(A) Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
AMOUNT PAID. The amount charged to the taxpayer’s service address in this municipality regardless of where the amount is billed or paid.
DEPARTMENT. The Illinois Department of Revenue.
GROSS CHARGE.
(a) The amount paid for the act or privilege of originating or receiving telecommunications in this municipality 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 the 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 municipality, charges for the channel mileage between each channel point within this municipality, and charges for that portion of the interstate inter-office channel provided within Illinois.
(b) However, GROSS CHARGE shall not include:
1. Any amounts added to a purchaser’s bill because of a charge made pursuant to:
a. The tax imposed by this section;
b. The tax imposed by the Telecommunications Excise Tax Act;
c. The tax imposed by I.R.C. § 4251;
d. 911 surcharges; or
e. Charges added to customers’ bills pursuant to the provisions of § 9-221 or § 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act, being ILCS Ch. 220, Act 5, §§ 9-221 and 9-222, 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 those provisions of the Public Utilities Act.
2. Charges for a sent collect telecommunication received outside of the municipality;
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. This 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 equipment that is leased or rented by the customer from any source, wherein these charges are disaggregated and separately identified from other charges;
5. Charges to business enterprises certified as exempt under § 9-222.1 of the Public Utilities Act, being ILCS Ch. 220, Act 5, § 9-222.1 to the extent of the 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 section 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 the 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 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. Amounts paid by telecommunications retailers under the Telecommunications Infrastructure Maintenance Fee Act, being ILCS Ch. 35, §§ 635-1 et seq.
INTERSTATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS. All telecommunications that either originate or terminate outside this state.
INTRASTATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS. All telecommunications that originate and terminate within this state.
PERSON. 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.
PURCHASE AT RETAIL. The acquisition, consumption, or use of telecommunications through a sale at retail.
RETAILER. Includes every person engaged in the business of making sales at retail as defined in this section. 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. The RETAILER shall be issued, without charge, a permit to collect the tax. When so authorized, it shall be the duty of the 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.
RETAILER MAINTAINING A PLACE OF BUSINESS IN THIS STATE. This 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 the place of business or agent or other representative is located here permanently or temporarily, or whether the retailer or subsidiary is licensed to do business in this state.
SALE AT RETAIL. 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.
SERVICE ADDRESS.
(a) The location of telecommunications equipment from which telecommunications services are originated or at which telecommunications services are received by a taxpayer.
(b) In the event this may not be a defined location, as in the case of mobile phones, paging systems, and maritime systems, SERVICE ADDRESS means the customer’s place of primary use as defined in the Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Conformity Act, being ILCS Ch. 35, §§ 638-1 et seq.
(c) 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.
TAXPAYER. A person who individually or through his or her agents, employees, or permittees engages in the act or privilege of originating or receiving telecommunications in a municipality and who incurs a tax liability as authorized by the ordinance.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
(a) 1. 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 2-way radio, paging service, or any other form of mobile and portable 1-way or 2-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.
2. As used in this division (a), 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 1 or more specified locations to 1 or more other specified locations.
(b) 1. 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.
2. TELECOMMUNICATIONS shall not include purchases of telecommunications by a telecommunications service provider for use as a component part of the service provided by the provider to the ultimate retail consumer who originates or terminates the taxable end-to-end communications.
3. 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 nontaxable as sales for resale.
4. Prepaid telephone calling arrangements shall not be considered TELECOMMUNICATIONS subject to the tax imposed under this section. For purposes of this division (b)4., PREPAID TELEPHONE CALLING ARRANGEMENTS means that term as defined in § 2-27 of the Retailers’ Occupations Tax Act.
(B) Simplified municipal telecommunications tax imposed. A tax is hereby imposed upon any and all the following acts or privileges:
(1) The act or privilege of originating in the municipality or receiving in the municipality intrastate telecommunications by a person at a rate of 6% of the gross charge for these telecommunications purchased at retail from a retailer.
