An Illinois resale certificate lets your business buy goods tax-free from a supplier when you plan to resell those goods to your own customers. Getting one is a two-step process: register with the Illinois Department of Revenue to receive an Illinois Account ID, then complete Form CRT-61 and give it to your vendor. Registration is free, the online option clears in about one to two business days, and the certificate itself never goes to the state.
Who Can Use a Resale Certificate
You qualify if you’re buying tangible personal property with the genuine intent to resell it. That covers finished goods you’ll sell as-is and raw materials or components that become part of something you manufacture and sell. Intent is the whole test: the items must actually end up in a customer’s hands.
Anything your business consumes internally is off-limits. Printer paper, cleaning supplies, and office furniture do not qualify, and this is not a gray area in Illinois. Form CRT-61 warns that if you use items bought under a resale certificate for anything other than resale, you owe tax on the purchase price plus penalties and interest.1Illinois Department of Revenue. CRT-61 Certificate of Resale Instructions
Step 1: Register With the Illinois Department of Revenue
Before you can issue a resale certificate, you need an active account with IDOR. That account gives you the Illinois Account ID your vendors will put on the certificate and verify. Registration uses Form REG-1, and there is no fee to register.2Illinois Department of Revenue. Business Registration
You have two options for filing:
- Online through MyTax Illinois at mytax.illinois.gov. Click “Register a New Business (Form REG-1)” and follow the prompts. Processing runs about one to two business days.
- By mail. Print and complete Form REG-1 and mail it to IDOR. Allow six to eight weeks.
To finish the registration, you need your Federal Employer Identification Number (or your Social Security Number if you’re a sole proprietor), your business entity type, and your Illinois business address. If you’re forming an LLC, partnership, or corporation, form the entity through the state before you apply for the EIN with the IRS. The IRS charges nothing for an EIN, so be wary of third-party sites that do.3Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
Step 2: Fill Out Form CRT-61
Once your sales tax account is active, you can complete Form CRT-61, the state’s standard Certificate of Resale. Nothing arrives in the mail. The form is a PDF on the IDOR site, and you fill it out yourself.4Illinois Department of Revenue. Certificate of Resale
Information the Form Requires
The form walks through six steps:
- Seller identification. The vendor’s name and mailing address.
- Purchaser identification. Your business name, mailing address, and Illinois registration number. Out-of-state purchasers who aren’t required to register in Illinois use a separate checkbox and provide their home state’s registration number instead.
- Property description. A brief description of what you’re buying for resale, or the invoice number and date.
- Certificate type. Single-purchase, blanket, or percentage blanket.
- Signature. Your signature, printed name, email, phone number, and date. The signature is what makes the certificate legally binding.
Every element matters. Illinois administrative rules require the seller’s and purchaser’s names and addresses, a description of the goods, the purchaser’s registration number, and the purchaser’s dated signature. Missing any of these can make the certificate invalid.5Legal Information Institute. Ill Admin Code tit 86, 130.1405 – Sellers Responsibility to Obtain Certificates of Resale
Blanket and Percentage Blanket Certificates
If every purchase from a particular vendor is for resale, check the blanket certificate box on Form CRT-61 instead of filling out a fresh form for each order. One blanket certificate covers all future purchases from that vendor.1Illinois Department of Revenue. CRT-61 Certificate of Resale Instructions
A percentage blanket certificate handles the middle case, where only some of your purchases from a vendor are for resale. If you buy cooking oil from a supplier and 70% goes into food you sell while 30% is consumed in your kitchen operations, you can issue a percentage blanket certificate stating that 70% of purchases are for resale. The vendor then charges sales tax on the remaining 30%.5Legal Information Institute. Ill Admin Code tit 86, 130.1405 – Sellers Responsibility to Obtain Certificates of Resale
Update blanket and percentage blanket certificates at least every three years, even though no statute sets a hard expiration. If your business information changes, such as a new address or entity structure, update the certificate right away.
