary
use, regardless of where the mobile telecommunications
services originate, terminate, or pass through, and no other
taxing jurisdiction may impose taxes, charges, or fees on
charges for such mobile telecommunications services.
Section 25. Provision of electronic database.
(a) The State may provide an electronic database to a
home service provider or, if the State does not provide such
an electronic database to home service providers, then the
designated database provider may provide an electronic
database to a home service provider.
(b) The electronic database, whether provided by the
State or the designated database provider, shall:
(1) be provided in a format approved by the
American National Standards Institute's Accredited
Standards Committee X12, that, allowing for de minimis
deviations, designates for each street address in the
State, including to the extent practical, any multiple
postal street addresses applicable to one street
location, the appropriate taxing jurisdictions, and the
appropriate code for each taxing jurisdiction, for each
level of taxing jurisdiction, identified by one
nationwide standard numeric code described in subsection
(c); and
(2) also provide the appropriate code for each
street address with respect to political subdivisions
that are not taxing jurisdictions when reasonably needed
to determine the proper taxing jurisdiction.
(c) The nationwide standard numeric codes shall contain
the same number of numeric digits with each digit or
combination of digits referring to the same level of taxing
jurisdiction throughout the United States using a format
similar to FIPS 55-3 or other appropriate standard approved
by the Federation of Tax Administrators and the Multistate
Tax Commission, or their successors. Each address shall be
provided in standard postal format.
Section 30. Notice; updates. If the State or a
designated database provider provides or maintains an
electronic database described in Section 25, then the State
or the electronic database provider shall provide notice of
the availability of the then current electronic database, and
any subsequent revisions thereof, by publication in the
manner normally employed for the publication of informational
tax, charge, or fee notices to taxpayers in the State.
Section 35. User held harmless. A home service provider
using the data contained in an electronic database described
in Section 25 shall be held harmless from any tax, charge, or
fee liability that otherwise would be due solely as a result
of any error or omission in the database provided by the
State or designated database provider. The home service
provider shall reflect changes made to the database during a
calendar quarter not later than 30 days after the end of the
calendar quarter if the State or an electronic database
provider issues notice of the availability of an electronic
database reflecting the changes under Section 30.
Section 40. Safe harbor.
(a) If neither the State nor a designated database
provider provides an electronic database under Section 25, a
home service provider shall be held harmless from any tax,
charge, or fee liability that otherwise would be due solely
as a result of an assignment of a street address to an
incorrect taxing jurisdiction if, subject to Section 60, the
home service provider employs an enhanced zip code to assign
each street address to a specific taxing jurisdiction for
each level of taxing jurisdiction and exercises due diligence
at each level of taxing jurisdiction to ensure that each such
street address is assigned to the correct taxing
jurisdiction. If an enhanced zip code overlaps boundaries of
taxing jurisdictions of the same level, the home service
provider must designate one specific jurisdiction within the
enhanced zip code for use in taxing the activity for the
enhanced zip code for each level of taxing jurisdiction. Any
enhanced zip code assignment changed in accordance with
Section 60 is deemed to be in compliance with this Section.
(b) For purposes of this Section, there is a rebuttable
presumption that a home service provider has exercised due
diligence if the home service provider demonstrates that it
has:
(1) expended reasonable resources to implement and
maintain an appropriately detailed electronic database of
street address assignments to taxing jurisdictions;
(2) implemented and maintained reasonable internal
controls to promptly correct misassignments of street
addresses to taxing jurisdictions; and
(3) used all reasonably obtainable and usable data
pertaining to municipal annexations, incorporations,
reorganizations, and any other changes in jurisdictional
boundaries that materially affect the accuracy of the
database.
Section 45. Termination of safe harbor. Section 40
applies to a home service provider that is in compliance with
the requirements of Section 40 until the later of:
(1) Eighteen months after the nationwide standard
numeric code described in Section 25 has been approved by the
Federation of Tax Administrators and the Multistate Tax
Commission; or
(2) Six months after the State or a designated database
provider in the State provides such database as prescribed in
Section 25.
Section 50. Home service provider required to obtain and
maintain customer's place of primary use. A home service
provider shall be responsible for obtaining and maintaining
the customer's place of primary use, as defined in this Act.
Subject to Section 60, and if the home service provider's
reliance on information provided by its customer is in good
faith, a taxing jurisdiction shall:
(1) allow a home service provider to rely on the
applicable residential or business street address supplied by
the home service provider's customer; and
(2) not hold a home service provider liable for any
additional taxes, charges, or fees based on a different
determination of the place of primary use for taxes, charges,
or fees that are customarily passed on to the customer as a
separate itemized charge.
Section 55. Primary place of use for service contracts
in effect on or before July 28, 2002. Except as provided in
Section 60, a taxing jurisdiction shall allow a home service
provider to treat the address used by the home service
provider for tax purposes for any customer under a service
contract or agreement in effect on or before July 28, 2002 as
that customer's place of primary use for the remaining term
of the service contract or agreement, excluding any extension
or renewal of the service contract or agreement, for purposes
of determining the taxing jurisdictions to which taxes,
charges, or fees on charges for mobile telecommunications
services are remitted.
Section 60. Determination by taxing jurisdiction or State
concerning place of primary use; notice to home service
provider. A taxing jurisdiction or the State, on behalf of
any taxing jurisdiction or taxing jurisdictions within this
State, may:
(a) determine that the address used for purposes of
determining the taxing jurisdictions to which taxes, charges,
or fees for mobile telecommunications services are remitted
does not meet the definition of place of primary use in this
Act and give binding notice to the home service provider to
change the place of primary use on a prospective basis from
the date of notice of determination if:
(1) the taxing jurisdiction obtains the consent of
all affected taxing jurisdictions within the State before
giving the notice of determination (if the taxing
jurisdiction making the determination is not the State);
and
(2) before the taxing jurisdiction gives the notice
of determination, the customer is given an opportunity to
demonstrate in accordance with applicable State or local
tax, charge, or fee administrative procedures that the
address is the customer's place of primary use.
