Bill Text: IL SB1794 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Reinserts the provisions of the engrossed bill with changes. In provisions amending the Local Government Taxpayers' Bill of Rights Act, provides that a notice of determination of tax due or assessment (removing the limitation in the engrossed bill to utility taxes) may be issued more than 5 years (rather than 7 years in the engrossed bill) after the end of the calendar year for which the return or the period was filed or the end of the calendar year in which the return for the period was due, whichever occurs later. Provides that a timely performed audit or review shall toll the applicable 5-year period for a period of not more than 1 year. Makes other changes. In provisions amending the Illinois Municipal Code relating to a municipality's tax review of a public utility: specifies information that may be requested by the municipality related to premises-specific and other information used by the public utility to determine the amount of tax due to the municipality; revises provisions relating to information that may be collected related to the premises address for customer accounts; provides that the public utility shall attempt to resolve any questions or issues that arise in the tax review without disclosing any customer-specific information and provides that the public utility or municipality may pursue questions or issues before the Department of Revenue; modifies provisions relating to penalties that a public utility can face related to a tax review; modifies provisions relating to the public utility liability to the municipality for unpaid taxes; adds provisions relating to using a web portal rather than email to receive notice of annexations and boundary changes and provisions relating to the Department of Revenue developing and publishing a written process to be used by each public utility and each municipality that imposes a specified tax; and makes other changes. In provisions concerning the Public Utilities Act, makes changes in provisions concerning customer information. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Enrolled - Dead) 2023-01-05 - Passed Both Houses [SB1794 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-SB1794-Enrolled.html

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AN ACT concerning local government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Local Government Taxpayers' Bill of Rights
Act is amended by changing Section 30 as follows:
(50 ILCS 45/30)
Sec. 30. Statute of limitations. Units of local government
have an obligation to review tax returns in a timely manner and
issue any determination of tax due as promptly as possible so
that taxpayers may make timely corrections of future returns
and minimize any interest charges applied to tax
underpayments. Each unit of local government must provide
appropriate statutes of limitation for the determination and
assessment of taxes covered by this Act, provided, however,
that a statute of limitations may not exceed the following:
(1) No notice of determination of tax due or
assessment may be issued more than 5 4 years after the end
of the calendar year for which the return for the period
was filed or the end of the calendar year in which the
return for the period was due, whichever occurs later. An
audit or review that is timely performed under Section 35
of this Act or Section 8-11-2.5 of the Illinois Municipal
Code shall toll the applicable 5-year period for a period

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of not more than 1 year.
(2) If any tax return was not filed or if during any
4-year period for which a notice of tax determination or
assessment may be issued by the unit of local government
the tax paid or remitted was less than 75% of the tax due
for that period, the statute of limitations shall be no
more than 6 years after the end of the calendar year in
which the return for the period was due or the end of the
calendar year in which the return for the period was
filed, whichever occurs later. In the event that a unit of
local government fails to provide a statute of
limitations, the maximum statutory period provided in this
Section applies.
(3) The changes to this Section made by this amendatory
Act of the 102nd General Assembly do not revive any
determination and assessment of tax due where the statute of
limitations has expired as of the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, but the changes
do extend the statute of limitations for the determination and
assessment of taxes where the statute of limitation has not
expired as of the effective date of this amendatory Act of the
102nd General Assembly.
This Section does not place any limitation on a unit of
local government if a fraudulent tax return is filed.
(Source: P.A. 91-920, eff. 1-1-01.)

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Section 10. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by
changing Section 8-11-2.5 as follows:
(65 ILCS 5/8-11-2.5)
Sec. 8-11-2.5. Municipal tax review; requests for
information.
(a) If a municipality has imposed a tax under Section
8-11-2, then the municipality, which may act through its
designated auditor or agent, may conduct an audit of tax
receipts collected from the public utility that is subject to
the tax or that collects the tax from purchasers on behalf of
the municipality to determine whether the amount of tax that
was paid by the public utility was accurate.
(b) Not more than once every 2 years, a municipality that
has imposed a tax under Section 8-11-2 of this Act may, subject
to the limitations and protections stated in Section 16-122 of
the Public Utilities Act and in the Local Government
Taxpayers' Bill of Rights Act, make a written request via
e-mail to an e-mail address provided by the utility for any
information from a utility in the format maintained by the
public utility in the ordinary course of its business that the
municipality reasonably requires in order to perform an audit
under subsection (a). The information that may be requested by
the municipality includes, without limitation:
(1) in an electronic format used by the public utility
in the ordinary course of its business, the

