Illinois Gives Tax Credit Act
CFNIL donors can receive a 25% state tax credit on qualified gifts!
Partner with CFNIL and apply today for the Illinois Gives Tax Credit Act
Effective for tax years ending on or after December 31, 2025, the Illinois Gives Tax Credit Act creates an income tax credit for taxpayers who make a qualified contribution to a permanent endowment fund during the taxable year. Endowment funds must provide charitable grants exclusively for the benefit of residents of the state or charities and charitable projects located in the state.
Eligible endowment funds must be held by Qualified Community Foundations (QCFs) like CFNIL who must be approved by the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) before accepting contributions eligible for income tax credits or issuing Certificates of Receipts (CORs) to donors.
How to Apply
for the Illinois Gives Tax Credit Act
If you do not already have a MyTax Illinois account, request a letter ID to create one. Visit mytax.illinois.gov, click “Request a Letter ID,” and complete the next steps.
Once you have received the letter, use the enclosed ID to create an account at mytax.illinois.gov.
Determine the Qualified Community Foundation (QCF) to which your gift will be made and inform them.
NOTE: CFNIL has Qualified Community Foundation Status.
Apply in your MyTax Illinois account by selecting your intended QCF and gift amount.
NOTE: The program has annual caps for total available credits, credits per taxpayer, and credits per QCF.
For donors: decreased tax liability AND increased charitable impact
For communities and nonprofits: increased dollars for the people and places of Illinois
For QCFs: increased philanthropic capacity in perpetuity
FAQs About Illinois Gives Tax Credits
-
After a taxpayer has applied and been approved for an Illinois Gives tax credit, they are issued a Contribution Authorization Certificate (CAC) by the IDOR via their MyTax Illinois account. Within 10 business days, the taxpayer must provide the QCF with their contribution to earn a valid credit.
A few important reminders:
If a CAC is requested with fewer than 10 business days left in the year, the payment must be received by the QCF by December 31.
To receive and use a new Illinois Gives tax credit, you must apply for a CAC for each new donation.
Taxpayers must have a MyTax Illinois account to apply for and receive a CAC for the credit. -
Taxpayers with an active income tax account must apply online to IDOR for approval to make contributions through the free online tax portal, MyTax Illinois. Approval is granted automatically as long as the thresholds outlined in the Illinois Gives Tax Credit Program have not been met. Taxpayers will choose the Qualified Community Foundation they intend to make their contribution to (CFNIL) when applying for the credit.
You must have a registered MyTax Illinois account to apply for the credit. We encourage you to create a MyTax Illinois account as soon as possible to avoid processing delays. For individual taxpayers, it can take between 7-10 days for your MyTax Illinois account to be set up.
-
The Illinois Gives tax credit application for individual and business taxpayers opened January 1, 2025, for tax year 2025. The application will open on January 1 of each subsequent tax year until the Illinois Gives Tax Credit Act sunsets (2029) or later if the act's end date is extended by the state legislature.
-
To receive a tax credit for your contribution, the payment must be received by the QCF by the last day of your filing period, and the QCF must confirm receipt of the contribution.
-
No. There is a total credit maximum of $5 million. Generally, credits will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. However, 25% of the annual credit amount is reserved for contributions considered “small gifts.” For the purpose of the Illinois Gives Tax Credit Program, “small gifts” are gifts of $25,000 or less. If you are trying to make a “large gift” donation but 75% of the total eligible contributions for the year have already been made in gifts larger than $25,000, your request will not be accepted. Only “small gifts” contributions will be accepted at that time unless the credit maximum has been reached.
-
Yes. Income tax credits cannot exceed $100,000 per taxpayer, per year.
-
After receiving the contribution, the QCF must confirm the contribution within 30 business days of receiving it for the income tax credit to be valid. After confirmation, a Certificate of Receipt (COR) is automatically created and issued to the taxpayer through MyTax Illinois. Once the taxpayer receives a COR, the taxpayer must claim the credit on that year’s income tax return regardless of whether the taxpayer has an income tax liability that year or not.
For purposes of this credit, a combined filing group is considered one taxpayer and would be subject to the $100,000 Illinois Gives tax credit cap per combined return, not per each individual member. Members of a combined filing group shall be treated as one taxpayer for purposes of any return or amended return.*
*86 Ill. Adm. Code 100.5270(d)
-
Yes. You may apply for a CAC up to 15 business days after donating to a QCF. However, the donation and the CAC must be in the same calendar year.
Making a contribution before applying for a CAC does not guarantee an income tax credit. Multiple factors may result in the donation not being eligible for the credit, including: the Illinois Gives tax credit limit has been met, the donor has earned the maximum amount of Illinois Gives tax credits, or the QCF has reached its maximum amount of eligible contributions.
You must apply for a CAC for each new donation to receive and use a new Illinois Gives tax credit.
-
Individuals filing a joint return are each allowed to claim a credit they themselves have received, which may not exceed $100,000. A jointly filed return may not claim more than $200,000 in Illinois Gives credit.
-
You cannot receive a refund for any unused tax credits. Any income tax credit amount that exceeds your tax liability for the year in which you claimed the credit may be carried forward and applied to your tax liability in the subsequent five taxable years. Income tax credits are applied to the earliest year for which there is a tax liability. Credits cannot be carried back to a tax year prior to the issuance of the CAC.
You must apply for a CAC for each new donation to receive and use a new Illinois Gives tax credit. If you are claiming unused income tax credits from a prior year, approval is not required.