35 ILCS 636/5-7
2021 Illinois Compiled Statutes|Chapter 35 - REVENUE|35 ILCS 636/ - Simplified Municipal Telecommunications Tax Act.|Article 5 - Simplified Municipal Telecommunications Tax Act

Sec. 5-7. Definitions. For purposes of the taxes authorized by this Act:"Amount paid" means the amount charged to the taxpayer's service  address in such municipality regardless of where such amount is billed  or paid."Department" means the Illinois Department of Revenue."Gross charge" means the amount paid for the act or privilege of originating  or receiving telecommunications in such 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 such 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  termination point within a municipality that has imposed a tax under this  Section and charges for the portion of the  inter-office channels provided within that municipality. Charges for that portion of  the inter-office channel  connecting 2 or more channel termination points, one or more of which is  located  within  the jurisdictional boundary of such municipality, shall be determined by the  retailer by  multiplying an amount equal to the total charge for the inter-office channel by  a fraction,  the numerator of which is the number of channel termination points that are  located  within the jurisdictional boundary of the municipality and the denominator of  which is  the total number of channel termination points connected by the inter-office  channel.  Prior to January 1, 2004, any method consistent with this paragraph or other  method that  reasonably apportions the total charges for inter-office channels among the  municipalities  in which channel termination points are located shall be accepted as a  reasonable method  to determine the taxable portion of an inter-office channel provided within a  municipality  for that period. However, "gross charge" shall not include any of the  following:(1) Any amounts added to a purchaser's bill because     of a charge made pursuant to: (i) the tax imposed by this Act, (ii) the tax imposed by the Telecommunications Excise Tax Act, (iii) the tax imposed by Section 4251 of the Internal Revenue Code, (iv) 911 surcharges, or (v) charges added to customers' bills pursuant to the provisions of Section 9-221 or 9-222 of the Public Utilities Act, 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 such 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.  Such 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 such     equipment that is leased or rented by the customer from any source, wherein such charges are disaggregated and separately identified from other charges.(5) Charges to business enterprises certified as     exempt under Section 9-222.1 of the Public Utilities Act to the extent of such exemption and during the period of time specified by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.(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 Act 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 such 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.(9) Amounts paid by telecommunications retailers     under the Telecommunications Infrastructure Maintenance Fee Act.(10) Charges for nontaxable services or     telecommunications if (i) those charges are aggregated with other charges for telecommunications that are taxable, (ii) those charges are not separately stated on the customer bill or invoice, and (iii) the retailer can reasonably identify the nontaxable charges on the retailer's books and records kept in the regular course of business. If the nontaxable charges cannot reasonably be identified, the gross charge from the sale of both taxable and nontaxable services or telecommunications billed on a combined basis shall be attributed to the taxable services or telecommunications. The burden of proving nontaxable charges shall be on the retailer of the telecommunications."Interstate telecommunications" means all telecommunications  that either originate or terminate outside this State."Intrastate telecommunications" means all telecommunications  that originate and terminate within this State."Person" means 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" means the acquisition, consumption or  use of telecommunications through a sale at retail."Retailer" means and 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.  Such retailer shall  be issued, without charge, a permit to collect such tax.  When so  authorized, it shall be the duty of such 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", 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 such place of business or agent or other representative is  located here permanently or temporarily, or whether such retailer or  subsidiary is licensed to do business in this State."Sale at retail" means 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" means the location of telecommunications  equipment from which telecommunications services are originated or at  which telecommunications services are received by a taxpayer.  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.  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" means 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 this Act."Telecommunications", 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 two-way radio, paging service, or any other form of mobile  and portable one-way or two-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.  As used in this  Act, "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  one or more specified locations to one or more other specified  locations.  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.  "Telecommunications" shall not  include purchases of telecommunications by a telecommunications service  provider for use as a component part of the service provided by such provider  to the ultimate retail consumer who originates or terminates the taxable  end-to-end communications.  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 non-taxable as sales for resale.  Prepaid telephone  calling arrangements shall not be considered "telecommunications"  subject to the tax imposed under this Act.  For purposes of this Section,  "prepaid telephone calling arrangements" means that term as defined in  Section 2-27 of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act.       (Source: P.A. 93-286, eff. 1-1-04; 94-793, eff. 5-19-06.)