(2) The act or privilege of originating in the municipality or receiving in the municipality interstate telecommunications by a person at a rate of 6% of the gross charge for these telecommunications purchased at retail from a retailer. To prevent actual multi-state taxation of the act or privilege that is subject to taxation under this division, any taxpayer, upon proof that the taxpayer has paid a tax in another state on that event, shall be allowed a credit against any tax enacted pursuant to or authorized by this section to the extent of the amount of the tax properly due and paid in the other state which was not previously allowed as a credit against any other state or local tax in this state.
(3) The tax imposed by this section is not imposed on the act or privilege to the extent the act or privilege may not, under the Constitution and statutes of the United States, be made the subject of taxation by the municipality.
(C) Collection of tax by retailers.
(1) The tax authorized by this section shall be collected from the taxpayer by a retailer maintaining a place of business in this state and shall be remitted by the retailer to the Department. Any tax required to be collected pursuant to or as authorized by this section and any such tax collected by the retailer and required to be remitted to the Department shall constitute a debt owed by the retailer to the state. Retailers shall collect the tax from the taxpayer by adding the tax to the gross charge for the act or privilege of originating or receiving telecommunications when sold for use, in the manner prescribed by the Department. The tax authorized by this section shall constitute a debt of the taxpayer to the retailer until paid, and, if unpaid, is recoverable at law in the same manner as the original charge for the sale at retail. If the retailer fails to collect the tax from the taxpayer, then the taxpayer shall be required to pay the tax directly to the Department in the manner provided by the Department.
(2) Whenever possible, the tax authorized by this section shall, when collected, be stated as a distinct item separate and apart from the gross charge for telecommunications.
(D) Returns to Department. On or before the last day of February 2003, and on or before the last day of every month thereafter, the tax imposed under this section on telecommunication retailers shall be returned with appropriate forms and information as required by the Department pursuant to the Illinois Simplified Municipal Telecommunications Tax Act, being ILCS Ch. 35, § 636-5-50 (Public Act 92-526, § 5-50) and any accompanying rules and regulations created by the Department to implement the Act.
(E) Resellers.
(1) If a person who originates or receives telecommunications claims to be a reseller of such telecommunications, the person shall apply to the Department for a resale number. The applicant shall state facts which will show the Department why the applicant is not liable for the tax authorized by this section on any of the purchases and shall furnish any additional information as the Department may reasonably require.
(2) Upon approval of the application, the Department shall assign a resale number to the applicant and shall certify the number to the applicant. The Department may cancel any number which is obtained through misrepresentation, or which is used to send or receive the telecommunication tax-free when the actions in fact are not for resale, or which no longer applies because of the person’s having discontinued the making of resales.
(3) Except as provided hereinabove in this section, the act or privilege of originating or receiving telecommunications in this state shall not be made tax-free on the ground of being a sale for resale, unless the person has an active resale number from the Department and furnishes that number to the retailer, in connection with certifying to the retailer that any sale to the person is nontaxable because of being a sale for resale.
(F) Rebates and exemptions.
(1) With respect to persons 65 years of age or older residing in the Village, the tax authorized by this section shall be levied at the rate of 1%. Persons 65 years of age or older who pay the tax authorized by this chapter in excess of 1% shall be entitled to a rebate of the excess tax paid on a quarterly basis.
(2) Requests for rebate of excess tax paid by persons 65 years of age or older must:
(a) Be in writing to the Village Clerk for the time period ending March 31 of each year no later than May 1 of that year; for the time period ending June 30 of each year by August 1 of that year; for the time period ending September 30 by November 1 of that year; and for the time period ending December 31 by February 1 of the following year;
(b) Be postmarked no later than the quarterly deadline set forth above; and
(c) Include any and all documentation necessary to calculate the amount of the actual excess tax paid.
(3) Rebates based on this section shall be paid directly by the Village to the person so requesting the rebate as soon as practicable following the established quarterly deadline submission date and following receipt by the Village of the tax money from the Illinois Department of Revenue for that taxing period paid by that individual.
(Am. Ord. 2002-12, passed 10-3-2002)
(Prior Code, § 7-115) (Ord. 2002-4, passed 9-19-2002)