Pub-113, Registering your Business

1. Who must register as a retailer?
2. Under what circumstances would I be registered as a reseller?
3. If I am just starting my business, what do I do to register?
4. How do I activate a MyTax Illinois logon?
5. How will I know that I have successfully registered?
6. What if my business has more than one location?
7. How do I add, change, or discontinue one of my tax sites?
8. Will I need to renew my certificate?
9. What if my certificate is lost, damaged, or destroyed?
10. What if I discontinue my business or one of my locations or change my business structure?
11. What if I need to update my business registration information?
12. Who do I contact if I have questions about registration?
13. Are there other types of taxes or fees for which I may need to register?
14. What if I sell items that must be titled and/or registered?

You must register as a retailer and remit Retailers’ Occupation Tax (ROT) and any applicable local taxes administered by IDOR (sales tax) if you are engaged in the business of selling, leasing, or renting at retail tangible personal property in Illinois for use or consumption.

Beginning January 1, 2025, a retailer maintaining a place of business in this State* that makes retail sales of tangible personal property to Illinois customers from a location or locations outside of Illinois is engaged in the occupation of selling at retail in Illinois for purposes of ROT. Such retailers are liable for all applicable State and locally imposed retailers’ occupation taxes administered by IDOR on retail sales made to Illinois customers from locations outside of Illinois.

Also, Beginning January 1, 2025, Public Act 103-592 amends the ROT Act to provide that a lease of tangible personal property, excluding items that must be titled or registered with an agency of state government (other than trailers that are not semitrailers as defined in Section 1-187 of the Illinois Vehicle Code), is considered a sale at retail. You must file Form ST-1 if you are in the business of leasing or renting tangible personal property.

You are engaged in the business of selling, leasing, or renting at retail tangible personal property in Illinois for use or consumption and must remit ROT and any applicable local taxes administered by IDOR if:

• you make retail sales, leases, or rentals from a location in this State to purchasers located in this State;
• you are an out-of-State** retailer that maintains inventory in this State and fulfills a sale, lease, or rental to a purchaser located in this State from that inventory;
• you sell, lease, or rent items at craft shows, fairs, seminars, and conventions in this State;
• you are a remote retailer or a marketplace facilitator who meets a tax remittance threshold of either 200 or more separate transactions per year or $100,000 or more in cumulative gross receipts from sales of tangible personal property to purchasers in Illinois, for the preceding four calendar quarters. See the Leveling the Playing Field for Illinois Retail Act Resource Page for additional information, including definitions of a “remote retailer” and “marketplace facilitator”; or
• you are a retailer maintaining a place of business in this State, and you make retail sales, leases, or rentals to Illinois customers from locations outside of Illinois and the property is shipped or delivered into Illinois. For purposes of this publication, we will refer to these types of sales, leases, and rentals as “destination retail sales, leases, and rentals.”

The following definitions are applicable for the purpose of determining if you are considered a retailer maintaining a place of business in this State

• you have or maintain within this State, directly or by a subsidiary, an office, distribution house, sales house, warehouse or other place of business, or any agent or other representative operating within this State under your authority or a subsidiary of yours, irrespective of whether such place of business or agent or other representative is located here permanently or temporarily, or whether you or your subsidiary is licensed to do business in this State;
• you have a contract with a person located in this State under which the person, for a commission or other consideration based upon the sale of tangible personal property by you, directly or indirectly refers potential customers to you by providing to the potential customers a promotional code or other mechanism that allows you to track purchases referred by such persons. Examples of mechanisms that allow you to track purchases referred by such persons include but are not limited to the use of a link on the person’s internet website, promotional codes distributed through the person’s hand-delivered or mailed material, and promotional codes distributed by the person through radio or other broadcast media. The provisions of this paragraph apply only if the cumulative gross receipts from sales of tangible personal property by you to customers who are referred to you by all persons in this State under such contracts exceed $10,000 during the preceding four quarterly periods ending on the last day of March, June, September, and December;
• you have contract with a person located in this State under which:
  • you sell the same or substantially similar line of products as the person located in this State and do so using an identical or substantially similar name, trade name, or trademark as the person located in this State; and
  • you provide a commission or other consideration to the person located in this State based upon the sale of tangible personal property by you.
    
    The provisions of this paragraph apply only if the cumulative gross receipts from sales of tangible personal property by you to customers in this State under all such contracts exceed $10,000 during the preceding four quarterly periods ending on the last day of March, June, September, and December.

Note: For sales before January 1, 2025, the out-of-State retailer maintaining a place of business in this State who makes sales from outside of this State to Illinois customers must remit Use Tax. Effective January 1, 2025, the out-of-State retailer maintaining a place of business in this State that makes sales to Illinois customers from a location or locations outside of Illinois must remit State and local ROT at the tax rate in effect at the location where the tangible personal property is shipped or delivered or at which possession is taken by the purchaser (destination rate).

* As used in this document, “State” refers to the State of Illinois.

