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

• Statutory - 70 ILCS 210/13(b)

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The MPEA Food and Beverage tax is a local retailers' occupation tax administered by the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR). The tax is imposed on sales, within MPEA boundaries, of food prepared for immediate consumption, alcoholic beverages, and soft drinks.

This page provides businesses who have food and beverage sales from locations within MPEA boundaries, including restaurants, other food and beverage establishments, and marketplace facilitators, with the information needed to collect the proper amount of tax due and to file returns correctly.

As a retailer of food and beverages within the MPEA boundaries, you are responsible for 

• collecting  the correct amount of tax on every applicable food and beverage sale you make,
  
• properly documenting the tax-exempt sales you make, 
• sending a payment for the tax with your properly completed Form ST-4, MPEA Food and Beverage Tax Return, by the due date, to IDOR, and 
• keeping complete and accurate books and records for all food and beverage sales. 
  

1. What are the MPEA food and beverage boundaries?
2. How do I determine if I am making sales within the MPEA food and beverage boundaries?
3. On what sales must I collect and pay the MPEA Food and Beverage tax?
4. What is the tax rate?
5. Does the Leveling the Playing Field for Illinois Retail Act affect the MPEA Food and Beverage tax? 
6. How does the Leveling the Playing Field for Illinois Retail Act affect food and beverage sales by food and beverage establishments within MPEA boundaries made through a marketplace facilitator? 
7. What are the MPEA Food and Beverage tax responsibilities of a marketplace facilitator?
8. Are there any different registration requirements if I am a marketplace facilitator?
9. What books and records must I keep?
10. What forms are required and when are they due?
11. Is there an incentive for paying the MPEA Food and Beverage tax collected on time?
12. Questions?

The MPEA food and beverage tax may be levied within all or any part of the following described areas:

1. that portion of the City of Chicago located within the following area: Beginning at the point of intersection of the Cook County - DuPage County line and York Road, then North along York Road to its intersection with Touhy Avenue, then east along Touhy Avenue to its intersection with the Northwest Tollway, then southeast along the Northwest Tollway to its intersection with Lee Street, then south along Lee Street to Higgins Road, then south and east along Higgins Road to its intersection with Mannheim Road, then south along Mannheim Road to its intersection with Irving Park Road, then west along Irving Park Road to its intersection with the Cook County - DuPage County line, then north and west along the county line to the point of beginning; and
2. that portion of the City of Chicago located within the following area: Beginning at the intersection of West 55th Street with Central Avenue, then east along West 55th Street to its intersection with South Cicero Avenue, then south along South Cicero Avenue to its intersection with West 63rd Street, then west along West 63rd Street to its intersection with South Central Avenue, then north along South Central Avenue to the point of beginning; and
3. that portion of the City of Chicago located within the following area: Beginning at the point 150 feet west of the intersection of the west line of North Ashland Avenue and the north line of West Diversey Avenue, then north 150 feet, then east along a line 150 feet north of the north line of West Diversey Avenue extended to the shoreline of Lake Michigan, then following the shoreline of Lake Michigan (including Navy Pier and all other improvements fixed to land, docks, or piers) to the point where the shoreline of Lake Michigan and the Adlai E. Stevenson Expressway extended east to that shoreline intersect, then west along the Adlai E. Stevenson Expressway to a point 150 feet west of the west line of South Ashland Avenue, then north along a line 150 feet west of the west line of South and North Ashland Avenue to the point of beginning.

Use the MyTax Illinois Tax Rate Finder to determine if a location is within the MPEA boundaries. For additional information, see PUB-117, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) Food and Beverage Tax. 

Lake Michigan area boundaries

• Northern boundary is 150 feet north of the north side of Diversey Avenue. 
• Western boundary is 150 feet west of the west side of Ashland Avenue. 
• Southern boundary is the south side of Stevenson Expressway. 
• Eastern boundary is the shoreline of Lake Michigan, including Navy Pier and all other improvements fixed to land, docks, or piers.

Midway Airport boundaries

• Northern boundary is the south side of 55th street.
• Western boundary is the east side of Central Avenue. 
  
• Southern boundary is the north side of 63rd Street. 
• Eastern boundary is the west side of Cicero Avenue.