You Don’t Have to Use Form CRT-61
Illinois accepts any document as a valid Certificate of Resale as long as it contains all the required information: seller’s name and address, purchaser’s name and address, a description of the goods, a statement that the purchase is for resale, and the purchaser’s signature. Even a signed purchase order works if it has all five elements.1Illinois Department of Revenue. CRT-61 Certificate of Resale Instructions Using CRT-61 is simply the easiest way to be sure nothing is missing.
Step 3: Give the Certificate to Your Vendor
This is where the process departs from most tax forms. You do not file Form CRT-61 with the Illinois Department of Revenue. You hand the completed certificate to the vendor you’re buying from, and the vendor keeps it on file as proof that sales tax was properly not collected.4Illinois Department of Revenue. Certificate of Resale
Most vendors ask for the certificate at or before the first purchase. For ongoing relationships, a blanket certificate handles every order after that. If a vendor hasn’t asked, don’t assume they’ll automatically exempt you. Bring it up, provide the form, and confirm the exemption is applied before the transaction closes.
When You Owe Use Tax on Items You Bought for Resale
Sometimes you buy goods tax-free for resale and later pull items off the shelf for internal use. A restaurant owner might buy ingredients under a resale certificate and then use some for a staff meal that isn’t sold to customers. When that happens, the business owes Illinois use tax on those items.
Under the Illinois Use Tax Act, using property you bought tax-free for any purpose other than resale triggers a use tax obligation. You must file a return with IDOR and pay the tax by the last day of the month following the month in which you used the item.6Illinois General Assembly. 35 ILCS 105 – Use Tax Act Businesses that already file regular sales tax returns with IDOR can typically report this use tax on the existing return rather than filing a separate one. Auditors routinely look for items purchased under a resale certificate that the business clearly consumed itself, so don’t let it slide.
Penalties for Misusing a Resale Certificate
Using your registration number to convince a seller you’re buying something for resale when you know you aren’t is a Class 4 felony in Illinois. The same applies to obtaining a registration or resale number through misrepresentation or falsely claiming to have one.7Illinois General Assembly. 35 ILCS 120/13
Even without criminal prosecution, buying personal items under a resale certificate gets expensive. You’ll owe the full sales tax on every improperly exempt purchase, plus penalties and interest calculated from the original purchase date. The certification language on Form CRT-61 spells this out: you’re signing a statement under penalty of law that the goods are for resale.1Illinois Department of Revenue. CRT-61 Certificate of Resale Instructions
Out-of-State Buyers and Sellers
If your Illinois business buys goods for resale from an out-of-state vendor, you can still provide a Certificate of Resale to avoid paying sales tax. Check the box on Form CRT-61 indicating you’re registered with IDOR and provide your Illinois Account ID. The vendor keeps the certificate the same way an Illinois vendor would.8Illinois Department of Revenue. Form CRT-61 Certificate of Resale
Going the other direction, an out-of-state buyer purchasing from an Illinois seller can also use Form CRT-61 under specific conditions. The form has a checkbox for out-of-state purchasers who are not required to register in Illinois and who will resell the goods only to buyers located outside Illinois. Those purchasers give their home state’s name and account number in place of an Illinois registration number.
How Long to Keep Resale Certificate Records
Buyers and sellers both need to keep records. As the buyer, keep copies of every certificate you issue along with records showing the goods were actually resold. Sellers keep the certificates they receive as proof that sales tax was properly not collected.
Illinois requires you to keep records that document your sales tax returns for at least three and a half years after filing.9Illinois Department of Revenue. Pub-113, Retailers Overview – Keeping Complete and Accurate Records Those records should include the purchaser’s name and address, the nature of each transaction, the date, and the amount. If IDOR issues you a tax liability notice, hold the relevant records until the liability is resolved, even if that runs past the three-and-a-half-year window.