Illinois Bookkeeping Services

Illinois looks simple on the surface — a flat 4.95% individual income tax and no local income taxes anywhere in the state. Then the details arrive: a combined 9.5% corporate rate once the replacement tax stacks on, an annual report deadline that moves with your formation date instead of the calendar, a 2026 break from federal bonus depreciation that splits your books in two, and — the good news — no tax on business equipment at all, guaranteed by the state constitution. We have been keeping books remotely for Illinois businesses since 2005, with dedicated bookkeepers from $75/month.

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On This Page

• Illinois’ small-business tax landscape
• No personal property tax — but watch depreciation in 2026
• The PTET is now permanent
• The $75 filing with a moving deadline
• Payroll in Illinois: SUI and paid leave
• Illinois cities we serve
• Illinois FAQs

Illinois’ Small-Business Tax Landscape

Figures verified against official Illinois sources, July 2026. This is bookkeeping context, not tax advice — confirm current-year specifics with the Illinois Department of Revenue and your CPA before filing.

No Personal Property Tax — But Watch Depreciation in 2026

Here is the differentiator owners relocating from other states rarely believe: Illinois does not tax business equipment. The 1970 Illinois Constitution (Article IX, Section 5) abolished the personal property tax outright — no annual equipment declarations, no depreciation-schedule filings to a county assessor, no tax bill on your machines, computers, or furniture. In its place sits the income-based personal property replacement tax already baked into the rates above: 2.5% for C corporations, 1.5% for S corporations, partnerships, and trusts.

That does not make your fixed-asset schedule optional, though — 2026 gave it a new job. For tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, Illinois decoupled from federal 100% bonus depreciation (PA 104-0453). Your federal return and your Illinois return now depreciate the same asset on different schedules, which means the books must carry both — every addition logged with date, cost, and class, so your CPA can compute the state addback without reconstructing the year each spring. That is routine work for a dedicated bookkeeper and a miserable weekend for anyone else.

The PTET Is Now Permanent

Illinois’ pass-through entity tax lets S corporations and partnerships pay the 4.95% tax at the entity level — the established workaround to the federal SALT deduction cap — and in December 2025, Public Act 104-0453 removed its sunset date. The election is permanent now, so it belongs in your standing year-end playbook rather than an annual “is it still alive?” scramble.

The election only works as well as the books beneath it: entity-level income has to be current and correct for quarterly estimates, and owner distributions need clean tracking so the entity-level payment reconciles to each K-1. We keep those numbers monthly-fresh for the businesses we serve — and for the CPA firms who hand us their clients’ ledgers at $10/hour wholesale so they can concentrate on elections and planning instead of data entry.

The $75 Filing With a Moving Deadline

Most states put their annual report on a fixed calendar date. Illinois ties it to you: an LLC’s annual report is due before the first day of its anniversary month — the month it was formed. A March 12 formation means a report due before March 1, every year, forever. The fee is $75; let it slide more than 60 days and a $100 penalty attaches, with continued neglect putting the company’s good standing at risk. Because the date is different for every entity, it is exactly the kind of deadline that slips when no one owns the compliance calendar. Our clients’ anniversary months are tracked as part of the engagement — the report never sneaks up. Already missed a year or three of filings and reconciliations? Catch-up bookkeeping rebuilds the trail fast.

Payroll in Illinois: SUI and Paid Leave

Two payroll items deserve a line in every Illinois employer’s books. First, unemployment insurance: for 2026, new employers pay 3.35% (3.45% for NAICS 56 businesses) on a $14,250 wage base, with experienced-employer rates ranging from 0.75% to 7.05% — a spread wide enough that your assigned rate notice is worth reading, and worth booking correctly. Second, the Paid Leave for All Workers Act: employees accrue one hour of paid leave per 40 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year, usable for any reason. One important carve-out — Chicago and Cook County are exempt from the state act because they run their own, more demanding ordinances, which we cover on our Chicago page. Accrual balances are a real liability that belongs on real books, not a guess at year-end.

Illinois Cities We Serve

Dedicated local guide: Chicago — with its own layered sales tax, the 15% lease/cloud tax on software, city licensing, and a paid-leave ordinance stricter than the state’s. We serve businesses everywhere in Illinois remotely, from the collar counties to downstate — same bookkeeper, same pricing from $75/month, wherever your books live.

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Illinois Bookkeeping FAQs

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