99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
HB3824

 

Introduced , by Rep. John E. Bradley

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
New Act
35 ILCS 5/208  from Ch. 120, par. 2-208
30 ILCS 105/5.866 new
30 ILCS 105/6z-101 new

    Creates the Property Tax Refund Act. Provides that the Department shall issue a property tax refund of $500 each year for each parcel of qualified property for which an eligible homeowner paid property taxes. Contains provisions concerning applications. Provides that the Department may request certain information from each county assessor or supervisor of assessments. Provides that, if a county fails to submit the required information, the Department shall not certify to the State Comptroller the amount of the Local Government Distributive Fund allocated to that county until that information is submitted. Provides for implementation without reimbursement by the State. Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act to provide that the tax credit for residential real property taxes applies only for taxable years ending prior to December 31, 2015. Effective immediately.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
HOUSING AFFORDABILITY IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning revenue.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5Property Tax Refund Act.
 
6    Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
7    "Department" means the Department of Revenue.
8    "Eligible homeowner" means an individual who was liable for
9property taxes that were paid on qualified property that is
10located in Illinois and is used as his or her principal place
11of residence and in which he or she had an ownership interest
12as of January 1 of the year in which the property taxes were
13paid.
14    "Qualified property" means property for which the
15homeowner would have been allowed a credit under Section 208 of
16the Illinois Income Tax Act, as that Section existed on January
171, 2015.
 
18    Section 10. Property tax refunds.
19    (a) Beginning in 2015, the Department shall issue a
20property tax refund each year for each qualified property for
21which an eligible homeowner who was liable for property taxes
22that were paid with respect to qualified property in the

 

 

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1immediately preceding calendar year has filed a timely
2application for the property tax refund. The Department shall
3certify both (i) the names of the eligible homeowners who will
4receive the refund and (ii) the refund amounts for each
5eligible homeowner to the Comptroller as soon as possible after
6July 1 of each year.
7    (b) The refund shall equal $500 for each qualified
8property. In the case of a married couple, only one $500 refund
9shall be allowed and shall be paid to the spouses jointly if
10requested on the application. If there is more than one
11eligible homeowner for a qualified property, or if a married
12couple applies for separate refunds, the refund for that
13qualified property or for those spouses shall be divided among
14the applicants as agreed to by the applicants. In the absence
15of an agreement, the refund shall be divided equally among the
16applicants who have filed a timely application for the refund.
17If the Department issues a refund in response to an otherwise
18valid application that does not list all eligible homeowners
19entitled to share in the refund or that does not accurately
20reflect any agreement among the eligible homeowners, it shall
21not issue any additional refund with respect to that property,
22and an eligible homeowner who did not receive the share of the
23refund to which he or she is entitled under this Act shall have
24recourse only against the eligible homeowners who received the
25refund.
26    (c) Application for the refund shall be made in the form

 

 

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1and manner prescribed by the Department and shall contain all
2information reasonably required by the Department for purposes
3of administering the refund. For refunds for property taxes
4paid in 2014, an Illinois income tax return claiming a credit
5under Section 208 of the Illinois Income Tax Act for a tax year
6ending in 2014 shall be treated as an application for the
7refund. For refunds for property taxes paid in 2015 or in any
8subsequent year, the Department may allow or require the
9application to be made on an Illinois income tax return for the
10applicant's taxable year ending during the year in which the
11property taxes were paid, or it may require a separate
12application, or both. The Department may require applications
13to be filed electronically, except in the case of an individual
14who has no ready access to a means of electronic filing or in
15the case where the application is made on an income tax return
16that is not required to be filed electronically. No refund
17shall be allowed to an eligible homeowner for a year unless an
18application has been filed with the Department no later than
19June 30 of the second calendar year following the year in which
20the property taxes were paid, and, in the case of timely-filed
21application that is incomplete or otherwise defective, any
22defect has been corrected no later than 30 days after the
23Department has issued a notice that the application is
24incomplete or defective or June 30 of that second following
25year, whichever is later.
26    (d) In lieu of a refund paid under subsection (a) of

 

 

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1Section 10 of this Act, the Department may credit the amount of
2the refund against (i) any final tax liability of the applicant
3arising under any Act administered by the Department,
4regardless of whether other collection remedies are closed to
5the Department, or (ii) any liability of the applicant against
6which the Department may offset an overpayment of Illinois
7income tax of the applicant, and pay only the remaining balance
8to the applicant.
9    (e) If a refund is determined by the Department to have
10been issued in error, as soon as possible after the
11determination is made, the Department shall issue a demand for
12repayment of the erroneous refund, plus a penalty of 20% of the
13erroneous refund, provided that no penalty shall be imposed if
14the refund was issued as a result of an error of the Department
15that was not caused by the recipient of the refund or if the
16recipient had reasonable cause for any error made in applying
17for the refund. If repayment is not made within 60 days of the
18date of issuance of the demand, the Department shall enforce
19repayment of the refund using all legal authority available to
20the Department of Revenue to collect debt.
 
