19.44 Form of statement.

(1) Every statement of economic interests which is required to be filed under this subchapter shall be in the form prescribed by the commission, and shall contain the following information:

(a) The identity of every organization with which the individual required to file is associated and the nature of his or her association with the organization, except that no identification need be made of:

1. Any organization which is described in section 170 (c) of the internal revenue code.

2. Any organization which is organized and operated primarily to influence voting at an election including support for or opposition to an individual's present or future candidacy or to a present or future referendum.

3. Any nonprofit organization which is formed exclusively for social purposes and any nonprofit community service organization.

4. A trust.

(b) The identity of every organization or body politic in which the individual who is required to file or that individual's immediate family, severally or in the aggregate, owns, directly or indirectly, securities having a value of $5,000 or more, the identity of such securities and their approximate value, except that no identification need be made of a security or issuer of a security when it is issued by any organization not doing business in this state or by any government or instrumentality or agency thereof, or an authority or public corporation created and regulated by an act of such government, other than the state of Wisconsin, its instrumentalities, agencies and political subdivisions, or authorities or public corporations created and regulated by an act of the legislature.

(c) The name of any creditor to whom the individual who is required to file or such individual's immediate family, severally or in the aggregate, owes $5,000 or more and the approximate amount owed.

(d) The real property located in this state in which the individual who is required to file or such individual's immediate family holds an interest, other than the principal residence of the individual or his or her immediate family, and the nature of the interest held. An individual's interest in real property does not include a proportional share of interests in real property if the individual's proportional share is less than 10 percent of the outstanding shares or is less than an equity value of $5,000.

(e) The identity of each payer from which the individual who is required to file or a member of his or her immediate family received $1,000 or more of his or her income for the preceding taxable year, except that if the individual who is required to file identifies the general nature of the business in which he or she or his or her immediate family is engaged, then no identification need be made of a decedent's estate or an individual, not acting as a representative of an organization, unless the individual is a lobbyist as defined in s. 13.62. In addition, no identification need be made of payers from which only dividends or interest, anything of pecuniary value reported under s. 19.56 or reportable under s. 19.57, or political contributions reported under ch. 11 were received.

(f) If the individual who is required to file or a member of his or her immediate family received $10,000 or more of his or her income for the preceding taxable year from a partnership, limited liability company, corporation electing to be taxed as a partnership under subchapter S of the internal revenue code or service corporation under ss. 180.1901 to 180.1921 in which the individual or a member of his or her immediate family, severally or in the aggregate, has a 10 percent or greater interest, the identity of each payer from which the organization received $10,000 or more of its income for its preceding taxable year, except that if the individual who is required to file identifies the general nature of the business in which he or she or his or her immediate family is engaged then no identification need be made of a decedent's estate or an individual, not acting as a representative of an organization, unless the individual is a lobbyist as defined in s. 13.62. In addition, no identification need be made of payers from which dividends or interest are received.

(g) The identity of each person from which the individual who is required to file received, directly or indirectly, any gift or gifts having an aggregate value of more than $50 within the taxable year preceding the time of filing, except that the source of a gift need not be identified if the donation is permitted under s. 19.56 (3) (e), (em) or (f) or if the donor is the donee's parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, parent-in-law, grandparent-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, spouse, fiance or fiancee.

(h) Lodging, transportation, money or other things of pecuniary value reportable under s. 19.56 (2).

(2) Whenever a dollar amount is required to be reported pursuant to this section, it is sufficient to report whether the amount is not more than $50,000, or more than $50,000.

(3)

(a) An individual is the owner of a trust and the trust's assets and obligations if he or she is the creator of the trust and has the power to revoke the trust without obtaining the consent of all of the beneficiaries of the trust.

(b) An individual who is eligible to receive income or other beneficial use of the principal of a trust is the owner of a proportional share of the principal in the proportion that the individual's beneficial interest in the trust bears to the total beneficial interests vested in all beneficiaries of the trust. A vested beneficial interest in a trust includes a vested reverter interest.

(4) Information which is required by this section shall be provided on the basis of the best knowledge, information and belief of the individual filing the statement.

History: 1973 c. 90; Stats. 1973 s. 11.04; 1973 c. 334 ss. 33, 57, 58; Stats. 1973 s. 19.44; 1977 c. 277; 1979 c. 110 s. 60 (4), (11); 1983 a. 61; 1983 a. 166 ss. 6, 16; 1983 a. 538; 1989 a. 303, 338; 1991 a. 39; 1993 a. 112, 490; 1995 a. 27; 2011 a. 32; 2015 a. 118 s. 266 (10).

Law Revision Committee Note, 1983: Under the ethics code, each state public official and candidate for state public office must file a statement of economic interests with the ethics board listing the businesses, organizations and other legal entities from which they and their families received substantial income during the preceding taxable year. However, the ethics code does not require identification of individual persons from whom the income is received. This bill provides that if the individual filing the statement of economic interests identifies the general nature of the business in which the individual or a member of his or her family is engaged, then no identification need be made of the estate of any deceased individual from which income was received. This bill makes it unnecessary to identify a decedent's estate which was indebted to a state public official or candidate for state public office, and makes it unnecessary to identify decedents' estates which are represented by lawyer-public officials.

A beneficiary of a future interest in a trust must identify the securities held by the trust if the individual's interest in the securities is valued at $5,000 or more. 80 Atty. Gen. 183.