Illinois car sales tax, title and plate fees

Dealer sales: the rate depends on where you live

The state part is 6.25% everywhere. On top of it, Illinois charges a transit district tax on titled vehicles: 1.25% in Cook County and 1% in DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties since August 1, 2026, and 0.25% inside the Metro-East Transit District of Madison and St. Clair counties, according to the RUT-25 instructions. Ordinary municipal and county sales taxes do not apply to a car. The ST-556 instructions add one more line for Chicago residents: a dealer anywhere in the six-county area collects the 1.25% Chicago home rule use tax. The dealer rounds the tax to the nearest dollar, deducts the full trade-in value (the old $10,000 limit ended in 2022) and includes the documentary fee in the price.

Private sales: a flat tax by price or by age

Buy from a neighbor instead of a dealer and the percentage disappears. Form RUT-50 charges a fixed amount: when the price is $15,000 or more it depends on the price band, $850 up to $19,999.99 and $1,600 from $30,000 to $49,999.99; below $15,000 it depends only on the car's age, from $465 for a car one year old or newer down to $100 at eleven years. An $18,000 used electric car bought privately in Cook County therefore costs $1,441 at the Secretary of State, including the $175 Cook County private party tax and the $100 electric vehicle fee, and a $9,000 car from 2016 bought outside Cook County costs $431. Gifts and sales between spouses, parents, siblings and children pay $15. Check the RUT-50 tables before agreeing on a price near a band limit.

Plates, electric cars and the emissions test

The standard plate costs $151 a year, and electric cars pay $100 more in place of the gasoline tax. Gasoline cars from model year 1996 need an emissions test every two years once they are four years old, but only in the Chicago and Metro-East test areas, and the Illinois EPA charges nothing for it. Chicago's city sticker and other local wheel taxes are billed separately. Across the border, Indiana adds a yearly excise tax by price class, and Wisconsin is another neighbor worth comparing.

What sets Illinois apart

• A car bought from an Illinois dealer is taxed at 6.25% on the selling price, documentary fee included, after deducting the trade-in, and the $10,000 cap on the trade-in credit ended for sales from January 1, 2022 (Illinois Department of Revenue).
• A Chicago resident who buys from a dealer in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry or Will County also pays the 1.25% Chicago home rule use tax on the same return (Illinois Department of Revenue).
• Since August 1, 2026 the use tax rate on titled vehicles is 7.5% in Cook County and 7.25% in DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties, 6.5% inside the Metro-East Transit District and 6.25% elsewhere (Illinois Department of Revenue).
• A car bought from a private seller is not taxed at a percentage: Form RUT-50 charges a flat amount, from $100 to $465 by age when the price is under $15,000, and from $850 to $10,100 by price band above that (Illinois Department of Revenue).
• Cook County adds its own private party use tax of $225, $175 or $90 depending on the car's age, and Chicago adds $80, $65, $50 or nothing (Illinois Department of Revenue).
• The original Illinois title costs $165 and a standard passenger plate renewal costs $151 a year (Illinois Secretary of State).
• Electric cars pay an extra $100 a year in lieu of motor fuel taxes, on top of the passenger registration fee (Illinois Secretary of State).
• Gasoline cars from model year 1996 face an emissions test once they are four years old, in the Chicago and Metro-East areas only (Illinois EPA).
• The Illinois emissions test costs nothing, whether at a high-capacity station or at one of the new options (Illinois EPA).

What the Illinois calculation cannot know

• The dealer documentary fee is capped by law at a $300 base set in 2020 and indexed every year to the Consumer Price Index; the adjusted 2026 maximum was not found on an official Illinois page reachable for this release (the Secretary of State and General Assembly sites were blocked), so no default doc fee is added: type the dealer's fee.
• A dealer collects tax at the rate printed on its own Form ST-556, which depends on the dealership's location; the calculator applies the state rate plus the transit-district rate of the buyer's county (Cook 1.25%, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will 1%, Metro-East Transit District 0.25%) as published for titled vehicles in the RUT-25 instructions. A dealer outside those areas adds the difference on Line 5, so the total is the same in most cases, but a local occupation tax printed on a dealer's return is not modeled.
• Cook County and the City of Chicago also tax vehicles bought from dealers outside their limits through their own home rule use taxes, collected by the county and the city rather than on Form ST-556; those are not included.
• Chicago's city sticker (wheel tax) and the wheel taxes of other municipalities and of unincorporated Cook County are billed locally and are not included.
• The Illinois EPA emissions test is free, but only ZIP codes inside the Chicago and Metro-East test areas need it; the county list approximates those areas by county.
• On a private sale, the RUT-50 tax uses the purchase price or the fair market value; the calculator uses the price typed.