21    Section 15. Information from counties.
22    (a) Beginning in 2015, the Department may require each
23county assessor or supervisor of assessments to provide to the
24Department, upon request, each year the following information
25relating to the property tax bills issued in the preceding year

 

 

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1by parcel number:
2        (1) county code;
3        (2) township name or code;
4        (3) property index number;
5        (4) name of the owner;
6        (5) the mailing address of the owner;
7        (6) the address of the parcel;
8        (7) all homestead exemptions applicable to the parcel;
9        (8) property use or type with description;
10        (9) assessed value (before equalization factor);
11        (10) equalized assessed value;
12        (11) tax bill amount; and
13        (12) such other information as the Department shall
14    require.
15    (b) The information required by the Department under
16subsection (a) for property tax bills issued in 2014 shall be
17submitted no later than 30 days after written request by the
18Department, and for property tax bills issued in 2015 and
19subsequent years, shall be submitted no later than May 15 of
20the following year. The Department may grant requests for
21extensions of time to submit the information. The information
22shall be submitted in a computer readable format as directed by
23the Department. If any county fails to submit the required
24information by the due date under this subsection, the
25Department shall not certify to the State Comptroller the
26amount of the Local Government Distributive Fund allocated to

 

 

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1that county under subsection (a) of Section 2 of the State
2Revenue Sharing Act during any month beginning after that due
3date until the information is submitted, and then, in the first
4month beginning after the information is submitted, shall
5certify to the State Comptroller for payment to that county the
6amount allocated in that month plus the amounts that were
7allocated to that county in prior months, but not certified to
8the State Comptroller as a result of this subsection.
9    (c) Notwithstanding Sections 6 and 8 of the State Mandates
10Act, no reimbursement by the State is required for the
11implementation of any mandate created by this Section.
 
12    Section 20. False statements in applications. Any person
13who files an application for a refund under this Act that
14contains a materially false statement, or who willfully
15attempts in any other manner to receive a refund which that
16person knows he or she is not entitled to receive under this
17Act, shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony for the first offense
18and a Class 3 felony for each subsequent offense. A prosecution
19for any act in violation of this Section may be commenced at
20any time within 5 years of the commission of that act.
 
21    Section 25. Rulemaking. The Department is authorized to
22make, promulgate and enforce such reasonable rules, and to
23prescribe such forms, relating to the administration and
24enforcement of the provisions of this Act, as it may deem

 

 

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1appropriate.
2    The circuit court of the county in which the qualified
3property is located has the power to review all final
4administrative decisions of the Department in administering
5this Act. The provisions of the Administrative Review Law, and
6all amendments and modifications thereof, and the rules adopted
7pursuant thereto, shall apply to and govern all proceedings for
8the judicial review of final administrative decisions of the
9Department under this Act. The term "administrative decision"
10is defined as in Section 3-101 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
 
11    Section 80. The Illinois Income Tax Act is amended by
12changing Section 208 as follows:
 
13    (35 ILCS 5/208)  (from Ch. 120, par. 2-208)
14    Sec. 208. Tax credit for residential real property taxes.
15For Beginning with tax years ending on or after December 31,
161991, and prior to December 31, 2015, every individual taxpayer
17shall be entitled to a tax credit equal to 5% of real property
18taxes paid by such taxpayer during the taxable year on the
19principal residence of the taxpayer. In the case of multi-unit
20or multi-use structures and farm dwellings, the taxes on the
21taxpayer's principal residence shall be that portion of the
22total taxes which is attributable to such principal residence.
23(Source: P.A. 87-17.)
 

 

 

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1    Section 85. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
2Sections 5.866 and 6z-101 as follows:
 
3    (30 ILCS 105/5.866 new)
4    Sec. 5.866. The Property Tax Refund Fund.
 
5    (30 ILCS 105/6z-101 new)
6    Sec. 6z-101. The Property Tax Refund Fund; creation. The
7Property Tax Refund Fund is created as a special fund in the
8State treasury. Moneys in the Fund shall be used by the
9Department of Revenue for the purpose of paying refunds under
10the Property Tax Refund Act.
 
11    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
12becoming law.