How to Fill Out Illinois Form RUT-25: Rates, Exemptions, and Deadline

Illinois Form RUT-25 is the Vehicle Use Tax Transaction Return you file when you title a vehicle, trailer, watercraft, aircraft, snowmobile, or manufactured home bought from an out-of-state dealer that is not registered with the Illinois Department of Revenue. You hand it in, along with your payment, at the Secretary of State’s office when you apply for your Illinois title. No form on file, no title issued.¹

When RUT-25 Is the Right Form

Use RUT-25 if you bought the item from an out-of-state dealer that is not registered with IDOR and you plan to title or register it in Illinois. You file it even if you owe nothing, because an exemption still has to be documented before your title clears.²

Two situations call for a different form. Bought from a private individual? Use RUT-50 instead.³ Leased through an out-of-state company not registered with IDOR? Use RUT-25-LSE, the lease version.⁴ Filing the wrong one will bounce your title application, so confirm which fits your purchase before you show up.

How to Get a Blank Form

RUT-25 is not available for download and cannot be filed electronically. You pick up a blank at a Secretary of State Driver Services facility, a currency exchange, an IDOR field office, or an office of the Illinois Department of Transportation or Department of Natural Resources. To have one mailed, call the IDOR 24-hour Forms Order Line at 1-800-356-6302; delivery is by U.S. mail only.⁵

Every form carries a unique preprinted transaction number. Do not photocopy a blank and fill in the copy; duplicate numbers will hold up processing.⁵

What to Have in Hand Before You Fill It Out

Before you start, pull together your bill of sale or dealer invoice, the VIN (or HIN for a boat, or N-number for an aircraft), and proof of any sales or use tax you already paid to another state. The purchase price on your bill of sale drives the whole calculation, so the amount needs to be clearly stated on the document.¹

Filling In the Form

Steps 1 through 4 ask for your name, mailing address, the address where the vehicle will be kept (this determines your tax rate), and the vehicle description: year, make, VIN or HIN, and purchase date. Copy these directly from your bill of sale and title documents.

Step 5: The Tax Calculation

Step 5 is the math. The lines flow like this:¹

Line 1, purchase price. Include accessories, freight, labor, documentary fees, and federal excise tax. Rebates or incentives the dealer received from any source also count toward the purchase price. Attach a copy of the bill of sale. If you bought a new truck at 33,000 pounds or more, or a new trailer or semitrailer chassis at 26,000 pounds or more, you may exclude the federal excise tax.
Line 2, trade-in allowance. Deduct the trade-in only if the amount appears on the dealer’s bill of sale. Rebates do not go here.
Line 3, net taxable amount. Line 1 minus Line 2.
Line 4, depreciation. If you bought and used the vehicle outside Illinois before bringing it in, you get 1.67 percent per full month of out-of-state use (for motor vehicles brought into Illinois on or after July 1, 2024). Partial months do not count. Multiply full months by 0.0167, then multiply that by Line 3.
Line 6, tax due. Multiply Line 5 by the rate for the address where the vehicle will be kept.
Line 7, credit for tax paid to another state. Enter what you properly paid to the other state on this purchase; the amount must be shown separately on the bill of sale or receipt. If the other state’s rate was lower than Illinois’s, you owe the difference.⁶
Line 8, amount owed. Line 6 minus Line 7. This is what you pay.

The Rate That Applies to You

The base Illinois use tax rate is 6.25 percent of the purchase price.⁷ Several counties add a local surcharge, so the effective rate depends on where you live:¹

Cook County: 7.25 percent
DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties: 7.0 percent
Madison and St. Clair counties, within the Metro East Transit District: 6.5 percent
Everywhere else: 6.25 percent

If you are not sure which rate applies to your address, IDOR’s Tax Rate Finder on MyTax Illinois will confirm it.⁸

Exemptions

If you qualify for an exemption, you still file RUT-25; you just check the appropriate box and attach the supporting documents rather than paying tax. The categories are:¹

Box f, out-of-state resident. You owned and used the vehicle outside Illinois for at least three months before moving here. Surrender the out-of-state title, registration, or other proof of use when you apply.
Box a, exempt organizations. Charitable, religious, educational, or governmental organizations with an active IDOR “E” number. The vehicle must be titled in the organization’s name and paid for with its funds.
Box b, farm machinery. Equipment used primarily in production agriculture, other than motor vehicles required to be registered under the Vehicle Code. Also covers ready-mix concrete trucks used in manufacturing.
Box c, rolling stock. Vehicles used to haul people or goods for hire in interstate commerce. Enter your certificate of authority number.
Box d, rental vehicles. Purchased by a business registered to collect Illinois Automobile Renting Occupation Tax, for rental agreements of one year or less.
Box e, retailer interim use. Items purchased by a registered Illinois retailer for interim use, provided the item is the same type the retailer sells and is carried as inventory.
Box g, repossession redemption. You were the original owner, co-owner, or loan co-signer and are redeeming an item repossessed after loan default.

Even when nothing is owed, whether because of an exemption or because credit from another state fully offsets the Illinois tax, the form still has to be filed before the title will issue.²

Where to File and How to Pay

Hand in the completed RUT-25 at the Secretary of State’s office when you apply for your Illinois title and registration.³ The paperwork and payments cross the same counter, but tax and title fees go to different payees:

Tax payment. Check or money order payable to the Illinois Department of Revenue.
Title and registration fees. Separate check or money order payable to the Secretary of State. The standard original title fee is $165 and the annual passenger-vehicle registration fee is $151.⁹

Do not send cash.³ IDOR does not list credit-card payment as an option for vehicle use tax, so plan on a check or money order unless the facility tells you otherwise.

The 30-Day Deadline and Late Penalties

RUT-25 is due within 30 days of the date you bring the vehicle into Illinois, or the date of purchase, whichever applies.² Waiting on the title does not extend that window; IDOR wants the form and payment inside 30 days regardless of where your title application stands.

Miss it, and a late-payment penalty attaches to the tax due:¹⁰

1 to 30 days late: 2 percent
31 or more days late: 10 percent
After an audit or investigation begins: 15 percent on any unpaid amount
After an audit-prepared amended return is issued and not paid within 30 days: 20 percent

Interest also accrues daily at the federal underpayment rate on any unpaid tax after the due date. The jump from 2 percent to 10 percent hits on day 31, so a short slip past the first month gets expensive fast.

1
Illinois Department of Revenue. Vehicle Use Tax Transaction Return Instructions
2
Illinois Department of Revenue. Illinois Tax Requirements for Cars, Trucks, Vans, Motorcycles, ATVs, Trailers, and Mobile Homes
3
Illinois Secretary of State. Guidelines for Vehicles Not in Compliance With Federal Emissions and Safety Standards
4
Illinois Department of Revenue. Instructions for Use Tax Return for Lease Transactions Form RUT-25-LSE
5
Illinois Department of Revenue. Obtaining Forms RUT-25, RUT-25-LSE, and RUT-50
6
Illinois Department of Revenue. Use Tax for Individuals – Questions and Answers
7
Illinois General Assembly. 35 ILCS 105/3-10
8
Illinois Department of Revenue. Use Tax Rates
9
Illinois Secretary of State. Fees
10
Illinois Department of Revenue. Penalties and Interest for Illinois Taxes