Under new legislation passed last year, municipalities and counties that enter into sales tax rebate agreements are required to submit a detailed report to the Department of Revenue (DOR) about those agreements. For any existing agreements entered on or before April 1 of this year, these reports must be filed by April 1 (although the DOR’s website says they will be considered “timely filed” if filed by May 1, 2013). Reports on any new agreements entered after April 1, 2013, must be filed electronically within thirty days of the execution of new agreements.
At the end of February, the DOR announced that it had developed a web application for local governments to submit the required data. This information is available through the DOR portal. In order to use the website, you will need a location code and PIN number to authenticate your local government. This information was sent to local treasurers by the DOR on February 25, 2013. If you do not have the code and PIN, you can contact the DOR directly at (217) 785-6518.
In order to complete the DOR’s report form, governments will be required to submit the business name, account ID, the address at which the rebated sales are made, the terms of the agreement including the manner in which the amount of the shared tax is to be determined each year, the length of the agreement, the name of any non-party business that receives a part of the rebated tax (directly or indirectly), and a copy of the agreement. The DOR has indicated that the data will be available to the public on its website by July 1, 2013, and can be found by searching for the government or business name.
Please note that if any of these reports are requested pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), governments are required to redact the sales figure, the amount of sales tax collected, and the amount of sales tax rebated. Naturally, protecting the confidentiality of this information will be important to your local businesses.
Author: Ruth A. Schlossberg