(b) determine that the assignment of a taxing
jurisdiction by a home service provider under Section 40 does
not reflect the correct taxing jurisdiction and give binding
notice to the home service provider to change the assignment
on a prospective basis from the date of notice of
determination if:
(1) the taxing jurisdiction obtains the consent of
all affected taxing jurisdictions within the State before
giving the notice of determination (if the taxing
jurisdiction making the determination is not the State);
and
(2) the home service provider is given an
opportunity to demonstrate in accordance with applicable
State or local tax, charge, or fee administrative
procedures that the assignment reflects the correct
taxing jurisdiction.
Section 65. No change to authority of taxing
jurisdiction to collect tax if customer fails to provide
place of primary use. Nothing in this Act modifies, impairs,
supersedes, or authorizes the modification, impairment, or
supersession of, any law allowing a taxing jurisdiction to
collect a tax, charge, or fee from a customer that has failed
to provide its place of primary use.
Section 70. Tax may be imposed on items not subject to
taxation if those items not separately stated. If a taxing
jurisdiction does not otherwise subject charges for mobile
telecommunications services to taxation and if these charges
are aggregated with and not separately stated from charges
that are subject to taxation, then the charges for nontaxable
mobile telecommunications services may be subject to taxation
unless the home service provider can reasonably identify
charges not subject to such tax, charge, or fee from its
books and records that are kept in the regular course of
business.
Section 75. Customers and otherwise non-taxable charges.
If a taxing jurisdiction does not subject charges for mobile
telecommunications services to taxation, a customer may not
rely upon the nontaxability of charges for mobile
telecommunications services unless the customer's home
service provider separately states the charges for nontaxable
mobile telecommunications services from taxable charges or
the home service provider elects, after receiving a written
request from the customer in the form required by the
provider, to provide verifiable data based upon the home
service provider's books and records that are kept in the
regular course of business that reasonably identifies the
nontaxable charges.
Section 80. Customers' procedures and remedies for
correcting taxes and fees.
(a) If a customer believes that an amount of tax or
assignment of place of primary use or taxing jurisdiction
included on a billing is erroneous, the customer shall notify
the home service provider in writing. The customer shall
include in this written notification the street address for
her or his place of primary use, the account name and number
for which the customer seeks a correction of the tax
assignment, a description of the error asserted by the
customer, and any other information that the home service
provider reasonably requires to process the request. Within
60 days after receiving a notice under this subsection (a),
the home service provider shall review its records and the
electronic database or enhanced zip code used pursuant to
Section 25 or 40 to determine the customer's taxing
jurisdiction. If this review shows that the amount of tax,
assignment of place of primary use, or taxing jurisdiction is
in error, the home service provider shall correct the error
and refund or credit the amount of tax erroneously collected
from the customer for a period of up to 2 years. If this
review shows that the amount of tax, assignment of place of
primary use, or taxing jurisdiction is correct, the home
service provider shall provide a written explanation to the
customer.
(b) If the customer is dissatisfied with the response of
the home service provider under this Section, the customer
may seek a correction or refund or both from the taxing
jurisdiction affected.
(c) The procedures in this Section shall be the first
course of remedy available to customers seeking correction of
assignment of place of primary use or taxing jurisdiction or
a refund of or other compensation for taxes, charges, and
fees erroneously collected by the home service provider, and
no cause of action based upon a dispute arising from these
taxes, charges, or fees shall accrue until a customer has
reasonably exercised the rights and procedures set forth in
this Section.
Section 85. Inseverability clause. If a court of
competent jurisdiction enters a final judgment on the merits
that (i) is based on federal law, (ii) is no longer subject
to appeal, and (iii) substantially limits or impairs the
essential elements of Sections 116 through 126 of Title 4 of
the United States Code, then the provisions of this Act are
invalid and have no legal effect as of the date of entry of
such judgment.
Section 905. The Telecommunications Excise Tax Act is
amended by changing Section 2 as follows:
(35 ILCS 630/2) (from Ch. 120, par. 2002)
Sec. 2. As used in this Article, unless the context
clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "Gross charge" means the amount paid for the act or
privilege of originating or receiving telecommunications in
this State and for all services and equipment provided in
connection therewith by a retailer, valued in money whether
paid in money or otherwise, including cash, credits, services
and property of every kind or nature, and shall be determined
without any deduction on account of the cost of such
telecommunications, the cost of materials used, labor or
service costs or any other expense whatsoever. In case
credit is extended, the amount thereof shall be included only
as and when paid. "Gross charges" for private line service
shall include charges imposed at each channel point within
this State, charges for the channel mileage between each
channel point within this State, and charges for that portion
of the interstate inter-office channel provided within
Illinois. However, "gross charges" shall not include:
(1) any amounts added to a purchaser's bill because
of a charge made pursuant to (i) the tax imposed by this
Article; (ii) charges added to customers' bills pursuant
to the provisions of Sections 9-221 or 9-222 of the
Public Utilities Act, as amended, or any similar charges
added to customers' bills by retailers who are not
subject to rate regulation by the Illinois Commerce
Commission for the purpose of recovering any of the tax
liabilities or other amounts specified in such provisions
of such Act; or (iii) the tax imposed by Section 4251 of
the Internal Revenue Code;
(2) charges for a sent collect telecommunication
received outside of the State;
(3) charges for leased time on equipment or charges
for the storage of data or information for subsequent
retrieval or the processing of data or information
intended to change its form or content. Such equipment
includes, but is not limited to, the use of calculators,
computers, data processing equipment, tabulating
equipment or accounting equipment and also includes the
usage of computers under a time-sharing agreement;
(4) charges for customer equipment, including such
equipment that is leased or rented by the customer from
any source, wherein such charges are disaggregated and
separately identified from other charges;
(5) charges to business enterprises certified under
Section 9-222.1 of the Public Utilities Act, as amended,
to the extent of such exemption and during the period of
time specified by the Department of Commerce and
Community Affairs;
(6) charges for telecommunications and all services
and equipment provided in connection therewith between a
parent corporation and its wholly owned subsidiaries or
between wholly owned subsidiaries when the tax imposed
under this Article has already been paid to a retailer
and only to the extent that the charges between the
parent corporation and wholly owned subsidiaries or
between wholly owned subsidiaries represent expense
allocation between the corporations and not the
generation of profit for the corporation rendering such
service;
(7) bad debts. Bad debt means any portion of a debt
that is related to a sale at retail for which gross
charges are not otherwise deductible or excludable that
has become worthless or uncollectable, as determined
under applicable federal income tax standards. If the
portion of the debt deemed to be bad is subsequently
paid, the retailer shall report and pay the tax on that
portion during the reporting period in which the payment
is made;
(8) charges paid by inserting coins in
coin-operated telecommunication devices;
(9) amounts paid by telecommunications retailers
under the Telecommunications Municipal Infrastructure
Maintenance Fee Act.
