2000 Practitioners' Questions and Answers

Audit Bureau

Note: The answers by the Department of Revenue to the questions below are not to be relied upon by taxpayers in lieu of a Private Letter Ruling and are not the kind of written information upon which a taxpayer may rely to request an abatement under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Where a conflict appears to exist between these answers and a form, instruction, regulation or bulletin issued by the Department, taxpayers are advised to follow the form, instruction, regulation or bulletin, contact the Department's Business Hotline at (217) 524-4772, or seek a Private Letter Ruling.


1.	In order that the practitioners may better educate their clients in appropriate compliance, please identify: a. Which industries consistently result in findings of audit deficiencies? b. What specific global exceptions are repetitive?
	Response:	a. There is not, per se, any given industry with a worse compliance history than any other. A review of audit results, by SIC Code/Industry, did not reveal any significant difference in compliance by taxpayer classification. One possible exception to this may be the telecommunication industry. We continue to find significant liability for Telecommunication Excise Tax in our audits. We believe this may be due, in part, to technology changes and new services which telecommunication providers do not believe are subject to the tax. In addition, we find more non-filers in this industry than in most other industries combined. b. By far and away, the most common exception noted in the audit of most companies is the failure to assess and pay use tax on consumable purchases. This is a continuing problem in the audit of most companies.
2.	Can the Department identify any specific industries on which it intends to focus its audit attention?
	Response:	The department has expanded its audit coverage levels of cash businesses for the past several years in an effort to increase overall compliance levels in this industry.