** As used in this document, “out-of-State” refers to outside of the State of Illinois.

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You will be registered as a reseller, rather than a retailer, if all of your sales, leases, or rentals of tangible personal property are nontaxable (i.e., all sales, leases, or rentals are for resale).

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Register with IDOR electronically using MyTax Illinois:

If you are not already registered, select “Register a New Business (Form REG-1)” and complete the registration application.

If you choose to register using the paper application, complete and sign Form REG-1, Illinois Business Registration Application, allow 6-8 weeks for processing, and submit it via email, fax, or mail to:

CENTRAL REGISTRATION DIVISION 3-222
ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
PO BOX 19030
SPRINGFIELD IL 62794-9030

Fax: 217 785-6013

Email: rev.crd@illinois.gov

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Once your business is registered, you can activate your MyTax Illinois logon. Please allow 24 hours from your registration confirmation email before activating a logon for MyTax Illinois. To activate a logon for business, go to mytax.illinois.gov, select the “Sign Up” link, and then select the taxpayer ID type. You can use one of the following options to validate the activation:

• Owner/Officer or Responsible Party Social Security Number
• PIN previously issued by IDOR (used for certain electronic filing methods, such as Webfile and third-party tax software, separate from MyTax Illinois)
• Account Activity validation

This activation process is to help ensure only individuals who are authorized by their organization are allowed to gain access to a business’s tax information.

Once you have activated your MyTax Illinois logon, if you are a Corporation, S-Corp, Partnership, or LLC organization type and are registered for other tax accounts, you can register for new tax types through your existing MyTax Illinois logon account, by selecting “More…” and then selecting “Register for New Tax Accounts.”

Sole proprietorships can only register for new tax accounts by selecting “Register a New Business (Form REG-1)” and completing Form REG-1, the Illinois Business Registration Application, on the MyTax Illinois home screen.

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We will send you a Certificate of Registration (Certificate). You are required to have this Certificate if you engage in the business of selling, leasing, or renting tangible personal property. The Certificate lists your Sales and Use Tax Account ID, your business name, address, the effective date, the tax type for which you are registered, and the date the Certificate will expire.

MyTax Illinois is the primary method you should use to obtain and print or download a copy of your Certificate. From your MyTax Illinois logon, the Certificate is located by selecting “View more account options” in the ST-1 Sales/Use Tax panel and then “View Account Letters” in the “Letters and Messages” panel. The Certificate is on the second page of the Business Authorization letter. If you are unable to print or download a copy of your business’s Certificate, you can also contact our Central Registration Division by email at rev.crd@illinois.gov or phone at 217 785-3707 to request a paper copy be mailed to you.

If you are in the business of operating vending machines, we will issue a vending machine decal (sub-Certificate) for each vending machine you own, based on the number you provided in your registration.

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You must register all locations at which you make sales, leases, or rentals prior to filing your Form ST-1 for the reporting period. Retailers with multiple locations must register a permanent location tax site for each tax location. All retailers making destination retail sales, leases, or rentals as described above must register a changing location tax site for each local tax jurisdiction (e.g., city or county) where the customer is located. IDOR will supply a Certificate for each location you register Certificates for permanent locations will display the individual location address. Certificates for changing locations will display the local tax jurisdiction.

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If you change the location of your business or, if you are a multiple location filer and one of your locations changes, you can update your registered locations using MyTax Illinois with the maintain locations request. It is important for you to keep this information up to date to ensure you are filing using the correct tax rate. This is also important to IDOR to ensure that we allocate the tax you collected to the proper jurisdiction.

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If you are registered as a retailer and are required to file sales tax returns, your Certificate will expire after one year. Unless we notify you otherwise, we will renew your Certificate automatically.

If you are registered as a reseller, you must reapply every three years. We will send you a renewal packet that you must return before we send you a new Certificate.

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If your Certificate is lost, damaged, or destroyed, you can print a replacement using MyTax Illinois. You can also contact our Central Registration Division to request a new Certificate.

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If you discontinue your business or one of your locations, you must update your registration information with IDOR. In addition, you must destroy all Certificates related to that business. If you discontinue one of your locations, you must destroy the Certificate for that location.

If you change the structure of your business (e.g., changing from a sole proprietorship to a corporation), you must

• tell us to discontinue the old business entity, and
• register the new business entity by completing a new Form REG-1, Illinois Business Registration Application.

Note: Certificates cannot be transferred.

In addition, you must update your registration information with IDOR. MyTax allows you to close your existing business and register a new one or to maintain your registered locations. You also can contact our Central Registration Division or send us a completed paper registration form depending on the change or update needed. It is important that you update your registration information with us when you go out of business or discontinue a location.

You must complete and file Form CBS-1, Notice of Sale, Purchase, or Transfer of Business Assets, if, outside your usual course of business, you sell or transfer

• the major part of the stock of goods that you are in the business of selling,
• the furniture or fixtures of your business,
• the machinery and equipment of your business, or
• the real property of your business,

Form CBS-1 must be filed with IDOR at least ten (10) days prior to the sale or transfer date or it will not be processed. See 86 Ill. Adm Code 130.1701 for more information.