(b) "Amount paid" means the amount charged to the
taxpayer's service address in this State regardless of where
such amount is billed or paid.
(c) "Telecommunications", in addition to the meaning
ordinarily and popularly ascribed to it, includes, without
limitation, messages or information transmitted through use
of local, toll and wide area telephone service; private line
services; channel services; telegraph services;
teletypewriter; computer exchange services; cellular mobile
telecommunications service; specialized mobile radio;
stationary two way radio; paging service; or any other form
of mobile and portable one-way or two-way communications; or
any other transmission of messages or information by
electronic or similar means, between or among points by wire,
cable, fiber-optics, laser, microwave, radio, satellite or
similar facilities. As used in this Act, "private line" means
a dedicated non-traffic sensitive service for a single
customer, that entitles the customer to exclusive or priority
use of a communications channel or group of channels, from
one or more specified locations to one or more other
specified locations. The definition of "telecommunications"
shall not include value added services in which computer
processing applications are used to act on the form, content,
code and protocol of the information for purposes other than
transmission. "Telecommunications" shall not include
purchases of telecommunications by a telecommunications
service provider for use as a component part of the service
provided by him to the ultimate retail consumer who
originates or terminates the taxable end-to-end
communications. Carrier access charges, right of access
charges, charges for use of inter-company facilities, and all
telecommunications resold in the subsequent provision of,
used as a component of, or integrated into end-to-end
telecommunications service shall be non-taxable as sales for
resale.
(d) "Interstate telecommunications" means all
telecommunications that either originate or terminate outside
this State.
(e) "Intrastate telecommunications" means all
telecommunications that originate and terminate within this
State.
(f) "Department" means the Department of Revenue of the
State of Illinois.
(g) "Director" means the Director of Revenue for the
Department of Revenue of the State of Illinois.
(h) "Taxpayer" means a person who individually or
through his agents, employees or permittees engages in the
act or privilege of originating or receiving
telecommunications in this State and who incurs a tax
liability under this Article.
(i) "Person" means any natural individual, firm, trust,
estate, partnership, association, joint stock company, joint
venture, corporation, limited liability company, or a
receiver, trustee, guardian or other representative appointed
by order of any court, the Federal and State governments,
including State universities created by statute or any city,
town, county or other political subdivision of this State.
(j) "Purchase at retail" means the acquisition,
consumption or use of telecommunication through a sale at
retail.
(k) "Sale at retail" means the transmitting, supplying
or furnishing of telecommunications and all services and
equipment provided in connection therewith for a
consideration to persons other than the Federal and State
governments, and State universities created by statute and
other than between a parent corporation and its wholly owned
subsidiaries or between wholly owned subsidiaries for their
use or consumption and not for resale.
(l) "Retailer" means and includes every person engaged
in the business of making sales at retail as defined in this
Article. The Department may, in its discretion, upon
application, authorize the collection of the tax hereby
imposed by any retailer not maintaining a place of business
within this State, who, to the satisfaction of the
Department, furnishes adequate security to insure collection
and payment of the tax. Such retailer shall be issued,
without charge, a permit to collect such tax. When so
authorized, it shall be the duty of such retailer to collect
the tax upon all of the gross charges for telecommunications
in this State in the same manner and subject to the same
requirements as a retailer maintaining a place of business
within this State. The permit may be revoked by the
Department at its discretion.
(m) "Retailer maintaining a place of business in this
State", or any like term, means and includes any retailer
having or maintaining within this State, directly or by a
subsidiary, an office, distribution facilities, transmission
facilities, sales office, warehouse or other place of
business, or any agent or other representative operating
within this State under the authority of the retailer or its
subsidiary, irrespective of whether such place of business or
agent or other representative is located here permanently or
temporarily, or whether such retailer or subsidiary is
licensed to do business in this State.
(n) "Service address" means the location of
telecommunications equipment from which the
telecommunications services are originated or at which
telecommunications services are received by a taxpayer. In
the event this may not be a defined location, as in the case
of mobile phones, paging systems, maritime systems, service
address means the customer's place of primary use as defined
in the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Conformity Act.
For air-to-ground systems and the like, service address shall
mean the location of a taxpayer's primary use of the
telecommunications equipment as defined by telephone number,
authorization code, or location in Illinois where bills are
sent.
(o) "Prepaid telephone calling arrangements" mean the
right to exclusively purchase telephone or telecommunications
services that must be paid for in advance and enable the
origination of one or more intrastate, interstate, or
international telephone calls or other telecommunications
using an access number, an authorization code, or both,
whether manually or electronically dialed, for which payment
to a retailer must be made in advance, provided that, unless
recharged, no further service is provided once that prepaid
amount of service has been consumed. Prepaid telephone
calling arrangements include the recharge of a prepaid
calling arrangement. For purposes of this subsection,
"recharge" means the purchase of additional prepaid telephone
or telecommunications services whether or not the purchaser
acquires a different access number or authorization code.
"Prepaid telephone calling arrangement" does not include an
arrangement whereby a customer purchases a payment card and
pursuant to which the service provider reflects the amount of
such purchase as a credit on an invoice issued to that
customer under an existing subscription plan.
(Source: P.A. 90-562, eff. 12-16-97; 91-870, eff. 6-22-00.)
Section 910. The Telecommunications Municipal
Infrastructure Maintenance Fee Act is amended by changing
Section 10 as follows:
(35 ILCS 635/10)
Sec. 10. Definitions.
(a) "Gross charges" means the amount paid to a
telecommunications retailer for the act or privilege of
originating or receiving telecommunications in this State or
the municipality imposing the fee under this Act, as the
context requires, and for all services rendered in connection
therewith, valued in money whether paid in money or
otherwise, including cash, credits, services, and property of
every kind or nature, and shall be determined without any
deduction on account of the cost of such telecommunications,
the cost of the materials used, labor or service costs, or
any other expense whatsoever. In case credit is extended,
the amount thereof shall be included only as and when paid.