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premises-specific and other information database used by
the public utility to determine the amount of tax due to
the municipality, for a time period that includes the year
in which the request is made and not more than 6 years
immediately preceding that year, as appropriate for the
period being audited, and which shall include for each
customer premises in the municipality: (i) the premises
address and zip code; (ii) the classification of the
premises as designated by the public utility, such as
residential, commercial, or industrial; (iii) monthly
usage information sufficient to calculate taxes due, in
therms, kilowatts, minutes, or other such other unit of
measurement used to calculate the taxes; (iv) the taxes
actually assessed, collected, and remitted to the
municipality; (v) the first date of service for the
premises, if that date occurred within the period being
audited; and (vi) any tax exemption claimed for the
premises and any additional information that supports a
specific tax exemption, if the municipality requests that
information, including the customer name and other
relevant data; however, a public utility that is an
electric utility may not provide other customer-specific
information to the municipality; provided, however, that,
if the municipality has requested customer-specific
billing, usage, and load shape data from a public utility
that is an electric utility and has not provided the

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electric utility with the verifiable authorization
required by Section 16-122 of the Public Utilities Act,
then the electric utility shall remove from the database
all customer-specific billing, usage, and load shape data
before providing it to the municipality; and
(2) the premises address for customer accounts that
the public utility's records indicate are: (i) in a
bordering municipality, township, or unincorporated area
(other than the City of Chicago), provided that the
municipality provides the public utility a list of such
bordering jurisdictions; or (ii) in any zip code with
boundaries that include or are adjacent to the requesting
municipality provided that the municipality provides the
public utility a list of those zip codes; this item (ii)
applies to requests made on or after September 1, 2022. If
any such customer is determined by the municipality and
the utility to be located within the requesting
municipality, then the public utility shall provide the
additional information provided in paragraph (1) of this
subsection (b). in a format used by the public utility in
the ordinary course of its business, summary data, as
needed by the municipality, to determine the unit
consumption of utility services by providing the gross
therms, kilowatts, minutes, or other units of measurement
being taxed within the municipal jurisdiction and the
gross revenues collected and the associated taxes

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assessed.
Following the municipality's receipt of the information
provided by the public utility pursuant to paragraphs (1) or
(2) of this subsection (b), if a question or issue arises that
can only be addressed by accessing customer-specific or
additional information not described in this Section, then the
utility shall attempt to resolve the question or issue without
disclosing any customer-specific information. If this process
does not resolve the question or issue, then either the
municipality or public utility can further pursue the matter
before the Department of Revenue, which has the discretion to
receive or share customer-specific information with the
municipality as appropriate subject to confidentiality
restrictions.
(c) Each public utility must provide the information
requested under subsection (b) within 45 days after the date
of the request. :
(1) 60 days after the date of the request if the
population of the requesting municipality is 500,000 or
less; or
(2) 90 days after the date of the request if the
population of the requesting municipality exceeds 500,000.
The time in which a public utility must provide the
information requested under subsection (b) may be extended by
an agreement between the municipality and the public utility.
If a public utility receives, during a single month,

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information requests from more than 2 municipalities, or the
aggregate population of the requesting municipalities is
100,000 customers or more, the public utility is entitled to
an additional 30 days to respond to those requests.
(d) If an audit by the municipality or its agents finds an
error by the public utility in the amount of taxes paid by the
public utility, then the municipality must notify the public
utility of the error. Any such notice must be issued pursuant
to Section 30 of the Local Government Taxpayers' Bill of
Rights Act or a lesser period of time from the date the tax was
due that may be specified in the municipal ordinance imposing
the tax. Upon such a notice, any audit shall be conducted
pursuant to Section 35 of the Local Government Taxpayers' Bill
of Rights Act subject to the timelines set forth in this
subsection (d). The public utility must submit a written
response within 60 days after the date the notice was
postmarked stating that it has corrected the error or stating
the reason that the error is inapplicable or inaccurate. The
municipality then has 60 days after the receipt of the public
utility's response to review and contest the conclusion of the
public utility. If the parties are unable to agree on the
disposition of the audit findings within 120 days after the
notification of the error to the public utility, then either
party may submit the matter for appeal as outlined in Section
40 of the Local Government Taxpayers' Bill of Rights Act. If
the appeals process does not produce a satisfactory result,

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then either party may pursue the alleged error in a court of
competent jurisdiction.
(e) The public utility shall be liable to the municipality
for unpaid taxes, including taxes that the public utility
failed to properly bill to the customer subject to subsection
paragraph (2) of subsection (e-10) of this Section. This
subsection (e) does not limit a utility's right to an
offsetting credit it would otherwise be entitled to, including
that authorized by subsection (c) of Section 8-11-2 of the
Code. To the extent that a public utility's errors in past tax
collections and payments relate to premises located in an area
of the municipality that was annexed on or after the effective
date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly,
however, the public utility shall only be liable for such
errors beginning 60 days after the date that the municipality
provided the public utility notice of the annexation, provided
that the public utility provides municipalities with an email
address to send annexation notices. A copy of the annexation
ordinance and the map filed with the County Clerk sent to the
email address provided by the public utility shall be deemed
sufficient notice, but other forms of notice may also be
sufficient No public utility is liable for any error in past
collections and payments that was unknown by it prior to the
audit process unless (i) the error was due to negligence by the
public utility in the collection or processing of required
data and (ii) the municipality had not failed to respond in

