a) It shall be
unlawful for any person to engage in the business of selling tangible personal
property at retail in this State without a certificate of registration from the
Department.
b) Every person who
engages in the business of selling tangible personal property at retail in this
State must procure a certificate of registration (and sub-certificate of
registration when required) from the Department.
c) For information with respect to penalties
for violating this requirement, see Subpart I.
d) The application to register must be made
on a form prescribed and furnished by the Department for that purpose. Upon
request therefor, made to the Department of Revenue, an application form will
be furnished. Each application shall be signed and verified. The application
shall contain an acceptance of responsibility by the person or persons who will
be responsible for filing returns and payment of the taxes due under the Act.
If the applicant will sell tangible personal property at retail through
vending machines, his application to register shall indicate the number of
vending machines to be so operated. [
35 ILCS
120/2a ] Applications to register may be submitted
electronically on the Department's website at
www.tax.illinois.gov.
e) Special Requirements Pertaining to Vending
Machines
If the applicant will sell tangible personal property
at retail through vending machines, the Department shall furnish the applicant
with a sub-certificate of registration for each such vending machine, and the
applicant shall display the appropriate sub-certificate of registration on each
such vending machine by attaching the sub-certificate of registration to a
conspicuous part of such vending machine. If a person who is registered to sell
tangible personal property at retail through vending machines adds an
additional vending machine or additional vending machines to the number of
vending machines the applicant uses in the applicant's business of selling
tangible personal property at retail, the applicant shall notify the
Department, on a form prescribed by the Department, to request an additional
sub-certificate or additional sub-certificates of registration, as applicable.
With each such request, the applicant shall report the number of
sub-certificates of registration the applicant is requesting as well as the
total number of vending machines from which the applicant makes retail
sales. [35 ILCS 120/2a ]
f) Posting Bond or Other
Security
1) Every applicant for a certificate
of registration shall, within 30 days after the applicant commences to engage
in the business of selling tangible personal property at retail, furnish a bond
from a surety company authorized to do business in the State of Illinois, or a
bond signed by 2 personal sureties who have filed, with the Department, sworn
statements disclosing net assets equal to at least 3 times the amount of the
bond to be required of the applicant, or a bond secured by an assignment of a
bank account or certificate of deposit, stocks or bonds, conditioned upon the
applicant paying to the State of Illinois all moneys becoming due under the
Retailers' Occupation Tax Act and under any other State tax law or municipal or
county tax ordinance or resolution under which the certificate of registration
that is issued to the applicant under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act will
permit the applicant to engage in business without registering separately under
such other law, ordinance or resolution.
2) Maximum Amount of Bond or Other Security
A) The Department shall fix the amount of
such security in each case, taking into consideration the amount of money
expected to become due from the applicant under the Retailers' Occupation Tax
Act and under any other State tax law or municipal or county tax ordinance or
resolution under which the certificate of registration that is issued to the
applicant under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act will permit the applicant to
engage in business without registering separately under such other law,
ordinance or resolution. The security required by the Department shall be of an
amount that, in its opinion, will protect the State of Illinois against failure
to pay the amount which may become due from the applicant under the Retailers'
Occupation Tax Act and under any other State tax law or municipal or county tax
ordinance or resolution under which the certificate of registration that is
issued to the applicant under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act will permit the
applicant to engage in business without registering separately under such other
law, ordinance or resolution, but the amount of the security required by the
Department shall not exceed three times the amount of the applicant's average
monthly tax liability, or $50,000, whichever amount is lower.
B) No certificate of registration under the
Retailers' Occupation Tax Act shall be issued by the Department until the
applicant provides the Department with satisfactory security as provided for in
this subsection (f).
3)
Exception from Security Requirements for Prior Continuous Compliance Taxpayers
Any taxpayer who has, as verified by the Department,
faithfully and continuously complied with the condition of the taxpayer's bond
or other security under the provisions of the Act for a period of 3 consecutive
years shall be considered to be a Prior Continuous Compliance taxpayer. Every
Prior Continuous Compliance taxpayer shall be exempt from all requirements
under the Act concerning the furnishing of security as a condition precedent to
the taxpayer being authorized to engage in the business of selling tangible
personal property at retail in this State. This exemption shall continue for
each taxpayer until the taxpayer may be determined by the Department to be
delinquent in the filing of any returns, or is determined by the Department
(either through the Department's issuance of a final assessment that has become
final under the Act, or by the taxpayer's filing of a return that admits tax
that is not paid to be due) to be delinquent or deficient in the paying of any
tax under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act or under any other State tax law or
municipal or county tax ordinance or resolution under which the certificate of
registration that is issued to the registrant under the Retailers' Occupation
Tax Act will permit the registrant to engage in business without registering
separately under such other law, ordinance or resolution, at which time that
taxpayer shall become subject to all the financial responsibility requirements
of the Act and, as a condition of being allowed to continue to engage in the
business of selling tangible personal property at retail, shall be required to
post bond or other acceptable security with the Department covering liability
that the taxpayer may thereafter incur. Any taxpayer who fails to pay an
admitted or established liability under the Act may also be required to post
bond or other acceptable security with this Department guaranteeing the payment
of the admitted or established liability.
