Illinois Department of Revenue Privacy Policy

The Illinois Department of Revenue ("the Department") is committed to protecting the privacy rights of Illinois taxpayers. These rights are ensured through the various Revenue Acts, the Illinois Administrative Code, and the Department's policies and practices.

Privacy Statement

No information you provide to us on any tax return or schedule or pursuant to any tax related investigation will be disclosed except in accordance with the confidentiality provisions of the tax for which your return or schedule is filed. Disclosure of confidential tax information by the Department is strictly prohibited except as provided by the tax laws of this State.

Information you provide us in response to surveys or as email may become public records and therefore subject to disclosure under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. It is therefore the policy of the Department that no personal information you provide to us in response to surveys or as email, including your name, address, telephone number, drivers license number, Social Security number, and email address will be sold, or rented to any entity or individual.

We will not collect personal information about you just because you visit this web site.

In order to improve the usefulness of this site for our visitors, we automatically collect and maintain statistical information from our site's data logs that concern network flow and volume. This information consists of the following:

·         the name of the domain from which the visitor accesses the internet (e.g. "a company.com"; "a school.edu"; or "an agency.gov");

·         the internet protocol address and port numbers; and

·         the date and time the IDOR web site is visited.

We routinely analyze our web site logs to continually improve the value of the materials available on our site. Our web site logs are not personally identifiable, and we make no attempt to link them with the individuals that browse these web pages. So that these web pages remain available to you and other visitors, we monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage to the web service. Use of this system constitutes consent to such monitoring and auditing.

Unauthorized attempts to upload information and/or change information on this web site are strictly prohibited and subject to prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and Title 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001 and 1003.

We do make limited use of cookies (a cookie is a file placed on a visitor's hard drive that allows the web site to monitor the individual's use of the site.) The cookie is ONLY used to maintain the application state during TAX FILING and is discarded at the end of the application session. If the session remains inactive for too long, the session and the cookie are disabled.

We use these web pages as a public service to provide information pertaining to the Department, its policies, educational materials, tax forms that can be downloaded, and programs. You may use these web pages to obtain information, to correspond with us, and to file your tax returns.

These web pages offer you the opportunity to electronically file your tax returns. If you use these web pages to file a tax return, you should be aware that information received by the Department of Revenue from returns filed under the Illinois Income Tax Act and the Retailer's Occupation Tax Act (as well as most other Revenue Acts) is confidential. Accordingly, we will not disclose your tax return and investigation information except pursuant to specific statutory provisions and only for official purposes. If you wish to get a copy of a form you have submitted through this web site, you must complete and submit Form IL-4506.

We protect the confidentiality of tax return information you provide us electronically just as much or more than we protect similar information you provide in paper format. (Please note however that the Department accepts no responsibility for loss of privacy during transmission "across the Internet.")

These web pages may also offer you an opportunity to ask questions, request information, or provide comment. Use of this option is voluntary and may require an email address. If during your visit to these web pages you participate in a survey or send an email, the following additional information will be collected: 1) Email correspondence: The email address and contents of the email; 2) Surveys: Any information you volunteered in response to a survey. (The information collected is not limited to text characters and may include audio, video, and graphic information formats that you have provided.) We use your email to respond appropriately. This may be to respond to you, to address issues you identify, to further improve our web site, or to forward the email to another agency for appropriate action. Survey information is used for the purpose designated.

The Department has links to other web sites including links to web sites operated by other government agencies, nonprofit organizations and private businesses. When you link to another site, you are no longer on a site covered by this Privacy Notice and you are subject to the privacy policy of that new site. 

Legal Notices

Access to the Illinois Department of Revenue ("the Department") web pages is provided subject to the following terms and conditions. Please read these terms carefully as use of these pages constitutes acceptance of all of the following terms and conditions:

Persons Under 13 Years of Age

The Department is committed to complying fully with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Accordingly, if you are under the age of 13, you are not authorized to provide the Department with personally identifying information, and we will not use any such information in our database or other data collection activities. We appreciate your cooperation with this federally mandated requirement.

