Public Act 093-0951
 
HB4977 Enrolled LRB093 17846 SJM 43527 b

    AN ACT concerning taxpayers.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Taxpayers' Bill of Rights Act is amended by
changing Section 4 as follows:
 
    (20 ILCS 2520/4)  (from Ch. 120, par. 2304)
    Sec. 4. Department responsibilities. The Department of
Revenue shall have the following powers and duties to protect
the rights of taxpayers:
    (a) To furnish each taxpayer with a written statement of
rights whenever such taxpayer receives a protestable notice, a
bill, a claim denial or reduction regarding any tax. Such
statement shall explain the rights of such person and the
obligations of the Department during the audit, appeals, refund
and collections processes.
    (b) To include on all tax notices an explanation of tax
liabilities and penalties.
    (c) To abate taxes and penalties assessed based upon
erroneous written information or advice given by the
Department.
    (d) To not cancel any installment contracts unless the
taxpayer fails to provide accurate financial information,
fails to pay any tax or does not respond to any Department
request for additional financial information.
    (e) To place non-perishable property seized for taxes in
escrow for safekeeping for a period of 20 days to permit the
taxpayer to correct any Department error. If seized property is
of a perishable nature and in danger of immediate waste or
decay, such property need not be placed in escrow prior to
sale.
    (f) To place seized taxpayer bank accounts in escrow with
the bank for 20 days to permit the taxpayer to correct any
Department error.
    (g) To adopt regulations setting standards for setting
times and places for taxpayer interviews and to permit any
taxpayer to record such interviews.
    (h) To pay interest to taxpayers who have made overpayments
at the same rate as interest charged on underpayments.
    (i) To grant automatic extensions to taxpayers in filing
income tax returns when such taxpayer has been granted an
extension in filing a federal tax return.
    (j) To annually perform a systematic identification of
areas of recurrent taxpayer non-compliances with rules or
guidelines and to report its findings and recommendations
concerning such non-compliance to the General Assembly in an
annual report.
    (k) In the case of an audit, if no violations are found,
the Department shall provide the taxpayer a closing letter
acknowledging this and thanking the taxpayer for his, her, or
its cooperation. If there are changes, the auditor is required
to provide in writing to the taxpayer (i) the audit findings
and (ii), unless the taxpayer declines, the audit methods and
procedures (but not information concerning audit selection
methods). The auditor must, at the request of the taxpayer,
provide written information as to what records constitute the
minimum requirements for record-keeping. If the auditor
recommends changes in the record-keeping process, these
recommendations must be provided in writing to the taxpayer.
(Source: P.A. 86-176; 86-189; 87-860.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2005