Public Act 098-1058

HB3885 Enrolled LRB098 15457 JLK 50487 b

AN ACT concerning revenue.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,

represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Retailers' Occupation Tax Act is amended by

changing Section 11 as follows:

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

Sec. 11. All information received by the Department from

returns filed under this Act, or from any investigation

conducted under this Act, shall be confidential, except for

official purposes, and any person 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 with a fine not to exceed $7,500.

Nothing in this Act prevents the Director of Revenue from

publishing or making available to the public the names and

addresses of persons filing returns under this Act, or

reasonable statistics concerning the operation of the tax by

grouping the contents of returns so the information in any

individual return is not disclosed.

Nothing in this Act prevents the Director of Revenue from

divulging to the United States Government or the government of

any other state, or 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, or any officer

or agency thereof, for exclusively official purposes,

information received by the Department in administering this

Act, provided that such other governmental agency agrees to

divulge requested tax information to the Department.

The Department's furnishing of information derived from a

taxpayer's return or from an investigation conducted under this

Act to the surety on a taxpayer's bond that has been furnished

to the Department under this Act, either to provide notice to

such surety of its potential liability under the bond or, in

order to support the Department's demand for payment from such

surety under the bond, is an official purpose within the

meaning of this Section.

The furnishing upon request of information obtained by the

Department from returns filed under this Act or investigations

conducted under this Act to the Illinois Liquor Control

Commission for official use is deemed to be an official purpose

within the meaning of this Section.

Notice to a surety of potential liability shall not be

given unless the taxpayer has first been notified, not less

than 10 days prior thereto, of the Department's intent to so

notify the surety.

The furnishing upon request of the Auditor General, or his

authorized agents, for official use, of returns filed and

information related thereto under this Act is deemed to be an

official purpose within the meaning of this Section.

Where an appeal or a protest has been filed on behalf of a

taxpayer, the furnishing upon request of the attorney for the

taxpayer of returns filed by the taxpayer and information

related thereto under this Act is deemed to be an official

purpose within the meaning of this Section.

The furnishing of financial information to a municipality

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 Chief Executive

thereof, is an official purpose within the meaning of this

Section, provided the municipality 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.

Information provided to municipalities under this paragraph

shall be limited to: (1) the business name; (2) the business

address; (3) net revenue distributed to the requesting

municipality that is directly related to the requesting

municipality's local share of the proceeds under the Use Tax

Act, the Service Use Tax Act, the Service Occupation Tax Act,

and the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act, and, if applicable, any

locally imposed retailers' occupation tax or service

occupation tax; and (4) a listing of all businesses within the

requesting municipality by account identification number and

address. On and after July 1, 2015, the furnishing of financial

information to municipalities under this paragraph may be by

electronic means.

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.)