Personal Information and Choice

Information received by the Department from tax returns or from tax related investigations is not considered personal information and is discussed separately in the "IDOR Web Privacy Policy". "Personal information" is information about you that readily identifies you. Personal information includes personal identifiers such as your name, address, phone number, driver's license number and social security number. A domain name or Internet Protocol address is not considered personal information.

We collect no personal information about you unless you voluntarily participate in an activity that asks for information (e.g., sending an email or participating in a survey). If you choose not to participate in these activities, your choice will in no way affect your ability to use any other feature of these web pages or any other State of Illinois web site. If personal information is requested on this web site or volunteered by the user, state law and the federal Privacy Act of 1974 may protect it. However, this information is a public record once you provide it, and may be subject to public inspection and copying if not protected by federal or state law. Users are cautioned that the collection of personal information requested from or volunteered by children on-line or by email will be treated the same as information given by an adult and may be subject to public access. Again, information received by the Department from tax returns or from tax related investigations is not personal information and is accorded far greater privacy than personal information. For additional information please see "IDOR Web Privacy Policy".

Disclaimer of Liability

Neither the State of Illinois, nor any of its agencies nor any of its employees or agents shall be held liable for any improper or incorrect use of the information described and/or contained herein. The State of Illinois, its Agencies, employees and agents assume no responsibility for anyone's use of the information. In no event shall the State of Illinois, the Department, the Department's web site or any employees or agents of the same be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement or substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this system, even if advised of the possibility of such damage. This disclaimer of liability applies to any damages or injury, including but not limited to those caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of record, whether for breach of contract, tortious behavior, negligence or under any other cause of action.

Disclaimer of Warranties and Accuracy of Data

Although the data found using the Department's access systems have been produced and processed from sources believed to be reliable, no warranty, express or implied, is made regarding accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of any information. This disclaimer applies to both isolated and aggregate uses of the information. The Department provides this information on an "as is" basis. All warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, freedom from contamination by computer viruses and non-infringement of proprietary rights are disclaimed. Changes may be periodically made to the information herein; these changes may or may not be incorporated in any new version of the publication. If you have obtained information from any of the Department's web pages from a source other than the Department's pages, be aware that electronic data can be altered subsequent to original distribution. Data can also quickly become out of date. It is recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of any data associated with a file, and that the originator of the data or information be contacted with any questions regarding appropriate use. If you find any errors or omissions, we encourage you to report them to the Department's Webmaster.

Disclaimer of Endorsement

The Department is a distributor of content sometimes supplied by third parties and users. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including information providers, users, or others, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and do not necessarily state or reflect those of the Department and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Department or the State of Illinois.

Disclaimer for External Links

The Department is not responsible for the contents of any off-site pages referenced. The user specifically acknowledges that the State of Illinois is not liable for the defamatory, offensive or illegal conduct of other users, links, or third parties and that the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with the user. Links from the Department's web pages on the World Wide Web to other sites do not constitute an endorsement. These links are provided as an information service only. It is the responsibility of the web surfer to evaluate the content and usefulness of information obtained from other sites. The Department's web site contains links to other related World Wide Web Internet sites and resources. Since neither the Department nor the State of Illinois is responsible for the availability of these outside resources or their contents, you should direct any concerns regarding any external link to its site administrator or webmaster.

Disclaimer of Duty to Continue Provision of Data

Due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, resources that are free and publicly available one day may require a fee or restricted access the next, and the location of items may change as menus, homepages, and files are reorganized. The user expressly agrees that use of the Department's web site is at the user's sole risk. The Department does not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted or error free. The documents and related graphics published on this server could contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically added to the information herein. The State and/or its respective agencies and programs may make improvements and/or changes in the information and/or programs described herein at any time.

Choice of Law

Construction of the disclaimers above and resolution of disputes thereof are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois. The laws of the State of Illinois, U.S.A., shall apply to all uses of this data and this system. By use of this system and any data contained therein, the user agrees that use shall conform to all applicable laws and regulations and user shall not violate the rights of any third parties. Use of this site constitutes user's assent to the terms herein set forth