HB5289 Summary

• Establishes a new sales tax evasion offense under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act for persons who knowingly attempt to evade or defeat the tax through affirmative acts such as concealing facts, falsifying documents, or tampering with materials.

• Creates graduated felony penalties for sales tax evasion based on the amount of tax evaded: Class 4 felony for less than $500, Class 3 felony for $500-$9,999, Class 2 felony for $10,000-$99,999, and Class 1 felony for $100,000 or more.

• Allows multiple acts of sales tax evasion to be charged as a single count with aggregated tax deficiencies, and permits the period between first and last acts to be alleged as the offense date.

• Extends the statute of limitations for prosecuting Retailers' Occupation Tax Act violations from 3 years to 5 years.

• Maintains existing criminal penalties for specific violations including failure to file returns, fraudulent returns, unauthorized resale numbers, and improper tax collection.