Public Act 098-0352 (HB0049) Summary

• Establishes criminal penalties for use of automated sales suppression devices (zappers) and phantom-ware software that falsifies electronic cash register records, making knowingly selling, purchasing, installing, or using such devices a Class 3 felony across multiple tax acts.

• Defines "zapper" as software falsifying electronic records including transaction data and reports, and "phantom-ware" as hidden programming that can create duplicate records or eliminate transaction data in electronic cash registers.

• Applies the same zapper penalties uniformly across the Use Tax Act, Service Use Tax Act, Service Occupation Tax Act, and Retailers' Occupation Tax Act.

• Maintains existing criminal penalties for other tax violations, including Class 4 felonies for amounts under $300 and Class 3 felonies for amounts $300 or more for filing fraud and failure to remit collected taxes.

• Extends prosecution period for violations of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act from 3 years to 5 years after commission of the offense.