You must collect and pay the MPEA Food and Beverage tax if you make retail sales of prepared food, alcoholic beverages, or soft drinks from locations within the MPEA boundaries and your sales are for consumption

• on the premises;
• off the premises, if more than 50 percent of your gross receipts are from the sale of prepared food, alcoholic beverages, and soft drinks prepared for immediate consumption; or
• on boats and other watercraft, such as tour boats, departing from and returning to the shoreline of Lake Michigan, whose business locations are within the MPEA boundaries.

In general, if you are selling prepared food, alcoholic beverages, or soft drinks for which you collect and pay the sales tax at the "high rate" (on Lines 4a and 4b on Form ST-1, Sales and Use Tax and E911 Surcharge Return), you must collect and pay the MPEA Food and Beverage tax.

This includes restaurants, coffee shops, cafeterias, concession stands, snack shops, street vendors, and food delivery services that are marketplace facilitators.

Note: For street vendors, the MPEA Food and Beverage tax is due for prepared food and beverages sold within the MPEA boundaries, no matter where the vendor's permanent business is located.

Note: For food delivery services, the MPEA Food and Beverage tax is due for the delivery of food and beverages to any address when the food or beverage is sold by a food or beverage establishment located within MPEA boundaries. 

The MPEA Food and Beverage tax rate is 1 percent (.01) of gross receipts.

Under the Leveling the Playing Field for Illinois Retail Act, effective October 1, 2021, marketplace facilitators making sales of food and beverage from establishments located within MPEA boundaries are responsible for collecting and remitting the MPEA Food and Beverage tax. Food and beverage establishments, located within MPEA boundaries, who sell through a marketplace facilitator will no longer be responsible for the MPEA Food and Beverage tax. The marketplace facilitator will be responsible.

Effective October 1, 2021, for sales made over a marketplace, a marketplace facilitator, who meets or exceeds a tax remittance threshold, is responsible for collecting and remitting the MPEA Food and Beverage tax on behalf of food and beverage establishments located within MPEA boundaries. Generally, food delivery services are marketplace facilitators. 

Marketplace facilitators must certify to the food and beverage establishments located within MPEA boundaries that they are responsible for collecting and remitting all state and local Retailers' Occupation Tax (ROT), including the MPEA Food and Beverage tax. The MPEA Food and Beverage tax of 1 percent is imposed only on sales made by food and beverage establishments located within MPEA boundaries (origin based). The destination of the food delivery does not affect MPEA Food and Beverage tax.

In addition to collecting and remitting the MPEA Food and Beverage tax, marketplace facilitators are liable for state and local ROT (such as the Home Rule Municipal ROT, the Home Rule County ROT, Regional Transportation Authority ROT, and Chicago Soft Drink tax, if applicable) at the rate in effect at the location to which the food or beverages are shipped or delivered or at which possession is taken by the purchaser (destination based).  

For example, Fast Eats is a food delivery service that is a marketplace facilitator. Fast Eats sells a meal from Sally's Restaurant, which is located within MPEA boundaries, to a purchaser on East 26th Street in Chicago, which is outside MPEA boundaries. Even though the delivery is not within MPEA boundaries, the MPEA Food and Beverage tax is due because Sally's Restaurant sells food or beverage for on-premises consumption within MPEA boundaries (origin based). In addition, state sales tax, county home rule tax, municipal home rule tax, and Regional Transportation Authority tax at the rate for the address on East 26th Street is due (destination based). If canned or bottled soft drink was sold with the meal, then Chicago Soft Drink tax is also due.

If you sell through a marketplace that does not meet a tax remittance threshold, you, as the food and beverage establishment located within MPEA boundaries, are responsible to collect and remit the MPEA Food and Beverage tax on all your food or beverage sales. 

Marketplace facilitators and the food and beverage establishment must maintain in their books and records the certification that the marketplace facilitator is liable for collecting and remitting all state and local ROT, including the MPEA Food and Beverage tax. IDOR encourages food and beverage establishments to contact their marketplace facilitators with any questions regarding the certification.  