"Gross charges" for private line service shall include
charges imposed at each channel point within this State or
the municipality imposing the fee under this Act, charges for
the channel mileage between each channel point within this
State or the municipality imposing the fee under this Act,
and charges for that portion of the interstate inter-office
channel provided within Illinois or the municipality imposing
the fee under this Act. However, "gross charges" shall not
include:
(1) any amounts added to a purchaser's bill because
of a charge made under: (i) the fee imposed by this
Section, (ii) additional charges added to a purchaser's
bill under Section 9-221 or 9-222 of the Public Utilities
Act, (iii) amounts collected under Section 8-11-17 of the
Illinois Municipal Code, (iv) the tax imposed by the
Telecommunications Excise Tax Act, (v) 911 surcharges, or
(vi) the tax imposed by Section 4251 of the Internal
Revenue Code;
(2) charges for a sent collect telecommunication
received outside of this State or the municipality
imposing the fee, as the context requires;
(3) charges for leased time on equipment or charges
for the storage of data or information or subsequent
retrieval or the processing of data or information
intended to change its form or content. Such equipment
includes, but is not limited to, the use of calculators,
computers, data processing equipment, tabulating
equipment, or accounting equipment and also includes the
usage of computers under a time-sharing agreement;
(4) charges for customer equipment, including such
equipment that is leased or rented by the customer from
any source, wherein such charges are disaggregated and
separately identified from other charges;
(5) charges to business enterprises certified under
Section 9-222.1 of the Public Utilities Act to the extent
of such exemption and during the period of time specified
by the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs or by
the municipality imposing the fee under the Act, as the
context requires;
(6) charges for telecommunications and all services
and equipment provided in connection therewith between a
parent corporation and its wholly owned subsidiaries or
between wholly owned subsidiaries, and only to the extent
that the charges between the parent corporation and
wholly owned subsidiaries or between wholly owned
subsidiaries represent expense allocation between the
corporations and not the generation of profit other than
a regulatory required profit for the corporation
rendering such services;
(7) bad debts ("bad debt" means any portion of a
debt that is related to a sale at retail for which gross
charges are not otherwise deductible or excludable that
has become worthless or uncollectible, as determined
under applicable federal income tax standards; if the
portion of the debt deemed to be bad is subsequently
paid, the retailer shall report and pay the tax on that
portion during the reporting period in which the payment
is made);
(8) charges paid by inserting coins in
coin-operated telecommunication devices; or
(9) charges for telecommunications and all services
and equipment provided to a municipality imposing the
infrastructure maintenance fee.
(a-5) "Department" means the Illinois Department of
Revenue.
(b) "Telecommunications" includes, but is not limited
to, messages or information transmitted through use of local,
toll, and wide area telephone service, channel services,
telegraph services, teletypewriter service, computer exchange
services, private line services, specialized mobile radio
services, or any other transmission of messages or
information by electronic or similar means, between or among
points by wire, cable, fiber optics, laser, microwave, radio,
satellite, or similar facilities. Unless the context clearly
requires otherwise, "telecommunications" shall also include
wireless telecommunications as hereinafter defined.
"Telecommunications" shall not include value added services
in which computer processing applications are used to act on
the form, content, code, and protocol of the information for
purposes other than transmission. "Telecommunications" shall
not include purchase of telecommunications by a
telecommunications service provider for use as a component
part of the service provided by him or her to the ultimate
retail consumer who originates or terminates the end-to-end
communications. Retailer access charges, right of access
charges, charges for use of intercompany facilities, and all
telecommunications resold in the subsequent provision and
used as a component of, or integrated into, end-to-end
telecommunications service shall not be included in gross
charges as sales for resale. "Telecommunications" shall not
include the provision of cable services through a cable
system as defined in the Cable Communications Act of 1984 (47
U.S.C. Sections 521 and following) as now or hereafter
amended or through an open video system as defined in the
Rules of the Federal Communications Commission (47 C.D.F.
76.1550 and following) as now or hereafter amended. Beginning
January 1, 2001, prepaid telephone calling arrangements shall
not be considered "telecommunications" subject to the tax
imposed under this Act. For purposes of this Section,
"prepaid telephone calling arrangements" means that term as
defined in Section 2-27 of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act.
(c) "Wireless telecommunications" includes cellular
mobile telephone services, personal wireless services as
defined in Section 704(C) of the Telecommunications Act of
1996 (Public Law No. 104-104) as now or hereafter amended,
including all commercial mobile radio services, and paging
services.
(d) "Telecommunications retailer" or "retailer" or
"carrier" means and includes every person engaged in the
business of making sales of telecommunications at retail as
defined in this Section. The Illinois Department of Revenue
or the municipality imposing the fee, as the case may be,
may, in its discretion, upon applications, authorize the
collection of the fee hereby imposed by any retailer not
maintaining a place of business within this State, who, to
the satisfaction of the Department or municipality, furnishes
adequate security to insure collection and payment of the
fee. When so authorized, it shall be the duty of such
retailer to pay the fee upon all of the gross charges for
telecommunications in the same manner and subject to the same
requirements as a retailer maintaining a place of business
within the State or municipality imposing the fee.
(e) "Retailer maintaining a place of business in this
State", or any like term, means and includes any retailer
having or maintaining within this State, directly or by a
subsidiary, an office, distribution facilities, transmission
facilities, sales office, warehouse, or other place of
business, or any agent or other representative operating
within this State under the authority of the retailer or its
subsidiary, irrespective of whether such place of business or
agent or other representative is located here permanently or
temporarily, or whether such retailer or subsidiary is
licensed to do business in this State.
(f) "Sale of telecommunications at retail" means the
transmitting, supplying, or furnishing of telecommunications
and all services rendered in connection therewith for a
consideration, other than between a parent corporation and
its wholly owned subsidiaries or between wholly owned
subsidiaries, when the gross charge made by one such
corporation to another such corporation is not greater than
the gross charge paid to the retailer for their use or
consumption and not for sale.