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Most general maintenance can be completed electronically using MyTax Illinois. MyTax Illinois allows you to change legal and mailing address information, update responsible party, update owners/officers and members/managers (for Limited Liability Companies), update contact information, and cease tax accounts. MyTax Illinois also allows you to add and cease locations by using the Maintain Locations link in your Sales and Use Tax (ST-1) account in MyTax Illinois.

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For registration questions, see our Taxpayer Answer Center at tax.illinois.gov. If you cannot find an answer, you can email IDOR from the Taxpayer Answer Center. You can also contact our Central Registration Division at rev.crd@illinois.gov or 217 785-3707.

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If you are registering as a retailer, you will not need to file a separate registration application for other taxes and fees; however, you may need to complete additional information on Form REG-1 depending on the nature and location of your business. Additional information is required for the sales-related taxes and fees listed here:

Automobile Renting Occupation and Use Tax (ART)

You must be registered for this tax if you are in the business of renting automobiles for a period of one year or less. See Publication 114, Automobile Renting Occupation and Use Tax, for more information. Taxpayers registered for ART file Form ART-1, Automobile Renting Occupation and Use Tax Return.

County Motor Fuel Tax (CMFT)

You must be registered for this tax if you sell motor fuel at retail within a county that has imposed a tax on such sales within that county. See Publication 115, County Motor Fuel Tax, for more information. Taxpayers registered for CMFT file Form CMFT-1, County Motor Fuel Tax Return.

Municipal Motor Fuel Tax (MMFT)

You must be registered for this tax if you sell motor fuel at retail within a municipality within Cook County that has imposed a tax on such sales. See FY 2020-21, New Municipal Motor Fuel Tax Allowed to be Imposed by Municipalities Located in Cook County, for more information. Taxpayers registered for MMFT file Form MMFT-1, Municipal Motor Fuel Tax Return.

Chicago Home Rule Municipal Soft Drink ROT

You must be registered for this tax if you sell canned or bottled (not fountain) soft drinks at retail in the city of Chicago. See Publication 116, Chicago Soft Drink Tax, for more information. Taxpayers registered for the Chicago Home Rule Municipal Soft Drink ROT file Form ST-14, Chicago Soft Drink Tax Return.

Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority Food and Beverage Tax (MPEA)

You must be registered for this tax if you sell prepared food and beverages and you are located within the boundaries of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA). See Publication 117, MPEA Food and Beverage Tax, for more information. Taxpayers registered for the MPEA Food and Beverage Tax file Form ST-4, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority Food and Beverage Tax Return.

Prepaid Sales Tax (PST)

You must be registered for this tax if you sell motor fuel in Illinois to retailers. Taxpayers registered for PST file Form PST-1, Prepaid Sales Tax Return.

Rental Purchase Agreement Occupation Tax (RPAT)

You must be registered for this tax if, in the ordinary course of your business, you regularly lease, offer to lease, or arrange for the leasing of merchandise under a rental purchase agreement. Taxpayers registered for RPAT file Form ST-201, Rental Purchase Agreement Occupation Tax Return.

Tire User Fee

You must be registered for this fee if you sell or deliver tires in Illinois at retail. See Publication 118, Tire User Fee, for more information. Taxpayers registered for the Tire User Fee file Form ST-8, Tire User Fee.

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When you tell us that you sell items that must be titled and/or registered (for example, vehicles, watercraft, aircraft, trailers, mobile homes, and ATVs), you will be required to file an additional return for each of these sales — Form ST-556, Sales Tax Transaction Return. Effective January 1, 2015, items sold for lease that must be titled and/or registered are reported on Form ST-556-LSE, Transaction Return for Leases.

Retailers that report transactions on Form ST-556-LSE and Form ST-556 also must file Form ST-1.

Note: Leasing companies must file Form LSE-1, Tax Return for Leasing Companies, if they offer for lease for a period of longer than one year a qualifying motor vehicle, titled or registered in Illinois, and under this lease, the customer paid additional taxable amounts that were not included in the original selling price of the motor vehicle at the start of the lease. Qualifying motor vehicles are:

• all first division motor vehicles, including motorcycles; and
• the following second division motor vehicles:
  • those with a gross vehicle weight rating of 8,000 pounds or less;
  • those of a van configuration designed to transport not less than seven or more than 16 passengers; and
  • those which are self-contained and designed or permanently converted to provide living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel use and have direct walk-through access to the living quarters from the driver’s seat.

Effective January 1, 2025, if you rent or lease titled or registered items that are subject to tax on lease receipts, you must register for Form LSE-1. For more information see FY 2025-17, Reporting Requirements for Certain Titled or Registered Property Subject to Tax on Lease or Rental Receipts.

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