Department of Revenue posts 100 most delinquent taxpayers on Web

[November 04, 2009]  SPRINGFIELD -- On Tuesday, the Illinois Department of Revenue posted the names of 100 businesses and individuals that collectively owe the state at least $6.3 million. Each taxpayer on the list at www.tax.illinois.gov owes more than $1,000 in delinquent taxes.

"Every year there are millions of Illinois taxpayers who pay their taxes in full and on time, but some taxpayers try to avoid their responsibilities," said Brian Hamer, director of the Department of Revenue. "We use our online list of delinquent taxpayers to help us collect payments from those who have refused to pay their fair share."

The threat of disclosure and the negative publicity of being included in this list are particularly effective with self-employed professionals and cash businesses where some routine collection tools, such as the ability to garnish wages, may not work.

One such company in Cook County received a certified notice on May 12 that they would be posted on the Illinois Department of Revenue's online delinquent taxpayer list if they failed to pay their debt. To avoid having their company name in the list, they paid their delinquent tax of $128,945 on Aug. 13.

According to state law, the department is able to post the names of taxpayers who have owed at least $1,000 in taxes for six months, have been notified by certified mail and have had the chance to pay. Leading up to the posting, the department sent two rounds of notices to nearly 36,000 delinquent taxpayers, which generated more than $15 million in payments. The department will continue to pursue those on the list until their combined debt is paid.

The Illinois Department of Revenue staff has stepped up other programs to increase collections of delinquent taxes. The staff worked with the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation to implement a joint automated license suspension program targeting tax debtors who hold a professional license. The Department of Revenue also began using a new automated dialer feature that allows for thousands of accounts to be loaded into the system to conduct specific calling campaigns by tax type or dollar amounts.

To remove their name from the list posted yesterday, taxpayers must contact the department and pay the taxes owed. The fully searchable list is available at www.tax.illinois.gov.

[Text from Illinois Department of Revenue file received from the Illinois Office of Communication and Information]