Illinois · Payroll closure
Close an Illinois payroll tax account.
Illinois registers you for withholding and unemployment with one application and then expects filings on every account type your business ever registered, independently, until each one is closed. The withholding closure hides on Line B of your last IL-941. The unemployment account is a different agency.
Last updated:
Who you are dealing with
Illinois Department of Revenue
- Handles:
- Withholding income tax, and other registered tax types on the same request
- System:
- MyTax Illinois
- Form:
- The Request to Close Account link in MyTax Illinois, or tick the box and enter the date under Line B on your last Form IL-941. Form REG-16 cancels the business tax registration, and REG-3-C, Business Information Update, can be posted or faxed
- Phone:
- 217-785-3707 (Central Registration), REV.CRD@Illinois.gov
Illinois Department of Employment Security
- Handles:
- Unemployment insurance employer account
- System:
- MyTax Illinois
- Form:
- Request the account be closed in MyTax Illinois, or file the UI-50 Notice of Change
- Phone:
- 1-800-247-4984
File REG-16 and UI-50: close the Illinois payroll accounts
Each one goes to the agency that issues it, named above with the system it is filed through. We prepare them, file them, and send you the written confirmation from each agency.
State fee. $0. Neither agency charges to close an employer account. Outstanding tax and contributions survive the closure.
Our fee. $180 per state, flat. State fees are passed through at cost.
When you have to close or cancel
On the Revenue side, you may close the withholding account when you no longer have an Illinois employee and no longer withhold Illinois income tax. Both halves of that matter: no employee and no withholding.
Final returns come first
File the final Illinois income, sales, and withholding returns and pay what is outstanding. The withholding closure is done on the last IL-941 itself, by ticking the box and entering the date under Line B, so the final return and the closure can be a single act if you remember the line.
How long it takes
Illinois does not publish a turnaround. Most account types can be closed electronically in MyTax Illinois, which gives you a record, where the posted or faxed REG-3-C does not.
What we do
We confirm which accounts are open, file any outstanding final returns, submit each cancellation, and follow up until every agency confirms in writing. You keep the client. We never email them.
Opening an account in another state instead? State payroll tax registration covers the withholding and unemployment accounts payroll software will not open.
What makes Illinois harder than average
- Every account type you registered keeps expecting filings. Illinois continues to expect returns across sales and use, withholding, and income and replacement tax independently. A business that registered for three and closes one is still filing for two, and the notices come from an agency that thinks you are trading.
- The closure lives on Line B. On the last IL-941 you tick a box and enter a date under Line B. It is a line on a return rather than a form of its own, and a correct final IL-941 with Line B blank closes nothing.
- Four routes, and they are not equivalent. MyTax Illinois, the IL-941 Line B checkbox, REG-16 to cancel the registration, and REG-3-C to update business information all exist. REG-16 cancels a registration outright while REG-3-C updates it, and those are different outcomes.
- One registration, two agencies, again. A single Illinois application registers you with Revenue for withholding and with Employment Security for unemployment. Closing is separate at each, which is the same asymmetry Colorado has and the same surprise.
Dissolving the company is not the same as closing the tax accounts
Articles of dissolution leave the withholding, unemployment, and sales tax accounts open, and those agencies keep expecting returns until each one is closed with them. That is the separate filing that stops the notices.
How Illinois compares
Every state closes them differently. The table compares Illinois with the other states we have documented, agency by agency.
For CPAs and bookkeepers
Send the state, the last payroll or sale date, and the account numbers. The written confirmations come back to you. We do not dissolve the company and we do not take over payroll.
Questions and answers
How do I close my Illinois withholding account?
Either use the Request to Close Account link in MyTax Illinois, or tick the box and enter the date under Line B on your last Form IL-941. You can close when you no longer have an Illinois employee and no longer withhold Illinois income tax.
Does that close my unemployment account?
No. That is the Department of Employment Security, and it is closed separately, either through MyTax Illinois or with the UI-50 Notice of Change.
I closed one account but Illinois still wants returns.
Illinois expects filings across every account type your business registered, and each is independent. If you registered for sales and use as well as withholding, closing one leaves the other running.
What is the difference between REG-16 and REG-3-C?
REG-16 is the Request to Cancel Business Tax Registration. REG-3-C is a Business Information Update. One ends the registration, the other changes its details, and picking the wrong one leaves you registered.
What do you need from me to start?
The legal name and Illinois account ID, the IDES account number, the date of the last Illinois payroll, which tax types you registered for, and whether the final IL-941 has already been filed.
Agency details verified 2026-08-03
About the provider
Regcrest LLC is a document preparation and filing service based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, founded in 2026. It prepares and files state payroll and sales tax registrations, account closures, and resale certificates on behalf of the businesses that instruct it, and works behind accounting firms, bookkeepers, and payroll providers as well as directly with businesses.
Regcrest LLC is not a CPA firm and not a law firm. It gives no tax or legal advice. It files in all 50 states, and publishes a full page for the 29states it has verified against the agency's own material so far, each one showing the date it was checked. For anything that turns on your specific situation, ask a licensed accountant or attorney.