g) Issuance of Certificate of Registration
Upon receipt of the application for certificate of
registration in proper form, and upon approval by the Department of the
security furnished by the applicant, the Department shall issue to the
applicant a certificate of registration that shall permit the person to whom it
is issued to engage in the business of selling tangible personal property at
retail in this State. The Department may deny a certificate of
registration to any applicant if a person who is named as the owner, a partner,
a manager or member of a limited liability company, or a corporate officer of
the applicant on the application for the certificate of registration is or has
been named as the owner, a partner, a manager or member of a limited liability
company, or a corporate officer on the application for the certificate of
registration of another retailer that is in default for moneys due under this
Act or any other tax or fee Act administered by the Department. For purposes of
this paragraph only, in determining whether a person is in default for moneys
due, the Department shall include only amounts established as a final liability
within the 23 years prior to the date of the Department's notice of denial of a
certificate of registration. [35 ILCS
120/2a ]
h)
No certificate of registration
issued prior to July 1, 2017 to a taxpayer who files returns required by the
Act on a monthly basis, or renewed prior to July 1, 2017 by a taxpayer who
files returns required by the Act on a monthly basis, shall be valid after the
expiration of 5 years from the date of its issuance or last renewal. No
certificate of registration issued on or after July 1, 2017 to a taxpayer who
files returns required by the Act on a monthly basis or renewed on or after
July 1, 2017 by a taxpayer who files returns required by the Act on a monthly
basis shall be valid after the expiration of 1 year from the date of its
issuance or last renewal. The expiration date of a sub-certificate of
registration shall be that of the certificate of registration to which the
sub-certificate relates. Prior to July 1, 2017, a certificate of registration
shall be automatically renewed, subject to revocation as provided by
the Act, for an additional 5 years from the date of its expiration
unless otherwise notified by the Department. On and after July 1, 2017, a
certificate of registration shall automatically be renewed, subject to
revocation as provided by the Act, for an additional 1 year
from the date of its expiration unless otherwise notified by the Department as
provided by subsection (i).
i) When a taxpayer to whom a
certificate of registration is issued under the Act is in
default to the State of Illinois for delinquent returns or for moneys due
under the Act or any other State tax law or municipal or
county ordinance administered or enforced by the Department, the Department
shall, not less than 60 days before the expiration of the
certificate of registration, give notice to the taxpayer to whom the
certificate was issued of the account period of the delinquent returns, the
amount of tax, penalty and interest due and owing from the taxpayer, and that
the certificate of registration shall not be automatically renewed upon its
expiration date unless the taxpayer, on or before the date of expiration, has
filed and paid the delinquent returns or paid the defaulted amount in
full. Upon expiration of a certificate of registration (including all
sub-certificates of registration, if any, issued under the certificate), the
Department may post notice at the place or places of business, at the front
entrance and on the front windows, to which the expired certificate applied,
stating that the certificate of registration has expired and that it is
unlawful for any person to engage in the business of selling tangible personal
property at retail in this State without an active certificate of registration
issued by the Department (see Illustration D).
j)
The Department may, in its
discretion, approve renewal by an applicant who is in default if, at the time
of application for renewal, the applicant files all of the delinquent returns
or pays to the Department the percentage of the defaulted
amount as may be determined by the Department and agrees in writing to waive
all limitations upon the Department for collection of the remaining defaulted
amount to the Department over a period not to exceed 5 years from the date of
renewal of the certificate; however, no renewal application submitted by an
applicant who is in default shall be approved if the immediately preceding
renewal by the applicant was conditioned upon the installment payment agreement
described in this Section. The payment agreement shall be in
addition to, and not in lieu of, the security required by this Section
of a taxpayer who is no longer considered a continuous compliance
taxpayer. The execution of the payment agreement as provided in the
Act shall not toll the accrual of interest at the statutory
rate. (Section 2a of the Act)
