§ 8-11-24 — Municipal Grocery Occupation Tax Law

(a) The corporate authorities of any municipality may, by ordinance or resolution that takes effect on or after January 1, 2026, impose a tax upon all persons engaged in the business of selling groceries at retail in the municipality on the gross receipts from those sales made in the course of that business. If imposed, the tax shall be at the rate of 1% of the gross receipts from these sales. The tax imposed by a municipality under this subsection and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an incident of the tax shall be collected and enforced by the Department. The certificate of registration that is issued by the Department to a retailer under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act shall permit the retailer to engage in a business that is taxable under any ordinance or resolution enacted under this subsection without registering separately with the Department under that ordinance or resolution or under this subsection. The Department shall have full power to administer and enforce this subsection; to collect all taxes and penalties due under this subsection; to dispose of taxes and penalties so collected in the manner provided in this Section and under rules adopted by the Department; and to determine all rights to credit memoranda arising on account of the erroneous payment of tax or penalty under this subsection. In the administration of, and compliance with, this subsection, the Department and persons who are subject to this subsection shall have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, powers, and duties, and be subject to the same conditions, restrictions, limitations, penalties and definitions of terms, and employ the same modes of procedure, as are prescribed in Sections 1, 2 through 2-65 (in respect to all provisions therein other than the State rate of tax and other than the exemption for food for human consumption that is to be consumed off the premises where it is sold (other than alcoholic beverages, food consisting of or infused with adult use cannabis, soft drinks, candy, and food that has been prepared for immediate consumption), which is authorized to be taxed as provided in this subsection), 2c, 3 (except as to the disposition of taxes and penalties collected), 4, 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e, 5f, 5g, 5i, 5j, 6, 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 11a, 12 and 13 of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act and all of the Uniform Penalty and Interest Act, as fully as if those provisions were set forth in this Section. Persons subject to any tax imposed under the authority granted in this subsection may reimburse themselves for their seller's tax liability hereunder by separately stating that tax as an additional charge, which charge may be stated in combination, in a single amount, with State tax which sellers are required to collect under the Use Tax Act, pursuant to such bracket schedules as the Department may prescribe. (b) If a tax has been imposed under subsection (a), then a service occupation tax must also be imposed at the same rate upon all persons engaged, in the municipality, in the business of making sales of service, who, as an incident to making those sales of service, transfer groceries, as defined in this Section, as an incident to a sale of service. The tax imposed under this subsection and all civil penalties that may be assessed as an incident thereof shall be collected and enforced by the Department. The certificate of registration that is issued by the Department to a retailer under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act or the Service Occupation Tax Act shall permit the registrant to engage in a business that is taxable under any ordinance or resolution enacted pursuant to this subsection without registering separately with the Department under the ordinance or resolution or under this subsection. The Department shall have full power to administer and enforce this subsection, to collect all taxes and penalties due under this subsection, to dispose of taxes and penalties so collected in the manner provided in this Section and under rules adopted by the Department, and to determine all rights to credit memoranda arising on account of the erroneous payment of a tax or penalty under this subsection. In the administration of and compliance with this subsection, the Department and persons who are subject to this subsection shall have the same rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, powers and duties, and be subject to the same conditions, restrictions, limitations, penalties and definitions of terms, and employ the same modes of procedure as are set forth in Sections 2, 2c, 3 through 3-50 (in respect to all provisions contained in those Sections other than (i) the State rate of tax; (ii) the exemption for food for human consumption that is to be consumed off the premises where it is sold (other than alcoholic beverages, food consisting of or infused with adult use cannabis, soft drinks, candy, and food that has been prepared for immediate consumption), which is authorized to be taxed as provided in this subsection; and (iii) the exemption for food prepared for immediate consumption and transferred incident to a sale of service subject to the Service Occupation Tax Act or the Service Use Tax Act by an entity licensed under the Hospital Licensing Act, the Nursing Home Care Act, the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act, the ID/DD Community Care Act, the MC/DD Act, the Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Act of 2013, or the Child Care Act of 1969, or an entity that holds a permit issued pursuant to the Life Care Facilities Act, which is authorized to be taxed as provided in this subsection), 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 (except as to the disposition of taxes and penalties collected), 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 of the Service Occupation Tax Act and all provisions of the Uniform Penalty and Interest Act, as fully as if those provisions were set forth in this Section. Persons subject to any tax imposed under the authority granted in this subsection may reimburse themselves for their serviceman's tax liability