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Public Act 92-0878
HB1273 Enrolled LRB9203256SMdv
AN ACT in relation to taxes.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Telecommunications Excise Tax Act is
amended by changing Section 2 as follows:
(35 ILCS 630/2) (from Ch. 120, par. 2002)
Sec. 2. As used in this Article, unless the context
clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "Gross charge" means the amount paid for the act or
privilege of originating or receiving telecommunications in
this State 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 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 point within
this State, charges for the channel mileage between each
channel point within this State, and charges for that portion
of the interstate inter-office channel provided within
Illinois. Charges for that portion of the interstate
inter-office channel provided in Illinois shall be determined
by the retailer as follows: (i) for interstate inter-office
channels having 2 channel termination points, only one of
which is in Illinois, 50% of the total charge imposed; (ii)
for interstate inter-office channels having more than 2
channel termination points, one or more of which are in
Illinois, an amount equal to the total charge multiplied by a
fraction, the numerator of which is the number of channel
termination points within Illinois and the denominator of
which is the total number of channel termination points; or
(iii) any other method that reasonably apportions the total
charges for interstate inter-office channels among the states
in which channel termination points are located. Prior to
June 1, 2003, any apportionment method consistent with this
paragraph shall be accepted as a reasonable method to
determine the charges for that portion of the interstate
inter-office channel provided within Illinois for that
period. However, "gross charges" 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
Article; (ii) charges added to customers' bills pursuant
to the provisions of Sections 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 such provisions
of such Act; (iii) the tax imposed by Section 4251 of the
Internal Revenue Code; (iv) 911 surcharges; or (v) the
tax imposed by the Simplified Municipal
Telecommunications Tax Act.;
(2) Charges for a sent collect telecommunication
received outside of the State.;
(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 under
Section 9-222.1 of the Public Utilities Act, as amended,
to the extent of such exemption and during the period of
time specified by the Department of Commerce and
Community Affairs.;
(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 Article 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 uncollectable, 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 Municipal 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.
(b) "Amount paid" means the amount charged to the
taxpayer's service address in this State regardless of where
such amount is billed or paid.
(c) "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 him 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.
(d) "Interstate telecommunications" means all
telecommunications that either originate or terminate outside
this State.
(e) "Intrastate telecommunications" means all
telecommunications that originate and terminate within this
State.
(f) "Department" means the Department of Revenue of the
State of Illinois.
(g) "Director" means the Director of Revenue for the
Department of Revenue of the State of Illinois.
(h) "Taxpayer" means a person who individually or
through his agents, employees or permittees engages in the
act or privilege of originating or receiving
telecommunications in this State and who incurs a tax
liability under this Article.
(i) "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.
(j) "Purchase at retail" means the acquisition,
consumption or use of telecommunication through a sale at
retail.
(k) "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.
(l) "Retailer" means and includes every person engaged
in the business of making sales at retail as defined in this
Article. 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.
(m) "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.
(n) "Service address" means the location of
telecommunications equipment from which the
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, 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.
(o) "Prepaid telephone calling arrangements" mean the
right to exclusively purchase telephone or telecommunications
services that must be paid for in advance and enable the
origination of one or more intrastate, interstate, or
international telephone calls or other telecommunications
using an access number, an authorization code, or both,
whether manually or electronically dialed, for which payment
to a retailer must be made in advance, provided that, unless
recharged, no further service is provided once that prepaid
amount of service has been consumed. Prepaid telephone
calling arrangements include the recharge of a prepaid
calling arrangement. For purposes of this subsection,
"recharge" means the purchase of additional prepaid telephone
or telecommunications services whether or not the purchaser
acquires a different access number or authorization code.
"Prepaid telephone calling arrangement" does not include an
arrangement whereby a customer purchases a payment card and
pursuant to which the service provider reflects the amount of
such purchase as a credit on an invoice issued to that
customer under an existing subscription plan.
(Source: P.A. 91-870, eff. 6-22-00; 92-474, eff. 8-1-02;
92-526, eff. 1-1-03.)
Section 10. The Telecommunications Infrastructure
Maintenance Fee Act is amended by changing Section 10 as
follows:
(35 ILCS 635/10)
Sec. 10. Definitions.