(g) "Service address" means the location of
telecommunications equipment from which telecommunications
services are originated or at which telecommunications
services are received. If this is not a defined location, as
in the case of wireless telecommunications, paging systems,
maritime systems, service address means the customer's place
of primary use as defined in the Mobile Telecommunications
Sourcing Conformity Act. For air-to-ground systems, and the
like, "service address" shall mean the location of the
customer's primary use of the telecommunications equipment as
defined by the location in Illinois where bills are sent.
(Source: P.A. 90-154, eff. 1-1-98; 90-562, eff. 12-16-97;
91-870, eff. 6-22-00.)
Section 915. The Emergency Telephone System Act is
amended by changing Section 15.3 as follows:
(50 ILCS 750/15.3) (from Ch. 134, par. 45.3)
Sec. 15.3. (a) The corporate authorities of any
municipality or any county may, subject to the limitations of
subsections (c), (d), and (h), and in addition to any tax
levied pursuant to Section 8-11-2 of the Illinois Municipal
Code, impose a monthly surcharge on billed subscribers of
network connection provided by telecommunication carriers
engaged in the business of transmitting messages by means of
electricity originating within the corporate limits of the
municipality or county imposing the surcharge at a rate per
network connection determined in accordance with subsection
(c). For mobile telecommunications services, if a surcharge
is imposed it shall be imposed based upon the municipality or
county that encompasses the customer's place of primary use
as defined in the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing
Conformity Act. A municipality may enter into an
intergovernmental agreement with any county in which it is
partially located, when the county has adopted an ordinance
to impose a surcharge as provided in subsection (c), to
include that portion of the municipality lying outside the
county in that county's surcharge referendum. If the
county's surcharge referendum is approved, the portion of the
municipality identified in the intergovernmental agreement
shall automatically be disconnected from the county in which
it lies and connected to the county which approved the
referendum for purposes of a surcharge on telecommunications
carriers.
(b) For purposes of computing the surcharge imposed by
subsection (a), the network connections to which the
surcharge shall apply shall be those in-service network
connections, other than those network connections assigned to
the municipality or county, where the service address for
each such network connection or connections is located within
the corporate limits of the municipality or county levying
the surcharge. Except for mobile telecommunication services,
the "service address" shall mean the location of the primary
use of the network connection or connections. For mobile
telecommunication services, "service address" means the
customer's place of primary use as defined in the Mobile
Telecommunications Sourcing Conformity Act. With respect to
network connections provided for use with pay telephone
services for which there is no billed subscriber, the
telecommunications carrier providing the network connection
shall be deemed to be its own billed subscriber for purposes
of applying the surcharge.
(c) Upon the passage of an ordinance to impose a
surcharge under this Section the clerk of the municipality or
county shall certify the question of whether the surcharge
may be imposed to the proper election authority who shall
submit the public question to the electors of the
municipality or county in accordance with the general
election law; provided that such question shall not be
submitted at a consolidated primary election. The public
question shall be in substantially the following form:
-------------------------------------------------------------
Shall the county (or city, village
or incorporated town) of.....impose YES
a surcharge of up to...¢ per month per
network connection, which surcharge will
be added to the monthly bill you receive ------------------
for telephone or telecommunications
charges, for the purpose of installing
(or improving) a 9-1-1 Emergency NO
Telephone System?
-------------------------------------------------------------
If a majority of the votes cast upon the public question
are in favor thereof, the surcharge shall be imposed.
However, if a Joint Emergency Telephone System Board is
to be created pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement
under Section 15.4, the ordinance to impose the surcharge
shall be subject to the approval of a majority of the total
number of votes cast upon the public question by the electors
of all of the municipalities or counties, or combination
thereof, that are parties to the intergovernmental agreement.
The referendum requirement of this subsection (c) shall
not apply to any municipality with a population over 500,000
or to any county in which a proposition as to whether a
sophisticated 9-1-1 Emergency Telephone System should be
installed in the county, at a cost not to exceed a specified
monthly amount per network connection, has previously been
approved by a majority of the electors of the county voting
on the proposition at an election conducted before the
effective date of this amendatory Act of 1987.
(d) A county may not impose a surcharge, unless
requested by a municipality, in any incorporated area which
has previously approved a surcharge as provided in subsection
(c) or in any incorporated area where the corporate
authorities of the municipality have previously entered into
a binding contract or letter of intent with a
telecommunications carrier to provide sophisticated 9-1-1
service through municipal funds.
(e) A municipality or county may at any time by
ordinance change the rate of the surcharge imposed under this
Section if the new rate does not exceed the rate specified in
the referendum held pursuant to subsection (c).
(f) The surcharge authorized by this Section shall be
collected from the subscriber by the telecommunications
carrier providing the subscriber the network connection as a
separately stated item on the subscriber's bill.
(g) The amount of surcharge collected by the
telecommunications carrier shall be paid to the particular
municipality or county or Joint Emergency Telephone System
Board not later than 30 days after the surcharge is
collected, net of any network or other 9-1-1 or sophisticated
9-1-1 system charges then due the particular
telecommunications carrier, as shown on an itemized bill.
The telecommunications carrier collecting the surcharge shall
also be entitled to deduct 3% of the gross amount of
surcharge collected to reimburse the telecommunications
carrier for the expense of accounting and collecting the
surcharge.
(h) A municipality with a population over 500,000 may
not impose a monthly surcharge in excess of $1.25 per network
connection.
(i) Any municipality or county or joint emergency
telephone system board that has imposed a surcharge pursuant
to this Section prior to the effective date of this
amendatory Act of 1990 shall hereafter impose the surcharge
in accordance with subsection (b) of this Section.
(j) The corporate authorities of any municipality or
county may issue, in accordance with Illinois law, bonds,
notes or other obligations secured in whole or in part by the
proceeds of the surcharge described in this Section.
Notwithstanding any change in law subsequent to the issuance
of any bonds, notes or other obligations secured by the
surcharge, every municipality or county issuing such bonds,
notes or other obligations shall be authorized to impose the
surcharge as though the laws relating to the imposition of
the surcharge in effect at the time of issuance of the bonds,
notes or other obligations were in full force and effect
until the bonds, notes or other obligations are paid in full.
The State of Illinois pledges and agrees that it will not
limit or alter the rights and powers vested in municipalities
and counties by this Section to impose the surcharge so as to
impair the terms of or affect the security for bonds, notes
or other obligations secured in whole or in part with the
proceeds of the surcharge described in this Section.
