Illinois Administrative Code › Title 2 - GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION › Part 1200 - PUBLIC INFORMATION, RULEMAKING AND ORGANIZATION › Subpart A - PUBLIC INFORMATION › Section 1200.110 - Private Letter Rulings

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
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.