There is no Illinois exit tax. Illinois does not impose a tax triggered by leaving the state, and as of 2026 no bill creating one has cleared a committee, reached a floor vote, or become law. If you move out of Illinois, your obligations are limited to filing a part-year resident return and paying tax on any income you continue to earn from Illinois sources after the move.
The Bill People Keep Citing Does Not Exist
Most of the online conversation about an Illinois exit tax points to “House Bill 4411” as the supposed vehicle. It isn’t. HB 4411 in the 102nd General Assembly, sponsored by Rep. Lamont J. Robinson, Jr., dealt with the Property Tax Code and homestead exemption databases.1Illinois General Assembly. Bill Status of HB 4411 HB 4411 in the 103rd General Assembly amended the Pharmacy Practice Act on opioid warning signage. Neither bill contains an exit tax, a deemed-sale provision, a 0.5% wealth levy, or a $1 million net worth threshold. A separate search of Rep. Will Guzzardi’s legislative record, another name attached to the rumor, turned up no exit tax legislation.
Illinois legislators have floated other tax ideas aimed at high earners. A 2025 proposal would add a 3% surcharge on income above $1 million to fund education. A real estate transfer tax linked to a suburban transit rescue package passed the Senate in 2025 but was called “dead on arrival” when it returned to the House.2Illinois Policy Institute. Suburban Chicago House Tax Plan Would Choke Lagging Growth None of these are exit taxes, and none impose a charge based on ending your Illinois residency.
What You Actually Owe When You Leave Illinois
Illinois taxes residents at a flat 4.95% rate on income.3Illinois Department of Revenue. Income Tax Rates When you move out mid-year, you file Form IL-1040 with Schedule NR as a part-year resident. You owe Illinois tax on:
- All income you earned while you were still an Illinois resident, from whatever source.
- Any Illinois-source income you earn after leaving, such as rent from an Illinois property, distributions from a partnership operating in the state, or wages for work performed in Illinois.4Illinois Department of Revenue. Filing Requirements
If Illinois-source income continues after your move, you keep filing as a nonresident for that income in later years. Wages you earn at a job in your new state, investment income tied to accounts held out of state, and business income unconnected to Illinois generally are not taxable by Illinois once you have moved.
If you owe a balance you cannot pay in full, the Department of Revenue offers installment plans. You can request one through MyTax Illinois or by filing Form CPP-1. Balances above $15,000 require a more detailed financial disclosure.5Illinois Department of Revenue. Payment Plan
Establishing Your New Domicile Cleanly
The bigger risk when leaving Illinois is not an exit tax that doesn’t exist. It’s a residency dispute later. Illinois can argue you never actually left if you hang on to too many local ties. That means you may still owe Illinois tax as a full-year resident on income you thought was out of reach.
To make the break clean, do these things promptly and keep records:
- Get a driver’s license or state ID in your new state.
- Update your voter registration and cancel the Illinois one.
- Change the address on financial accounts, tax filings, and professional licenses.
- Document the physical date of your move (moving company receipts, closing documents, utility start dates in the new state).
- If you keep an Illinois home, be prepared to show it is no longer your primary residence.
The date your residency ends drives the split on your part-year return, and Illinois will look at where you actually live, work, vote, and register vehicles rather than at what you say your intent was.
Why a State Exit Tax Has Not Passed Anywhere
The reason Illinois has not enacted an exit tax, and why no other state has either, is that a state-level exit tax runs into two serious constitutional problems.
The first is the right to travel between states, which the Supreme Court has recognized for over a century under the Privileges and Immunities Clauses of Article IV and the Fourteenth Amendment.6Harvard Journal on Legislation. No Migration Without Taxation: State Exit Taxes A tax bill triggered by the act of moving can effectively trap residents who lack the cash to pay it, and that is the kind of burden courts have struck down.
The second is the Commerce Clause. Under the four-part test from Complete Auto Transit v. Brady, a state tax must be applied to an activity with a substantial connection to the state, fairly apportioned, nondiscriminatory toward interstate commerce, and fairly related to services the state provides.7Justia US Supreme Court. Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, 430 US 274 (1977) An exit tax that reaches assets held in other states or countries struggles on nearly every prong. The National Taxpayers Union has argued that such a tax “violates the right to travel and impermissibly burdens interstate commerce.”8Office of Congressman David Schweikert. GOP House Members Propose Ban on State Exit Taxes
No court has ruled on a conventional state exit tax because no state has enacted one. Scholars who have analyzed the question suggest a broad version taxing all unrealized gains on departure would likely be struck down; a narrower version might survive, but the constitutional risk has kept every state from testing it.6Harvard Journal on Legislation. No Migration Without Taxation: State Exit Taxes
What “Exit Tax” Means in Other Places
Two real things get called exit taxes, and neither applies to someone leaving Illinois.
New Jersey requires an estimated tax payment when a resident sells a home and moves out of state, either 2% of the sale price or 8.97% of the net gain, whichever the seller elects.9New Jersey Division of Taxation. Buying or Selling a Home in New Jersey – Tax Guide It is an estimated payment on an actual sale, refunded on the nonresident return if overpaid, not a charge for leaving. Illinois has no equivalent.
The federal expatriation tax under 26 U.S.C. § 877A applies to U.S. citizens who renounce citizenship and long-term permanent residents who surrender their green cards. It treats all of a covered expatriate’s property as sold the day before expatriation, with gains above an exclusion amount subject to income tax.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 877A – Tax Responsibilities of Expatriation This is a federal tax on leaving the country, not on leaving a state, and Congress’s power over citizenship is not something Illinois shares over migration between states.
California came closest to a genuine state-level version. Assembly Bill 259 in the 2023–2024 session proposed a 1% annual wealth tax on residents with a net worth above $50 million, plus a 0.5% surtax above $1 billion, with a trailing provision that would have kept taxing former residents for up to four years after they left.11LegiScan. Bill Text: CA AB259 – 2023-2024 Regular Session It died in committee in early 2024. In 2021, a group of House Republicans introduced the Exit Tax Prevention Act to preemptively ban states from enacting such taxes at all.8Office of Congressman David Schweikert. GOP House Members Propose Ban on State Exit Taxes
For someone moving out of Illinois in 2026, the practical picture is straightforward. File the part-year return, keep paying Illinois tax on any income that still has an Illinois source, document the date and fact of your move, and don’t spend money worrying about a tax that isn’t on the books.