The Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) announced a Tax Amnesty Program. It is a one-time tax amnesty program for the taxpayers who incurred the tax liabilities Between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2018. The program will begin from October 1, 2019. The penalties and interest will be waived for the eligible taxpayers who paid their tax liabilities in full.

The IDOR will receive the paperwork from the eligible taxpayers until November 15, 2019. The taxpayers can pay the full payment on their liabilities in order to get the benefits from the program. David Harris, the acting director of the IDOR, said, “Now is an excellent opportunity for taxpayers with tax liabilities to pay what they owe and come into compliance with the law”. The taxpayers will get the benefit from this program without any penalty and interest.

Harris added, “This allows them to have a clean tax slate with the State of Illinois.” The main aim of the IDOR is to win the trust of the citizens that they are treated equally. The tax amnesty program was proposed by JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, during the budget negotiations. The General Assembly agreed with the proposal of Pritzker and the program was included in the current fiscal budget.

The taxpayers need to pay full tax liabilities before November 15, 2019, for availing the opportunity of waived penalties and interest. The IDOR will mail the eligible taxpayers in which it will tell them the tax liabilities that they need to pay. The department will also guide them with the procedure of payment. The taxpayer can also get information about the program from the official website of the Illinois government. Information is given on the IDOR’s Amnesty Program page.

The program includes most types of liabilities and penalties. Some fees are excluded in the program including bad check fees and outside collection agency fee. The tax which is not collected by the IDOR is also excluded in the tax amnesty program.