Inheritance Tax and Estate Tax

Each county treasurer must transmit to the State Treasurer all inheritance and estate taxes, interest or penalties paid to the county treasurer and in the county treasurer’s possession as of the last day of the previous month, together with a report under oath identifying the taxpayer for and by whom an amount was paid. Those amounts and the report must be transmitted to and received by the State Treasurer by the 10th day of each month. At the same time, a copy of the report must be furnished to the Attorney General. If any county treasurer fails to pay all amounts due, a penalty of 1 percent per month from the due date will be assessed. (35 ILCS 405/1-18)

This system went into effect with the enactment of the Estate Tax law in 1983, but the deadlines are the same for the Inheritance Tax reports still required for estates with a death date before Jan. 1, 1983.

Inheritance and Estate Tax forms:

Monthly report of estate collections (PDF fill-in form)
Receipt for full inheritance tax and interest (PDF fill-in form)
Small estates affidavit (PDF fill-in form)

Refunds
A refund is paid to individual estates when all the tax, interest and/or penalty have been overpaid in Illinois.

Refund requests:

• Must be made in writing to this office on a Petition for Refund form (PDF fill-in form)
• Must be from an executor, administrator, trustee, etc., or their designee.
• Must be made in a timely manner in accordance with 35 ILCS 405/1-18. If the request is not timely, it must be approved by the Attorney General and the State Treasurer.
• Must include the following information: Estate name; date of Death; Social Security number of deceased; county of residency (pertaining to tax assessment); date and amount of tax, interest and/or penalty; payment amounts and dates; name and title of person requesting the refund; authority to receive refund; phone number of a contact person; how or to whom the check should be made payable; address where the refund should be sent including its full zip code.

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