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writing on an accurate and timely basis to any written request
of the public utility to review and correct information used
by the public utility to collect the municipality's tax if a
diligent review of such information by the municipality
reasonably could have been expected to discover such error.
If, however, an error in past collections or payments resulted
in a customer, who should not have owed a tax to any
municipality, having paid a tax to a municipality, then the
customer may, to the extent allowed by Section 9-252 of the
Public Utilities Act, recover the tax from the public utility,
and any amount so paid by the public utility may be deducted by
that public utility from any taxes then or thereafter owed by
the public utility to that municipality.
(e-5) Upon mutual agreement, a utility and municipality
may use a web portal in lieu of email to receive notice of
annexations and boundary changes. After December 31, 2025 for
a gas public utility that serves more than 2,000,000 customers
in Illinois and after December 31, 2022 for all other public
utilities that serve more than 1,000,000 retail customers in
Illinois, the public utilities shall provide a secure web
portal for municipalities to use, and, thereafter, the web
portals shall be used by all municipalities to notify the
public utilities of annexations. The web portal must provide
the municipality with an electronic record of all
communications and attached documents that the municipality
has submitted through the portal.

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(e-10) (1) No later than August 1, 2023, the Department of
Revenue shall develop and publish a written process to be used
by each public utility and each municipality that imposes a
tax under Section 8-11-2 of the Code, which may act through its
designated auditor or agent, under which:
(A) by December 31, 2024, and on a regular
schedule thereafter to occur approximately every 5
years, each public utility shall work collaboratively
with each municipality to develop and file with the
Department of Revenue, a master list of all premises
addresses in the municipality (including premises
addresses with inactive accounts) that are subject to
such tax and all accounts in the municipality that are
exempt from such tax, provided that the final date for
the first master list shall be extended, at the
utility's request, to no later than December 31, 2026;
(B) information is provided to the municipality to
facilitate development of the master list including
information described in paragraph (1) of subsection
(b) of this Section regarding all accounts (including
premises addresses with inactive accounts) that the
public utility's records show are in the municipality
and the premises addresses in (i) any bordering
municipality, (ii) any bordering township, or (iii)
any zip code that is in any part in the municipality or
that borders the municipality;

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(C) any dispute between the public utility and the
municipality related to the master list will be
resolved;
(D) on a semi-annual basis following the
development of the master list, each public utility
shall provide to each municipality certain information
that the municipality can use to nominate changes to
the master list, including, but not limited to: (i) a
list of any tax-related changes, such as the addition
or removal of an exemption, or to the taxing
jurisdiction, to any account on the master list; and
(ii) new premises addresses within the municipality,
any bordering municipality, in any bordering township,
or in any zip code that is in any part in the
municipality or that borders the municipality;
(E) accounts nominated by the municipality to be
added or deleted from the master list may be submitted
to the public utility and related disputes will be
resolved;
(F) changes may be made to the master list; and
(G) the utility may file a master list based
solely on its records if the municipality fails to
participate and such a municipality may request to
restart the process prior to the end of the five-year
cycle.
(2) No public utility is liable for any error in tax

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collections or payments due more than 60 days after the
date that the first master list for the relevant
municipality is filed with the Department of Revenue
unless such error in tax collection or payment:
(A) was related to a premises address on the
master list at the time of the error;
(B) was related to an area of the municipality
annexed on or after the effective date of this
amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, notice
of which was properly provided to the public utility
pursuant to the procedures set forth in subsection
(e); or
(C) resulted from the public utility's failure to
comply with the process established in this subsection
(e-10).
(3) If the public utility uses a portal as set forth in
subsection (e-5), all lists, changes affecting tax
collection and remission, proposed corrections, and
reports shall be provided through such portal.
(e-15) If a customer paid a tax to a municipality that the
customer did not owe or was in excess of the tax the customer
owed, then the customer may, to the extent allowed by Section
9-252 of the Public Utilities Act, recover the tax or over
payment from the public utility, and any amount so paid by the
public utility may be deducted by that public utility from any
taxes then or thereafter owed by the public utility to that