(k) Any surcharge collected by or imposed on a
telecommunications carrier pursuant to this Section shall be
held to be a special fund in trust for the municipality,
county or Joint Emergency Telephone Board imposing the
surcharge. Except for the 3% deduction provided in
subsection (g) above, the special fund shall not be subject
to the claims of creditors of the telecommunication carrier.
(Source: P.A. 86-101; 86-1344.)
Section 920. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by
changing Section 8-11-2 as follows:
(65 ILCS 5/8-11-2) (from Ch. 24, par. 8-11-2)
Sec. 8-11-2. The corporate authorities of any
municipality may tax any or all of the following occupations
or privileges:
1. Persons engaged in the business of transmitting
messages by means of electricity or radio magnetic waves,
or fiber optics, at a rate not to exceed 5% of the gross
receipts from that business originating within the
corporate limits of the municipality. Beginning January
1, 2001, prepaid telephone calling arrangements shall not
be subject to the tax imposed under this Section. For
purposes of this Section, "prepaid telephone calling
arrangements" means that term as defined in Section 2-27
of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act.
2. Persons engaged in the business of distributing,
supplying, furnishing, or selling gas for use or
consumption within the corporate limits of a municipality
of 500,000 or fewer population, and not for resale, at a
rate not to exceed 5% of the gross receipts therefrom.
2a. Persons engaged in the business of
distributing, supplying, furnishing, or selling gas for
use or consumption within the corporate limits of a
municipality of over 500,000 population, and not for
resale, at a rate not to exceed 8% of the gross receipts
therefrom. If imposed, this tax shall be paid in monthly
payments.
3. The privilege of using or consuming electricity
acquired in a purchase at retail and used or consumed
within the corporate limits of the municipality at rates
not to exceed the following maximum rates, calculated on
a monthly basis for each purchaser:
(i) For the first 2,000 kilowatt-hours used or
consumed in a month; 0.61 cents per kilowatt-hour;
(ii) For the next 48,000 kilowatt-hours used or
consumed in a month; 0.40 cents per kilowatt-hour;
(iii) For the next 50,000 kilowatt-hours used or
consumed in a month; 0.36 cents per kilowatt-hour;
(iv) For the next 400,000 kilowatt-hours used or
consumed in a month; 0.35 cents per kilowatt-hour;
(v) For the next 500,000 kilowatt-hours used or
consumed in a month; 0.34 cents per kilowatt-hour;
(vi) For the next 2,000,000 kilowatt-hours used or
consumed in a month; 0.32 cents per kilowatt-hour;
(vii) For the next 2,000,000 kilowatt-hours used or
consumed in a month; 0.315 cents per kilowatt-hour;
(viii) For the next 5,000,000 kilowatt-hours used
or consumed in a month; 0.31 cents per kilowatt-hour;
(ix) For the next 10,000,000 kilowatt-hours used or
consumed in a month; 0.305 cents per kilowatt-hour; and
(x) For all electricity used or consumed in excess
of 20,000,000 kilowatt-hours in a month, 0.30 cents per
kilowatt-hour.
If a municipality imposes a tax at rates lower than
either the maximum rates specified in this Section or the
alternative maximum rates promulgated by the Illinois
Commerce Commission, as provided below, the tax rates
shall be imposed upon the kilowatt hour categories set
forth above with the same proportional relationship as
that which exists among such maximum rates.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, until December 31, 2008,
no municipality shall establish rates that are in excess
of rates reasonably calculated to produce revenues that
equal the maximum total revenues such municipality could
have received under the tax authorized by this
subparagraph in the last full calendar year prior to the
effective date of Section 65 of this amendatory Act of
1997; provided that this shall not be a limitation on the
amount of tax revenues actually collected by such
municipality.
Upon the request of the corporate authorities of a
municipality, the Illinois Commerce Commission shall,
within 90 days after receipt of such request, promulgate
alternative rates for each of these kilowatt-hour
categories that will reflect, as closely as reasonably
practical for that municipality, the distribution of the
tax among classes of purchasers as if the tax were based
on a uniform percentage of the purchase price of
electricity. A municipality that has adopted an
ordinance imposing a tax pursuant to subparagraph 3 as it
existed prior to the effective date of Section 65 of this
amendatory Act of 1997 may, rather than imposing the tax
permitted by this amendatory Act of 1997, continue to
impose the tax pursuant to that ordinance with respect to
gross receipts received from residential customers
through July 31, 1999, and with respect to gross receipts
from any non-residential customer until the first bill
issued to such customer for delivery services in
accordance with Section 16-104 of the Public Utilities
Act but in no case later than the last bill issued to
such customer before December 31, 2000. No ordinance
imposing the tax permitted by this amendatory Act of 1997
shall be applicable to any non-residential customer until
the first bill issued to such customer for delivery
services in accordance with Section 16-104 of the Public
Utilities Act but in no case later than the last bill
issued to such non-residential customer before December
31, 2000.
4. Persons engaged in the business of distributing,
supplying, furnishing, or selling water for use or
consumption within the corporate limits of the
municipality, and not for resale, at a rate not to exceed
5% of the gross receipts therefrom.
None of the taxes authorized by this Section may be
imposed with respect to any transaction in interstate
commerce or otherwise to the extent to which the business or
privilege may not, under the constitution and statutes of the
United States, be made the subject of taxation by this State
or any political sub-division thereof; nor shall any persons
engaged in the business of distributing, supplying,
furnishing, selling or transmitting gas, water, or
electricity, or engaged in the business of transmitting
messages, or using or consuming electricity acquired in a
purchase at retail, be subject to taxation under the
provisions of this Section for those transactions that are or
may become subject to taxation under the provisions of the
"Municipal Retailers' Occupation Tax Act" authorized by
Section 8-11-1; nor shall any tax authorized by this Section
be imposed upon any person engaged in a business or on any
privilege unless the tax is imposed in like manner and at the
same rate upon all persons engaged in businesses of the same
class in the municipality, whether privately or municipally
owned or operated, or exercising the same privilege within
the municipality.
Any of the taxes enumerated in this Section may be in
addition to the payment of money, or value of products or
services furnished to the municipality by the taxpayer as
compensation for the use of its streets, alleys, or other
public places, or installation and maintenance therein,
thereon or thereunder of poles, wires, pipes or other
equipment used in the operation of the taxpayer's business.
