Section 1200.100  General Information and Taxpayer Assistance

 

a)         Public information concerning tax Acts administered by the Department of Revenue, tax forms and tax return filing information may be obtained by visiting a Regional Office of the Department of Revenue (for Regional Office locations, see Section 1200.310); by calling one of the following information and assistance lines:

 

(800) 732-8866

(217) 782-3336

 

TDD − Telecommunications Device for the Deaf

 

(800) 544-5304

 

or by writing:

 

Taxpayer Correspondence

Illinois Department of Revenue

P.O. Box 19001

Springfield, Illinois  62794-9001

 

b)         General information regarding the Department and various topics of general interest to taxpayers and tax practitioners can be found at the Department's website at www.tax.illinois.gov.

 

c)         Pursuant to Section 4 of the Illinois Department of Revenue Sunshine Act [20 ILCS 2515/4], a quarterly index of all letter rulings issued by the Department for the previous quarter is published in the Illinois Register.  A listing of letter rulings issued by the Department, as well as a copy of those rulings, is also available on the Department's website. 

 

d)         Pursuant to Section 4 of the Illinois Department of Revenue Sunshine Act [20 ILCS 2515/4], a cumulative annual index of letter rulings is also published in the Illinois Register.  The public may also obtain a copy of the cumulative index from the Department at cost.  Requests should be addressed to the Legal Services Bureau, 101 West Jefferson Street, 5-500, Springfield, Illinois  62794.

 

(Source:  Amended at 48 Ill. Reg. 5192, effective March 15, 2024)

 

Section 1200.110  Private Letter Rulings

 

a)         Private letter rulings are issued by the Department in response to specific taxpayer inquiries concerning the application of a tax statute or rule to a particular fact situation.  Private letter rulings are binding on the Department only as to the taxpayer who is the subject of the request for ruling.  Prior rulings are considered in responding to future inquiries with similar fact situations.

 

1)         A request for a private letter ruling must be made by, or on behalf of, an identified taxpayer.  A request for ruling may be made by a taxpayer, or by a taxpayer's representative under a power of attorney from that taxpayer.  The Department will not issue letter rulings to taxpayer representatives for anonymous or unidentified taxpayers.

 

2)         Taxpayers must make separate requests for ruling by tax type.  For example, separate requests for private letter rulings must be made when a taxpayer has issues involving the Retailers' Occupation Tax and related taxes and the Illinois Income Tax.  Similarly, separate requests for rulings must be made by a taxpayer for questions concerning an excise tax or other tax administered by the Department.

 

3)         A private letter ruling will not be issued on alternative plans of proposed transactions or hypothetical situations.

 

A)        A private letter ruling on behalf of multiple taxpayers will not be issued with two exceptions:

 

i)          A request for a private letter ruling from a designated agent of a group of taxpayers filing a composite return under the Illinois Income Tax Act will not be considered a prohibited combined letter ruling request,

 

ii)         A member of a unitary group may file a request for letter ruling with reference to issues common to it and other members of the unitary group and the request will not be considered a prohibited combined letter ruling request.

 

B)        Private letter rulings will not be issued to business, trade, industrial associations or to similar groups concerning the application of tax laws to members of the groups.  Members of such groups may submit suggestions of general issues that would be appropriately addressed in information bulletins, or may submit general questions to be addressed by the Department in a general information letter. (See Section 1200.120, below)

 

C)        A private letter ruling will not be issued if, at the time the ruling is requested, the identical issue is involved in the taxpayer's return for an earlier period and that issue is being examined as a part of a Department audit or is pending in litigation in a case involving the taxpayer or a related taxpayer in which the Department is named as a plaintiff or defendant.

 

D)        If there is case law or there are regulations dispositive of the subject of the request, the Department will decline to issue a private letter ruling on the subject.

 

4)         Whether to issue a private letter ruling in response to a letter ruling request is within the discretion of the Department.  The Department will respond to all requests for private letter rulings either by issuance of a ruling or by a letter explaining that the request for ruling will not be honored.

 

b)         There is certain information that must be included in each request for a private letter ruling:

 

1)         A complete statement of the facts and other information pertinent to the request.  The request must contain a complete statement of all material facts. The material facts include the identification of all interested parties, a statement of the business reasons for the transaction, and a detailed description of the transaction.  The request must contain an analysis of the relation of the material facts to the issues.

 

2)         All contracts, licenses, agreements, instruments or other documents relevant to the request.

 

3)         An identification of the tax period at issue, and disclosure of whether an audit or litigation is pending with the Department as explained in subsection (a)(3)(C) of this Section.

 

4)         A statement that to the best of the knowledge of both the taxpayer and the taxpayer's representative the Department has not previously ruled on the same or a similar issue for the taxpayer or a predecessor, or whether the taxpayer or any representatives previously submitted the same or a similar issue to the Department but withdrew it before a letter ruling was issued.

 

5)         A statement of authorities supporting the taxpayer's views, an explanation of the grounds for that conclusion and the relevant authorities to support that conclusion.

 

6)         A statement of authorities contrary to the taxpayer's views.  Each taxpayer is under an affirmative duty to identify any and all authorities contrary to the taxpayer's views.  If the taxpayer determines that there are no authorities contrary to his or her views, or taxpayer is unable to locate such authority, the request must contain a statement to that effect.

 

7)         An identification of any specific trade secret information taxpayer requests be deleted from the publicly disseminated version of the private letter ruling.

 

8)         The signature of the taxpayer or the taxpayer's representative.  A taxpayer's representative must also provide a properly executed power of attorney.