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municipality.
(e-20) (1) The Department of Revenue shall have the
authority to resolve a claim by a municipality that a public
utility materially failed to comply with the requirements of
subsections (b) or (c) of this Section or the process
developed under subsection (e-10) of this Section. If the
Department of Revenue finds, after notice and hearing, that a
public utility (i) caused a material delay in providing
information properly requested under such subsections or (ii)
omitted a material portion of information properly requested,
then the Department shall assess a penalty on the utility of up
to $50,000 per audit, or up to $10,000 per audit for a utility
that served less than 100,000 retail customers on the date of
the audit notice, or, if the claim relates to subsection
(e-10), up to $50,000 per 5-year master list cycle or up to
$10,000 per cycle for a utility that served less than 100,000
retail customers on the date such master list was filed with
the Department, which penalty shall be paid by the public
utility to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the
Supplemental Low-Income Energy Assistance Fund.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, a penalty assessed
pursuant to this subsection shall be the exclusive remedy for
the conduct that is the subject of the claim. A penalty
assessed under this subsection shall bar and prohibit pursuit
of any other penalty, fine, or recovery related to the conduct
for which the penalty was assessed.

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(2) No penalty shall be assessed by the Department
pursuant to this subsection if the Department finds that a
delay or omission was immaterial or de minimis.
(3) Any penalties or fines paid by a public utility
pursuant to this subsection shall not be recoverable through
the utility's rates.
(4) If a municipality and public utility have a
disagreement regarding the scope or conduct of an audit
undertaken pursuant to this Section, they shall work together
in good faith to attempt to resolve the dispute. If, after a
period of no less than 14 days, the municipality and public
utility are not able to reach an agreement regarding the
dispute, either entity, or both entities jointly, may submit a
request to the Illinois Department of Revenue seeking
resolution of the dispute, and the Department shall have the
authority to resolve the issue, and shall resolve such dispute
within 60 days. Each such request must include a statement
showing that consultation and reasonable attempts to resolve
the dispute have failed.
The time period established pursuant to this Section for
complying with requests for information under this Section
shall be suspended during the dispute resolution processes set
forth in this paragraph (4) of subsection (e-20), but only for
the issue or issues that are the subject of the dispute.
Information requests that are undisputed shall continue to be
subject to the time periods for compliance set forth in this

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Section.
(f) All account specific and premises-specific information
provided by a public utility under this Section may be used
only for the purpose of an audit of taxes conducted under this
Section and the enforcement of any related tax claim. All such
information must be held in strict confidence by the
municipality and its agents and may not be disclosed to the
public under the Freedom of Information Act or under any other
similar statutes allowing for or requiring public disclosure.
(g) The provisions of this Section shall not be construed
as diminishing or replacing any civil remedy available to a
municipality, taxpayer, or tax collector.
(h) This Section does not apply to any municipality having
a population greater than 1,000,000.
(i) The changes to subsection (e) and paragraph (2) of
subsection (e-10) of this Section made by this amendatory Act
of the 102nd General Assembly apply to taxes due on or after
August 1, 2022. The remaining changes to this Section made by
this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly apply on or
after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd
General Assembly.
(j) As used in this Section:
"Customer-specific information" means the name, phone
number, email address, and banking information of a customer.
"Customer-specific information" includes the load-shape data
associated with a customer account. "Customer-specific

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information" does not include the tax-exempt status of the
premises and the name of tax exempt customers.
"Premises-specific information" means any information,
including billing and usage data, associated with a premises
address that is not customer-specific information.
"Premises address" includes the jurisdiction to which the
address is currently coded by the public utility for municipal
tax purposes.
(Source: P.A. 96-1422, eff. 8-3-10.)
Section 15. The Public Utilities Act is amended by
changing Section 16-122 as follows:
(220 ILCS 5/16-122)
Sec. 16-122. Customer information.
(a) Upon the request of a retail customer, or a person who
presents verifiable authorization and is acting as the
customer's agent, and payment of a reasonable fee, electric
utilities shall provide to the customer or its authorized
agent the customer's billing and usage data.
(b) Upon request from any alternative retail electric
supplier and payment of a reasonable fee, an electric utility
serving retail customers in its service area shall make
available generic information concerning the usage, load shape
curve or other general characteristics of customers by rate
classification. Provided however, no customer specific

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billing, usage or load shape data shall be provided under this
subsection unless authorization to provide such information is
provided by the customer pursuant to subsection (a) of this
Section.
(c) Upon request from a unit of local government and
payment of a reasonable fee, an electric utility shall make
available information concerning the usage, load shape curves,
and other characteristics of customers by customer
classification and location within the boundaries of the unit
of local government, however, no customer specific billing,
usage, or load shape data shall be provided under this
subsection unless authorization to provide that information is
provided by the customer. This subsection (c) does not
prohibit an electric utility from providing a unit of local
government or its designated auditor the materials delineated
in Section 8-11-2.5 of the Illinois Municipal Code for the
purposes of an audit under that Section.
(d) All such customer information shall be made available
in a timely fashion in an electronic format, if available.
(Source: P.A. 92-585, eff. 6-26-02.)