(a) If the corporate authorities of any home rule
municipality have adopted an ordinance that imposed a tax on
public utility customers, between July 1, 1971, and October
1, 1981, on the good faith belief that they were exercising
authority pursuant to Section 6 of Article VII of the 1970
Illinois Constitution, that action of the corporate
authorities shall be declared legal and valid,
notwithstanding a later decision of a judicial tribunal
declaring the ordinance invalid. No municipality shall be
required to rebate, refund, or issue credits for any taxes
described in this paragraph, and those taxes shall be deemed
to have been levied and collected in accordance with the
Constitution and laws of this State.
(b) In any case in which (i) prior to October 19, 1979,
the corporate authorities of any municipality have adopted an
ordinance imposing a tax authorized by this Section (or by
the predecessor provision of the "Revised Cities and Villages
Act") and have explicitly or in practice interpreted gross
receipts to include either charges added to customers' bills
pursuant to the provision of paragraph (a) of Section 36 of
the Public Utilities Act or charges added to customers' bills
by taxpayers who are not subject to rate regulation by the
Illinois Commerce Commission for the purpose of recovering
any of the tax liabilities or other amounts specified in such
paragraph (a) of Section 36 of that Act, and (ii) on or after
October 19, 1979, a judicial tribunal has construed gross
receipts to exclude all or part of those charges, then
neither those municipality nor any taxpayer who paid the tax
shall be required to rebate, refund, or issue credits for any
tax imposed or charge collected from customers pursuant to
the municipality's interpretation prior to October 19, 1979.
This paragraph reflects a legislative finding that it would
be contrary to the public interest to require a municipality
or its taxpayers to refund taxes or charges attributable to
the municipality's more inclusive interpretation of gross
receipts prior to October 19, 1979, and is not intended to
prescribe or limit judicial construction of this Section. The
legislative finding set forth in this subsection does not
apply to taxes imposed after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of 1995.
(c) The tax authorized by subparagraph 3 shall be
collected from the purchaser by the person maintaining a
place of business in this State who delivers the electricity
to the purchaser. This tax shall constitute a debt of the
purchaser to the person who delivers the electricity to the
purchaser and if unpaid, is recoverable in the same manner as
the original charge for delivering the electricity. Any tax
required to be collected pursuant to an ordinance authorized
by subparagraph 3 and any such tax collected by a person
delivering electricity shall constitute a debt owed to the
municipality by such person delivering the electricity,
provided, that the person delivering electricity shall be
allowed credit for such tax related to deliveries of
electricity the charges for which are written off as
uncollectible, and provided further, that if such charges are
thereafter collected, the delivering supplier shall be
obligated to remit such tax. For purposes of this subsection
(c), any partial payment not specifically identified by the
purchaser shall be deemed to be for the delivery of
electricity. Persons delivering electricity shall collect the
tax from the purchaser by adding such tax to the gross charge
for delivering the electricity, in the manner prescribed by
the municipality. Persons delivering electricity shall also
be authorized to add to such gross charge an amount equal to
3% of the tax to reimburse the person delivering electricity
for the expenses incurred in keeping records, billing
customers, preparing and filing returns, remitting the tax
and supplying data to the municipality upon request. If the
person delivering electricity fails to collect the tax from
the purchaser, then the purchaser shall be required to pay
the tax directly to the municipality in the manner prescribed
by the municipality. Persons delivering electricity who file
returns pursuant to this paragraph (c) shall, at the time of
filing such return, pay the municipality the amount of the
tax collected pursuant to subparagraph 3.
(d) For the purpose of the taxes enumerated in this
Section:
"Gross receipts" means the consideration received for the
transmission of messages, the consideration received for
distributing, supplying, furnishing or selling gas for use or
consumption and not for resale, and the consideration
received for distributing, supplying, furnishing or selling
water for use or consumption and not for resale, and for all
services rendered in connection therewith valued in money,
whether received in money or otherwise, including cash,
credit, services and property of every kind and material and
for all services rendered therewith, and shall be determined
without any deduction on account of the cost of transmitting
such messages, without any deduction on account of the cost
of the service, product or commodity supplied, the cost of
materials used, labor or service cost, or any other expenses
whatsoever. "Gross receipts" shall not include that portion
of the consideration received for distributing, supplying,
furnishing, or selling gas or water to, or for the
transmission of messages for, business enterprises described
in paragraph (e) of this Section to the extent and during the
period in which the exemption authorized by paragraph (e) is
in effect or for school districts or units of local
government described in paragraph (f) during the period in
which the exemption authorized in paragraph (f) is in effect.
"Gross receipts" shall not include amounts paid by
telecommunications retailers under the Telecommunications
Municipal Infrastructure Maintenance Fee Act.
For utility bills issued on or after May 1, 1996, but
before May 1, 1997, and for receipts from those utility
bills, "gross receipts" does not include one-third of (i)
amounts added to customers' bills under Section 9-222 of the
Public Utilities Act, or (ii) amounts added to customers'
bills by taxpayers who are not subject to rate regulation by
the Illinois Commerce Commission for the purpose of
recovering any of the tax liabilities described in Section
9-222 of the Public Utilities Act. For utility bills issued
on or after May 1, 1997, but before May 1, 1998, and for
receipts from those utility bills, "gross receipts" does not
include two-thirds of (i) amounts added to customers' bills
under Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act, or (ii)
amount added to customers' bills by taxpayers who are not
subject to rate regulation by the Illinois Commerce
Commission for the purpose of recovering any of the tax
liabilities described in Section 9-222 of the Public
Utilities Act. For utility bills issued on or after May 1,
1998, and for receipts from those utility bills, "gross
receipts" does not include (i) amounts added to customers'
bills under Section 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act, or
(ii) amounts added to customers' bills by taxpayers who are
not subject to rate regulation by the Illinois Commerce
Commission for the purpose of recovering any of the tax
liabilities described in Section 9-222 of the Public
Utilities Act.
For purposes of this Section "gross receipts" shall not
include (i) amounts added to customers' bills under Section
9-221 of the Public Utilities Act, or (ii) charges added to
customers' bills to recover the surcharge imposed under the
Emergency Telephone System Act. This paragraph is not
intended to nor does it make any change in the meaning of
"gross receipts" for the purposes of this Section, but is
intended to remove possible ambiguities, thereby confirming
the existing meaning of "gross receipts" prior to the
effective date of this amendatory Act of 1995.
