A. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the following leases, rentals or uses shall be exempt from the tax imposed by this chapter:
(1) The use in the city of personal property leased or rented outside the city if the property is primarily used (more than 50 percent) outside the city.
(2) The lease, rental or use of personal property that is leased or rented from a person subject to the tax imposed by Section 3-40-040, Section 3-40-170 or Section 3-40-310 of this Code, as amended, provided that such tax is imposed upon the receipts attributable to leases or rentals to the lessee and further provided that the tax is passed on to the lessee as a separate charge pursuant to Section 9-221 of the Public Utilities Act, as amended, 220 ILCS 5/9-221.
(3) The lease, rental or use by an interstate carrier for hire of rolling stock actually moving in interstate commerce.
(4) The lease, rental or use of personal property where the lease or rental price is paid in its entirety by inserting one or more coins or bills of currency of the United States into a mechanism attached to the personal property.
(5) The lease, rental or use of medical appliances or medical equipment by a person for the purpose of correcting or treating parts of his or her own body.
(6) The lease, rental or use of a ground transportation vehicle, as that term is defined by Chapter 3-46 of this Code, for the purpose of providing ground transportation, but only if the lessor is subject to the Chicago ground transportation tax with respect to such vehicle. This exemption is not available to a transportation network provider, transportation network driver, or transportation network vehicle owner.
(7) The lease, rental or use of personal property if the lessor and lessee are members of the same related group. For purposes of this exemption, the term "related group" means a person and all other persons directly or indirectly owned 100 percent by the person. A person shall be deemed to own a corporation if it directly or indirectly owns 100 percent of the corporation's outstanding voting stock.
(8) The lease, rental or use of personal property that is leased by a membership organization to a member of such membership organization, or by a person that is wholly owned directly or indirectly by one or more membership organizations to a member of any of such membership organizations, provided that substantially all of the lessor's leases of personal property of the same type are to such members.
(9) The nonpossessory lease of a computer to effectuate the execution, clearing, processing, matching or recording of a trade on a board of trade designated as a contract market by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission or on a securities exchange registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or any other trade of any security (as defined in section 475(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, without regard to the last sentence thereof), or any comparable security with respect to commodities, whether or not the parties to the lease also are parties to the trade.
(10) The nonpossessory lease of a computer to effectuate the deposit, withdrawal, transfer or loan of money or securities, including any related review of accounts or investment options by the account owner, whether or not the parties to the lease also are parties to the deposit, withdrawal, transfer or loan.
(11) Under rules to be prescribed by the department, the nonpossessory lease of a computer in which the customer's use or control of the provider's computer is de minimis and the related charge is predominantly for information transferred to the customer rather than for the customer's use or control of the computer, such as the nonpossessory lease of a computer to receive either current price quotations or other information having a fleeting or transitory character.
(12) The lease, rental or use of a motion picture film by an owner, manager or operator of an amusement that exhibits the film to patrons who are subject to the tax imposed by Section 4-156-020 of this Code.
(13) In accordance with the terms of this subsection, and pursuant to procedures to be established by the comptroller, the nonpossessory lease of a computer, where the lessor or lessee is a small new business, as the term "small new business" is defined in this subsection.
(a) For purposes of this subsection, the term "small new business" shall mean a business that (i) holds a valid and current business license issued by the City or another jurisdiction, (ii) during the most recent full calendar year prior to the annual tax year for which the exemption provided by this subsection is sought had under $25 million in gross receipts or sales, as the term "gross receipts or sales" is defined for federal income tax purposes, and (iii) has been in operation for fewer than 60 months. For the purpose of calculating the $25 million limit, gross receipts or sales will be combined if they are received by members of a single unitary business group. For purposes of this subsection, the term "unitary business group" is as defined for Illinois income tax purposes. For the purpose of calculating the 60 month limit, time in operation will be deemed to have begun during the first calendar month in which the business seeking the exemption first received any gross receipts or sales. Also for the purpose of calculating the 60 month limit, time in operation will include any earlier time during which any of the following businesses were in operation (i) another existing business, if that business is a member of the same unitary business group as the business seeking the exemption, (ii) a business that is no longer in operation, but that would be a member of the same unitary business group as the business seeking the exemption, if it were still in operation; (iii) a business whose liabilities would be liabilities of the business seeking the exemption, pursuant to Illinois law concerning successor liability; or (iv) any other business that is reasonably determined by the Comptroller to be substantially similar or a predecessor to the one seeking the exemption, based on factors including, but not limited to, common ownership, management, employees, assets, line of business and location.
(b) A small new business that is the lessor of a nonpossessory computer lease shall not be required to collect tax on its charges for such nonpossessory computer lease.
(c) A small new business that is the lessee of a nonpossessory computer lease shall not be required to pay tax on its charges for such nonpossessory computer lease. To document this exemption, the lessor must obtain from the lessee and retain in its business records a copy of the lessee's lease tax exemption certificate, in a form to be provided by the Comptroller.
B. For purposes of applying any of the exemptions contained in this section, every lease or rental payment period shall be deemed a separate transaction or privilege. Any person claiming an exemption shall have the burden of proving entitlement to the exemption for each lease or rental payment period for which the exemption is claimed.
(Added Coun. J. 12-15-92, p. 27387; Amend Coun. J. 11-10-94, p. 59125, § 4.3, effective 7-1-95; Corrected. 3-9-95, p. 66769; Amend Coun. J. 11-19-03, p. 14216, § 2.1; Amend Coun. J. 2-8-06, p. 68737, § 1; Amend Coun. J. 11-19-14, p. 98063, § 3; Amend Coun. J. 10-28-15, p. 12062, Art. I, § 1; Amend Coun. J. 11-26-19, p. 11514, Art. VII, § 2)