 

c)         The Department will delete certain information from private letter rulings prior to public dissemination.  Deletions will include the name and address of the taxpayer and taxpayer's representative, confidential return information and specific trade secret information identified by taxpayers in the ruling request.

 

d)         Private letter rulings will cease to bind the Department if there is a pertinent change in statutory law, case law, rules or material facts.  In certain rare circumstances, it will be necessary for the Department to specifically revoke a private letter ruling previously issued to a taxpayer. In the case of such a revocation, the taxpayer will incur no liability for any tax, penalty or interest as a result of reliance on the private letter ruling up to the date of the issuance of the revocation of the private letter ruling (See Section 4 of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights Act [20 ILCS 2520/4].

 

e)         Beginning July 1, 2002, every private letter ruling is revoked on the date that is 10 years after the date of issuance of the ruling or July 1, 2002, whichever is later.  No private letter ruling may be cited or relied upon for any purpose after the date of its revocation, and the ruling will cease to bind the Department after the date of revocation.  Taxpayers entitled to rely on the opinion contained in a particular private letter ruling must apply for a new letter ruling prior to the aforementioned revocation date.

 

(Source:  Amended at 41 Ill. Reg. 6367, effective May 22, 2017)

 

Section 1200.120  General Information Letters

 

a)         General Information letters are issued by the Department in response to written inquiries from taxpayers, taxpayer representatives, business, trade, industrial associations or similar groups.

 

b)         General Information letters contain general discussion of tax principles or applications.  General Information letters are designed to provide general background information on topics of interest to taxpayers.

 

c)         General Information letters do not constitute statements of agency policy that apply, interpret or prescribe the tax laws administered by the Department.  Information letters are not binding on the Department, may not be relied upon by taxpayers in taking positions with reference to tax issues and create no rights for taxpayers under the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights Act.

 

d)         The Department may respond to all requests for general information letters by issuance of a general information letter, a request for additional information letter, a request for additional information necessary to complete the letter, or by an explanation that the particular request does not fall within the definition of a general information letter along with a description of why the issuance of a general information letter is not appropriate, or by providing copies of pertinent authority such as regulations and statutes.

 

Section 1200.130  Department Publications

 

a)         The Department occasionally publishes Information Bulletins, both in written and electronic formats.  Information Bulletins are short explanations of changes in law, rules, procedures or basic explanations of topics of interest to taxpayers on various subjects. Information Bulletins have no binding effect on the Department and are designed merely to alert taxpayers to various topics of interest.  Information bulletins may not be cited as authority for positions taken by taxpayers relative to a particular issue.

 

b)         The Department also periodically issues written and electronic publications.  These are publications designed to provide general information about the Department and various topics of general interest to taxpayers and tax practitioners.  The information contained in these publications does not represent binding positions of the Department of Revenue, may not be cited as authority for positions taken by taxpayers and create no rights for taxpayers under the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights Act.

 

c)         The electronic publications mentioned in subsections (a) and (b) can be found on the Department's website at www.tax.illinois.gov.

 

(Source:  Amended at 41 Ill. Reg. 6367, effective May 22, 2017)

 

Section 1200.200  Procedures

 

a)         Rules will be proposed by the Director.  Members of the executive staff in consultation with their Divisions or Bureaus or on the recommendation of the Legal Services Bureau may suggest new rules and changes to existing rules. Proposed rules or rule amendments are drafted, or approved by the Legal Services Bureau.

 

b)         Interested persons may petition the Director to make, amend or repeal a rule.

 

1)         The petition shall be addressed:

 

            General Counsel

            Legal Services Bureau

            Department of Revenue

            101 West Jefferson Street, 5-500

            Springfield, Illinois 62794

 

2)         The petition shall contain a clear statement of reasons for the proposed rule, amendment or repeal and the exact language of the suggested new rule or amendment.

 

c)         Proposed rules and adopted rules are available for review on the Department's website at www.tax.illinois.gov.

 

d)         The Department submits a Regulatory Agenda for publication in the Illinois Register by January 1 and July 1 of each year.  The purpose of the Regulatory Agenda is to elicit public comments concerning rules which the Department is considering proposing but for which no notice of proposed rulemaking activity has been submitted to the Illinois Register.  The Regulatory Agenda is also available for review on the Department's website.

 

(Source:  Amended at 41 Ill. Reg. 6367, effective May 22, 2017)

 

Section 1200.300  Department Organization

 

The organization of the Department is illustrated in Table A.

 

Section 1200.310  Regional Offices

 

Regional Offices of the Illinois Department of Revenue are at the following locations:

 

ILLINOIS

 

Chicago (60661)

555 W. Monroe Street, Suite 1100

(312) 814-3142

 

Des Plaines (60016-1563)

Suburban North Regional Building

9511 Harrison Ave.

(800) 732-8866

 

Fairview Heights (62208-1331)

15 Executive Drive, Suite 2

(800) 732-8866

 

Marion (62959-1196)

2309 W. Main Street

Suite 114

(800) 732-8866

 

Springfield (62702)

Willard Ice Building

101 W. Jefferson Street

(800) 732-8866

(217) 782-3336

 

Rockford (61101)

200 S. Wyman

(800) 732-8866

 

(Source:  Amended at 48 Ill. Reg. 5192, effective March 15, 2024)

 

Section 1200.TABLE A   Organizational Chart

 

 

(Source:  Amended at 48 Ill. Reg. 5192, effective March 15, 2024)