The words "transmitting messages", in addition to the
usual and popular meaning of person to person communication,
shall include the furnishing, for a consideration, of
services or facilities (whether owned or leased), or both, to
persons in connection with the transmission of messages where
those persons do not, in turn, receive any consideration in
connection therewith, but shall not include such furnishing
of services or facilities to persons for the transmission of
messages to the extent that any such services or facilities
for the transmission of messages are furnished for a
consideration, by those persons to other persons, for the
transmission of messages.
"Person" as used in this Section means any natural
individual, firm, trust, estate, partnership, association,
joint stock company, joint adventure, corporation, limited
liability company, municipal corporation, the State or any of
its political subdivisions, any State university created by
statute, or a receiver, trustee, guardian or other
representative appointed by order of any court.
"Person maintaining a place of business in this State"
shall mean any person having or maintaining within this
State, directly or by a subsidiary or other affiliate, an
office, generation facility, distribution facility,
transmission facility, sales office or other place of
business, or any employee, agent, or other representative
operating within this State under the authority of the person
or its subsidiary or other affiliate, irrespective of whether
such place of business or agent or other representative is
located in this State permanently or temporarily, or whether
such person, subsidiary or other affiliate is licensed or
qualified to do business in this State.
"Public utility" shall have the meaning ascribed to it in
Section 3-105 of the Public Utilities Act and shall include
telecommunications carriers as defined in Section 13-202 of
that Act and alternative retail electric suppliers as defined
in Section 16-102 of that Act.
"Purchase at retail" shall mean any acquisition of
electricity by a purchaser for purposes of use or
consumption, and not for resale, but shall not include the
use of electricity by a public utility directly in the
generation, production, transmission, delivery or sale of
electricity.
"Purchaser" shall mean any person who uses or consumes,
within the corporate limits of the municipality, electricity
acquired in a purchase at retail.
In the case of persons engaged in the business of
transmitting messages through the use of mobile equipment,
such as cellular phones and paging systems, the gross
receipts from the business shall be deemed to originate
within the corporate limits of a municipality only if the
customer's place of primary use as defined in the Mobile
Telecommunications Sourcing Conformity Act address to which
the bills for the service are sent is within those corporate
limits. If, however, that address is not located within a
municipality that imposes a tax under this Section, then (i)
if the party responsible for the bill is not an individual,
the gross receipts from the business shall be deemed to
originate within the corporate limits of the municipality
where that party's principal place of business in Illinois is
located, and (ii) if the party responsible for the bill is an
individual, the gross receipts from the business shall be
deemed to originate within the corporate limits of the
municipality where that party's principal residence in
Illinois is located.
(e) Any municipality that imposes taxes upon public
utilities or upon the privilege of using or consuming
electricity pursuant to this Section whose territory includes
any part of an enterprise zone or federally designated
Foreign Trade Zone or Sub-Zone may, by a majority vote of its
corporate authorities, exempt from those taxes for a period
not exceeding 20 years any specified percentage of gross
receipts of public utilities received from, or electricity
used or consumed by, business enterprises that:
(1) either (i) make investments that cause the
creation of a minimum of 200 full-time equivalent jobs in
Illinois, (ii) make investments of at least $175,000,000
that cause the creation of a minimum of 150 full-time
equivalent jobs in Illinois, or (iii) make investments
that cause the retention of a minimum of 1,000 full-time
jobs in Illinois; and
(2) are either (i) located in an Enterprise Zone
established pursuant to the Illinois Enterprise Zone Act
or (ii) Department of Commerce and Community Affairs
designated High Impact Businesses located in a federally
designated Foreign Trade Zone or Sub-Zone; and
(3) are certified by the Department of Commerce and
Community Affairs as complying with the requirements
specified in clauses (1) and (2) of this paragraph (e).
Upon adoption of the ordinance authorizing the exemption,
the municipal clerk shall transmit a copy of that ordinance
to the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. The
Department of Commerce and Community Affairs shall determine
whether the business enterprises located in the municipality
meet the criteria prescribed in this paragraph. If the
Department of Commerce and Community Affairs determines that
the business enterprises meet the criteria, it shall grant
certification. The Department of Commerce and Community
Affairs shall act upon certification requests within 30 days
after receipt of the ordinance.
Upon certification of the business enterprise by the
Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, the Department
of Commerce and Community Affairs shall notify the Department
of Revenue of the certification. The Department of Revenue
shall notify the public utilities of the exemption status of
the gross receipts received from, and the electricity used or
consumed by, the certified business enterprises. Such
exemption status shall be effective within 3 months after
certification.
(f) A municipality that imposes taxes upon public
utilities or upon the privilege of using or consuming
electricity under this Section and whose territory includes
part of another unit of local government or a school district
may by ordinance exempt the other unit of local government or
school district from those taxes.
(g) The amendment of this Section by Public Act 84-127
shall take precedence over any other amendment of this
Section by any other amendatory Act passed by the 84th
General Assembly before the effective date of Public Act
84-127.
(h) In any case in which, before July 1, 1992, a person
engaged in the business of transmitting messages through the
use of mobile equipment, such as cellular phones and paging
systems, has determined the municipality within which the
gross receipts from the business originated by reference to
the location of its transmitting or switching equipment, then
(i) neither the municipality to which tax was paid on that
basis nor the taxpayer that paid tax on that basis shall be
required to rebate, refund, or issue credits for any such tax
or charge collected from customers to reimburse the taxpayer
for the tax and (ii) no municipality to which tax would have
been paid with respect to those gross receipts if the
provisions of this amendatory Act of 1991 had been in effect
before July 1, 1992, shall have any claim against the
taxpayer for any amount of the tax.
(Source: P.A. 90-16, eff. 6-16-97; 90-561, eff. 8-1-98;
90-562, eff. 12-16-97; 90-655, eff. 7-30-98; 91-870, eff.
6-22-00.)
Section 999. Effective date. This Act takes effect on
August 1, 2002.
Passed in the General Assembly May 31, 2001.
Approved August 23, 2001.
Effective August 01, 2002.
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