Tax administration changes, the police and fire protection fee, defining restaurant for purposes of alcohol beverage regulation, lottery ticket couriers, background investigations of persons associated with the lottery, and providing a criminal penalty. (FE)

The bill also provides that tangible personal property transferred by a service provider in conjunction with the sale of a service is not considered incidental to the sale if the seller charges a separate and optional fee for the transferred property.

With regard to the county sales tax, the bill prohibits DOR from acting on any claim for a refund or adjustment of the tax after the end of the year that is four years after the year in which the county enacts an ordinance to repeal the tax.

The bill also replaces an obsolete reference to the definition of “active foreign business income” under the Internal Revenue Code with the actual language of that definition that existed prior to 2011. In addition, the bill modifies the law related to filing informational returns for the payment of wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, and rent so that the same provisions that apply to individuals and corporations apply to tax-options corporations.

For purposes of claiming a capital gains income tax deferral or exclusion based on investments in a qualified business, the bill defines “investment” as amounts paid to acquire stock or other ownership interest in a partnership, corporation, tax-option corporation, or limited liability company treated as a partnership or corporation.

Under the bill, with regard to the administration of various excise taxes, DOR must publish on its Internet site a list of persons holding valid permits for the sale of cigarettes, tobacco products, and fermented malt beverages.

Finally, the bill makes technical changes related to the property tax assessment roll, filing duplicate paperwork with DOR regarding managed forest land, the charge-back of refunded or rescinded property taxes, the sales and use tax exemption for fuel and electricity consumed in manufacturing, and the administration of the food and beverage taxes imposed by an exposition district.

Unclaimed property The bill does not require DOR to pay interest to a person who receives the person's previously unclaimed property from the state if that property is a U.S.

savings bond. Under current law, DOR pays interest on unclaimed property received by a claimant if the property was interest bearing to the owner on the date that the person holding the property surrendered it to DOR.

Lottery The bill explicitly prohibits the operation of a ticket courier service to sell Wisconsin lottery tickets. Under the bill, a ticket courier service is a service operated for the purpose of purchasing Wisconsin lottery tickets on behalf of individuals located within or outside Wisconsin and delivering or transmitting those tickets, or electronic images of those tickets, to those individuals as a for-profit, business service. Currently, the Wisconsin Constitution generally prohibits the purchase of Wisconsin lottery tickets or participation in the lottery by use of the telephone, computer, or other electronic, telecommunication, video, or technological aid.

The bill specifies that DOR, with assistance of the Department of Justice, must repeat, every five years, the background investigation of lottery employees, the lottery administrator, and lottery vendors and certain associates of vendors. The bill also allows DOR, with assistance from DOJ, to conduct initial background investigations of any person who may come into contact with sensitive information associated with the lottery and any person who may have access to secured areas and requires DOR, with assistance from DOJ, to repeat the background investigation every five years.

The bill changes from $1,000 to $600 the amount of lottery prize winnings for which the lottery administrator must report the amounts of the winnings for the purpose of determining whether the winner owes taxes or delinquent child support.

DOR must withhold the owed taxes or child support from the lottery winnings.

Police and fire protection fee This bill makes changes to the administration of a fee charged for phone line connections and prepaid wireless telecommunications plans. Under current law, the Public Service Commission charges a communications provider or retailer a fee, known as the police and fire protection fee, for each phone line connection or prepaid wireless telecommunications plan provided by the communications provider or retailer. Current law also provides that the PSC may contract with DOR only for the collection of the fee for prepaid wireless telecommunications plans. The bill allows the PSC to contract with DOR to administer the collection of the fee for each phone line connection. If the PSC contracts with DOR for the collection of the fee, DOR may require communications providers and retailers to register with DOR, conduct audits of communications providers and retailers to ensure compliance with the fee, and collect delinquent fee payments. The bill provides that a communications provider or retailer may request a redetermination of the fee from DOR and may file an objection to that redetermination with the PSC.

Alcohol regulation; restaurants This bill changes the definition of “restaurant” for purposes relating to the licensing and regulation of alcohol beverage establishments, and makes a change to correspond to this definitional change. Under the bill, a place where meals are prepared or served or sold to the general public may qualify as a restaurant even if this is not the predominant activity at that place.

Because this bill relates to an exemption from state or local taxes, it may be referred to the Joint Survey Committee on Tax Exemptions for a report to be printed as an appendix to the bill.