Confidentiality of Sales Tax

By law, all information received by the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) from sales tax returns is confidential. We cannot release information regarding individual taxpayer (retailer) reporting. We can make available reasonable statistics by grouping the contents of returns so that the information for any individual taxpayer is not disclosed.

For example, you may request to know how much sales tax was reported by a list of four or more comparable businesses, such as four restaurants operating within your taxing authority. We will review the list to determine if we can release the information.

Whenever possible, we will provide information for a
list made up of “like” types of businesses,
list made up of businesses that have similar amounts of receipts, or
large listing of businesses.

Financial reporting of this nature is available on an as needed basis and will be compiled as time and staff permit.

Yes. In order to do so, the retailer must send the department a written authorization stating

• the department may provide the local government’s share of sales tax that was received on the retailer’s behalf for the village, city, town, or county named;
• the period of time for which that information can be provided;
• the retailer’s Illinois Business Tax number;
• the retailer’s business name, address, and city, town, village, or county; and
• the retailer’s signature, printed name, title, and telephone number.