RL-26-A, Liquor Revenue Airline Return Instructions

You must file Form RL-26-A, Liquor Revenue Airline Return, if you are an airline that distributes alcoholic liquor. Such an airline is considered to be an importing distributor (e.g., a person in Illinois who imports or causes to be imported into Illinois any alcoholic liquor).

Alcoholic liquor includes alcohol, spirits, wine, beer, and every liquid or solid, patented or not, containing alcohol, spirits, wine, or beer, that are more than one-half of one percent alcohol by volume and are capable of being consumed as a beverage by a person.

You must file Form RL-26-A, including all attachments, on or before the 15th day of each month for the preceding month.

Form RL-26-A can be filed electronically in MyTax Illinois. MyTax Illinois also allows for electronic payment of any tax due. 

You can also complete a paper Form RL-26-A and mail it along with attachments to:

Alcohol, Tobacco and Fuel Division
Illinois Department of Revenue
PO Box 19467
Springfield, IL 62794-9467

If you have questions, email us at REV.ATP-MFR@illinois.gov, write us at the address above, or call us weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 217-782-6045.

You owe a late-filing penalty if you do not file a processable return by the due date, a late-payment penalty if you do not pay the tax you owe by the original due date of the return, and a bad check penalty if your remittance is not honored by your financial institution. Interest is calculated on tax from the day after the original due date of your return through the date you pay the tax. We will bill you for penalties and interest. For more information about penalties and interest, see Publication 103, Penalties and Interest for Illinois Taxes.

If you fail to keep the required records or if you violate provisions of the Liquor Control Act of 1934 or our rules and regulations, you are guilty of a petty offense for the first offense. For a second or subsequent offense, you are guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.

Each day you engage in business as a manufacturer, foreign importer, importing distributor, or retailer in violation of the act constitutes a separate offense.

You must keep complete and accurate records for at least 3 years.

Line 8 – Number of wine gallons of alcoholic liquor you imported into Illinois. Attach Schedule A to support this line.

Line 9 – Number of wine gallons of alcoholic liquor you purchased from Illinois manufacturers or other licensed importing distributors on which Illinois Liquor Tax was not paid when you made the purchase. Attach Schedule F to support this line.

Lines 10 through 13 – The portion of alcoholic beverages sold or dispensed within Illinois subject to the Illinois Liquor Tax is determined by the ratio of revenue passenger miles flown within Illinois, on flights both arriving and departing Illinois, to the total number of revenue passenger miles flown by the individual airlines, both within and without Illinois.

Line 10 – Number of Illinois revenue passenger miles.

Line 11 – Number of total system revenue passenger miles.

Line 12 – Number of wine gallons of alcoholic liquor purchased by the system for its aircraft (excluding in-bond).

Line 13 – Percentage factor for each type of alcoholic beverage.

Line 14 – Multiply Line 12 by Line 13. This is the total quantity of alcoholic liquor subject to tax.

Line 15 – Complete your return using the preprinted tax rates on Line 15. If you file electronically using MyTax Illinois, the rates will be populated for you.

Line 16 – Multiply Line 14 by Line 15. This is the tax due for each liquor class.

Line 17 – Add all columns’ Line 16. This is the amount of total tax due.

Line 18 – If you timely file and pay this tax electronically you are entitled to a discount. To determine the discount amount, multiply Line 17 by 2% (.02); compare the amount to the $2,000 discount cap; and, enter the lesser on Line 18.

Line 19 – Subtract Line 18 from Line 17 - tax due before any credit you may wish to apply.

Line 20 – If you have a credit memorandum issued to you by us and wish to apply that toward your balance due, enter the amount of credit you wish to apply.

Line 21 – Subtract Line 20 from Line 19 and pay this amount. If you do not pay the tax you owe by the due date, you will owe additional penalty and interest. We will bill you for penalties and interest you owe. For more information, see Publication 103, Uniform Penalties and Interest.

If alcoholic liquor on which tax has not been paid is returned to you, the shipper will report the transaction on Schedule B and you will report the transaction on Schedule F.

An owner or officer must sign (include title) and date your return. Also provide a daytime phone number where you can be contacted. If a tax preparer completed your return, the preparer must also complete the information in this Step.

The CSV (Comma Separated Value) file format is used for importing the RL-26-A file directly to an Illinois Liquor Revenue Tax account. The import feature is recommended for users who have software that can create the CSV format. Using a spreadsheet program (e.g., Excel), columns are required to create a CSV file that is recognized and accepted by MyTax Illinois. You may also use a text file following the same formatting. The invoices should be sorted and grouped by Schedule type (Column 1) before importing the file. The file should have no header row. The file must contain the following columns in this order:

Example:

You are filing Schedule A, with invoice number 12345678, and invoice date 10/10/2026. Their FEIN is 123456789. Your shipper’s name is ABC Liquor, Inc., located at 101 Any Blvd., Springfield, MA 60001-1234. The Cider 0.5% to 7% or beer gallonage is 150.123000. The record for the transaction would be reported as follows: CSV Spreadsheet Example (e.g., Excel)

Text File Example (e.g., Notepad) A,12345678,10/10/2026,123456789,150.123000,,,,,,ABC Liquor Inc.,101 Any Blvd.,Springfield,MA,60001-1234 Save your spreadsheet or text file using the file type “CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv)” option. For text files, separate each field with a comma and each record with a hard return. Once you have your file saved in this format, you may use the “Import” option in MyTax Illinois.

RL-26-A Instructions (R-06/26)