For further information about  marketplace facilitators and tax remittance thresholds, visit the Resource Page for the Leveling the Playing Field for Illinois Retail Act. See Destination-Based Sales Tax Assistance Effective January 1, 2021, for more information about destination-based sales. 

Effective October 1, 2021, for sales made over a marketplace,  a marketplace facilitator, who meets or exceeds a tax remittance threshold, is liable for collecting and remitting the MPEA Food and Beverage tax on behalf of food and beverage establishments located within MPEA boundaries. In other words, if a marketplace facilitator meets or exceeds a tax remittance threshold, it must collect and remit the MPEA Food and Beverage tax for sales made on behalf of food and beverage establishments located within MPEA boundaries.

If a marketplace facilitator makes its own sales of food or beverages separately from the food and beverage establishments, located within MPEA boundaries, then its own food and beverage sales may be subject to the MPEA Food and Beverage tax. When the marketplace facilitator, located within MPEA boundaries, is making its own sales of food or beverages, it must collect and remit MPEA Food and Beverage Tax. 

A marketplace facilitator must register for separate MPEA Food and Beverage tax accounts; one account for sales made on behalf of marketplace sellers (marketplace facilitator account) and a separate account for its own food and beverage sales. Likewise, a marketplace facilitator must file separate Forms ST-4 when remitting the MPEA Food and Beverage tax; one Form ST-4 for their marketplace facilitator sales and a separate Form ST-4 for their own food and beverage sales.

Marketplace facilitators must certify to their sellers that the marketplace facilitator is assuming the rights and duties as the retailer under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act and is collecting State and local ROT. Form CRT-63, Sales Through Marketplace Facilitator Certificate, or other similar form, is proof that the marketplace facilitator will collect and remit the taxes indicated on the certificate to IDOR for sales made on behalf of the marketplace seller over its marketplace.

Marketplace facilitators must register for two separate MPEA Food and Beverage tax accounts, one to report sales made on behalf of marketplace sellers (marketplace facilitator account) and the other to report their own sales. Marketplace facilitators must check the marketplace facilitator checkbox on Form REG-1 when registering their marketplace facilitator account through MyTax Illinois. When registering by mail or fax, marketplace facilitators must attach Schedule REG-1-MKP, Marketplace Facilitator Information,  to Form REG-1. See our Business Registration page for additional registration information. 

A marketplace seller must maintain books and records for all sales made through a marketplace even if the marketplace facilitator has assumed the responsibility for collecting and remitting the taxes.

A marketplace facilitator must maintain books and records for all sales made through the marketplace and provide these records to IDOR upon request. The books and records must contain the name, address, and FEIN of all marketplace sellers making sales through the marketplace.

The requirements for keeping books and records can be found in Publication 113, Retailer's Overview of Sales and Use Tax, Prepaid Wireless E911 Surcharge, and Illinois Telecommunications Access Corporation (ITAC) Assessment.

• Form ST-4, MPEA Food and Beverage Tax Return   |   Instructions
• Form ST-7, Multiple Site Form   |   Instructions
• File and pay your Form ST-4 tax electronically or mail your Form ST-4 to:

ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
RETAILERS' OCCUPATION TAX
SPRINGFIELD IL 62776-0001

• The ST-4 is due monthly, quarterly, or annually, based on the taxpayer’s average monthly liability. The department determines how often the return must be filed.

• A monthly return is due the 20th day of the month following the month for which the return is filed.
• A quarterly return is due the 20th day of the month following the quarter for which the return is filed.
• An annual return is due January 20th of the year following the year for which the return is filed.
• Form ST-4-X, Amended MPEA Food and Beverage Tax Return   |   Instructions

• Form ST-7-X, Amended Multiple Site Form   |   Instructions
  

• File and pay your Form ST-4 tax electronically or mail your Form ST-4-X to:

  ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
  PO BOX 19034
  SPRINGFIELD IL 62794-9034
  

Yes. If you file your return and pay the tax on time, you are allowed  a discount of 1.75 percent of the tax you collected on receipts from sales. If you are selling through a marketplace facilitator, the marketplace facilitator claims the discount. A food and beverage establishment cannot claim the discount on sales made over a marketplace in cases where the marketplace facilitator is the retailer. 

See Contact Us if you have questions.