by separately stating the tax as an additional charge, which may be stated in combination, in a single amount, with State tax that servicemen are authorized to collect under the Service Use Tax Act, pursuant to any bracketed schedules set forth by the Department. (c) The Department shall immediately pay over to the State Treasurer, ex officio, as trustee, all taxes and penalties collected under this Section. Those taxes and penalties shall be deposited into the Municipal Grocery Tax Trust Fund, a trust fund created in the State treasury. Except as otherwise provided in this Section, moneys in the Municipal Grocery Tax Trust Fund shall be used to make payments to municipalities and for the payment of refunds under this Section. Moneys deposited into the Municipal Grocery Tax Trust Fund under this Section are not subject to appropriation and shall be used as provided in this Section. All deposits into the Municipal Grocery Tax Trust Fund shall be held in the Municipal Grocery Tax Trust Fund by the State Treasurer, ex officio, as trustee separate and apart from all public moneys or funds of this State. Whenever the Department determines that a refund should be made under this Section to a claimant instead of issuing a credit memorandum, the Department shall notify the State Comptroller, who shall cause the order to be drawn for the amount specified and to the person named in the notification from the Department. The refund shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of the Municipal Grocery Tax Trust Fund. (d) As soon as possible after the first day of each month, upon certification of the Department, the Comptroller shall order transferred, and the Treasurer shall transfer, to the STAR Bonds Revenue Fund the local sales tax increment, if any, as defined in the Innovation Development and Economy Act, collected under this Section. After the monthly transfer to the STAR Bonds Revenue Fund, if any, on or before the 25th day of each calendar month, the Department shall prepare and certify to the Comptroller the disbursement of stated sums of money to named municipalities, the municipalities to be those from which retailers have paid taxes or penalties under this Section to the Department during the second preceding calendar month. The amount to be paid to each municipality shall be the amount (not including credit memoranda) collected under this Section during the second preceding calendar month by the Department plus an amount the Department determines is necessary to offset any amounts that were erroneously paid to a different taxing body, and not including an amount equal to the amount of refunds made during the second preceding calendar month by the Department on behalf of such municipality, and not including any amount that the Department determines is necessary to offset any amounts that were payable to a different taxing body but were erroneously paid to the municipality, and not including any amounts that are transferred to the STAR Bonds Revenue Fund. Within 10 days after receipt by the Comptroller of the disbursement certification to the municipalities provided for in this Section to be given to the Comptroller by the Department, the Comptroller shall cause the orders to be drawn for the amounts in accordance with the directions contained in the certification. (e) Nothing in this Section shall be construed to authorize a municipality to impose a tax upon the privilege of engaging in any business which under the Constitution of the United States may not be made the subject of taxation by this State. (f) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, an ordinance or resolution imposing or discontinuing the tax hereunder or effecting a change in the rate thereof shall either (i) be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of April, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of July next following the adoption and filing or (ii) be adopted and a certified copy thereof filed with the Department on or before the first day of October, whereupon the Department shall proceed to administer and enforce this Section as of the first day of January next following the adoption and filing. (g) When certifying the amount of a monthly disbursement to a municipality under this Section, the Department shall increase or decrease the amount by an amount necessary to offset any misallocation of previous disbursements. The offset amount shall be the amount erroneously disbursed within the previous 6 months from the time a misallocation is discovered. (h) As used in this Section, "Department" means the Department of Revenue. For purposes of the tax authorized to be imposed under subsection (a), "groceries" has the same meaning as "food for human consumption that is to be consumed off the premises where it is sold (other than alcoholic beverages, food consisting of or infused with adult use cannabis, soft drinks, candy, and food that has been prepared for immediate consumption)", as further defined in Section 2-10 of the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act. For purposes of the tax authorized to be imposed under subsection (b), "groceries" has the same meaning as "food for human consumption that is to be consumed off the premises where it is sold (other than alcoholic beverages, food consisting of or infused with adult use cannabis, soft drinks, candy, and food that has been prepared for immediate consumption)", as further defined in Section 3-10 of the Service Occupation Tax Act. For purposes of the tax authorized to be imposed under subsection (b), "groceries" also means food prepared for immediate consumption and transferred incident to a sale of service subject to the Service Occupation Tax Act or the Service Use Tax Act by an entity licensed under the Hospital Licensing Act, the Nursing Home Care Act, the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Act, the ID/DD Community Care Act, the MC/DD Act, the Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Act of 2013, or the Child Care Act of 1969, or an entity that holds a permit issued pursuant to the Life Care Facilities Act. (i) This Section may be referred to as the Municipal Grocery Occupation Tax Law.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 103-781, eff. 8-5-24; 104-6, eff. 1-1-26 .)