(a) "Gross charges" means the amount paid to a
telecommunications retailer for the act or privilege of
originating or receiving telecommunications in this State and
for all services rendered in connection therewith, 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 point within this State, charges for the channel
mileage between each channel point within this State, and
charges for that portion of the interstate inter-office
channel provided within Illinois. Charges for that portion of
the interstate inter-office channel provided in Illinois
shall be determined by the retailer as follows: (i) for
interstate inter-office channels having 2 channel termination
points, only one of which is in Illinois, 50% of the total
charge imposed; (ii) for interstate inter-office channels
having more than 2 channel termination points, one or more of
which are in Illinois, an amount equal to the total charge
multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the
number of channel termination points within Illinois and the
denominator of which is the total number of channel
termination points; or (iii) any other method that reasonably
apportions the total charges for interstate inter-office
channels among the states in which channel termination points
are located. Prior to June 1, 2003, any apportionment method
consistent with this paragraph shall be accepted as a
reasonable method to determine the charges for that portion
of the interstate inter-office channel provided within
Illinois for that period. However, "gross charges" shall not
include any of the following:
(1) Any amounts added to a purchaser's bill because
of a charge made under: (i) the fee imposed by this
Section, (ii) additional charges added to a purchaser's
bill under Section 9-221 or 9-222 of the Public Utilities
Act, (iii) the tax imposed by the Telecommunications
Excise Tax Act, (iv) 911 surcharges, (v) the tax imposed
by Section 4251 of the Internal Revenue Code, or (vi) the
tax imposed by the Simplified Municipal
Telecommunications Tax Act.;
(2) Charges for a sent collect telecommunication
received outside of this State.;
(3) Charges for leased time on equipment or charges
for the storage of data or information or 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 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 Community Affairs.;
(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, 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 other than
a regulatory required profit for the corporation
rendering such services.;
(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).; or
(8) Charges paid by inserting coins in
coin-operated telecommunication devices.
(9) 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.
(a-5) "Department" means the Illinois Department of
Revenue.
(b) "Telecommunications" includes, but is not limited
to, messages or information transmitted through use of local,
toll, and wide area telephone service, channel services,
telegraph services, teletypewriter service, computer exchange
services, private line services, specialized mobile radio
services, 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. Unless the context clearly
requires otherwise, "telecommunications" shall also include
wireless telecommunications as hereinafter defined.
"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 purchase of telecommunications by a
telecommunications service provider for use as a component
part of the service provided by him or her to the ultimate
retail consumer who originates or terminates the end-to-end
communications. Retailer access charges, right of access
charges, charges for use of intercompany facilities, and all
telecommunications resold in the subsequent provision and
used as a component of, or integrated into, end-to-end
telecommunications service shall not be included in gross
charges as sales for resale. "Telecommunications" shall not
include the provision of cable services through a cable
system as defined in the Cable Communications Act of 1984 (47
U.S.C. Sections 521 and following) as now or hereafter
amended or through an open video system as defined in the
Rules of the Federal Communications Commission (47 C.D.F.
76.1550 and following) as now or hereafter amended.
Beginning January 1, 2001, 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.
(c) "Wireless telecommunications" includes cellular
mobile telephone services, personal wireless services as
defined in Section 704(C) of the Telecommunications Act of
1996 (Public Law No. 104-104) as now or hereafter amended,
including all commercial mobile radio services, and paging
services.
(d) "Telecommunications retailer" or "retailer" or
"carrier" means and includes every person engaged in the
business of making sales of telecommunications at retail as
defined in this Section. The Department may, in its
discretion, upon applications, authorize the collection of
the fee 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 fee. When so authorized, it
shall be the duty of such retailer to pay the fee upon all of
the gross charges for telecommunications in the same manner
and subject to the same requirements as a retailer
maintaining a place of business within this State.
(e) "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.
(f) "Sale of telecommunications at retail" means the
transmitting, supplying, or furnishing of telecommunications
and all services rendered in connection therewith for a
consideration, other than between a parent corporation and
its wholly owned subsidiaries or between wholly owned
subsidiaries, when the gross charge made by one such
corporation to another such corporation is not greater than
the gross charge paid to the retailer for their use or
consumption and not for sale.
(g) "Service address" means the location of
telecommunications equipment from which telecommunications
services are originated or at which telecommunications
services are received. If this is not a defined location, as
in the case of wireless telecommunications, paging systems,
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 the
customer's primary use of the telecommunications equipment as
defined by the location in Illinois where bills are sent.
(Source: P.A. 91-870, eff. 6-22-00; 92-474, eff. 8-1-02;
92-526, eff. 1-1-03.)
Section 15. The Simplified Municipal Telecommunications
Tax Act is amended by changing Section 5-7 as follows:
(35 ILCS 636/5-7)
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 point
within this State, charges for the channel mileage between
each channel point within this State, and charges for that
portion of the interstate inter-office channel provided
within Illinois. Charges for that portion of the interstate
inter-office channel provided in Illinois shall be determined
by the retailer as follows: (i) for interstate inter-office
channels having 2 channel termination points, only one of
which is in Illinois, 50% of the total charge imposed; (ii)
for interstate inter-office channels having more than 2
channel termination points, one or more of which are in
Illinois, an amount equal to the total charge multiplied by a
fraction, the numerator of which is the number of channel
termination points within Illinois and the denominator of
which is the total number of channel termination points; or
(iii) any other method that reasonably apportions the total
charges for interstate inter-office channels among the states
in which channel termination points are located. Prior to
June 1, 2003, any apportionment method consistent with this
paragraph shall be accepted as a reasonable method to
determine the charges for that portion of the interstate
inter-office channel provided within Illinois 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
Community Affairs.;
(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.; or
(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 Occupations Tax
Act.
(Source: P.A. 92-526, eff. 7-1-02; revised 2-25-02.)
Passed in the General Assembly January 07, 2003.
Approved January 10, 2003.
Effective January 01, 2004.
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