The Illinois Department of Revenue posted draft proposed rules implementing the Digital Asset Tax Act on 28 September 2026 and is taking written comments until the close of business on 30 October 2026. The draft has not been filed with the Secretary of State and has not been submitted to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, so it sits ahead of the formal rulemaking stage rather than inside it.
The rules would add Part 497 to Title 86, Chapter I of the Illinois Administrative Code, implementing the Digital Asset Tax Act at 35 ILCS 195. Section 497.115(a) imposes the tax beginning 1 January 2027 on the privilege of receiving digital asset business activity by a customer in Illinois, at the rate of 0.2% of the value of the digital asset to which the activity relates, and Section 497.115(f) fixes that value at the time the activity is completed. Section 497.120(a) places collection and remittance on digital asset brokers maintaining a place of business in the State. Section 497.130(a) makes it unlawful to engage in business as a digital asset broker in Illinois without a certificate of registration from the Department. Sections 497.125, 497.140 and 497.155 carry sourcing, returns and payment, and books and records.
Exchanges, custodial wallet providers, trading platforms and transfer services that regularly effectuate transfers of digital assets for consideration fall inside the digital asset broker definition in Section 497.101, which also reaches brokers headquartered outside Illinois whose Illinois gross receipts from digital asset business activity sales are 100,000 dollars or more. Those entities face electronic registration, collection of the tax from customers, and record keeping duties. Illinois retailers that accept digital assets as payment are not digital asset brokers under Section 497.115(e)(3) and are not to charge the tax to their retail customers.
The effective date line on the notice is left blank, and the draft carries no transitional relief for a broker that registers late. Section 497.135 deals with revocation of a certificate of registration and Section 497.160 with violations and penalties, so a registration failure reaches past the tax itself. Written comments go to the Department at REV.GCO@illinois.gov by close of business on 30 October 2026, and the text may change before any filing with the Secretary of State.
Licentium advises exchanges, custodians, payment firms and brokers on United States state level digital asset tax exposure and the registration duties that come with it. Work we undertake includes nexus analysis against the 100,000 dollar Illinois receipts test, digital asset broker registration, customer facing tax collection design, comment submissions in state rulemakings, and returns and records compliance under Part 497.
Source: Illinois Department of Revenue, Digital Asset Tax, draft proposed rules posted 28 September 2026