Illinois sales tax help
Configure prepared-food sales tax by jurisdiction (the 6.25% state rate plus local rates) and Chicago’s 0.5% Restaurant Tax so the ST-1 and the City return tie.
Sales tax helpIllinois · Restaurant Accounting
Illinois restaurant accounting that reconciles every tender to the bank.
The real number in a restaurant is what landed in the bank after comps, voids, tips and delivery-app deductions, not what the POS rang up. We reconcile high-volume POS daily sales to deposits, run tipped payroll with the FICA tip credit, set sales tax to the correct combined rate by location, track Chicago’s Restaurant Tax where it applies, and keep food cost and inventory accurate, by your TechBrot team, with every close reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
Monthly bookkeeping: $500–$2,500+ a monthWhat sets the price
If your file needs our paid diagnostic first, its fee is credited in full against the cleanup. Either way, you get a fixed fee in writing before any work starts.
State rule
Illinois rule: a retailer with seating for on-premises consumption is presumed to sell all its food at the high rate, 6.25% State plus local tax, unless the takeout area is separate and its records split the sales; the POS keeps that split before the ST-1. Source: IDOR PIO-115.
§ The short version
Illinois restaurant accounting from TechBrot reconciles every POS tender, comp, void and delivery-app deposit to the bank, runs tipped payroll with the FICA tip credit, and sets prepared food at the high rate: 6.25% state plus local, with Chicago’s 0.5% Restaurant Tax where it applies. Monthly bookkeeping runs $500–$2,500+/mo.
They took something that felt overwhelming to me as a first-year business owner and made it simple.
What stood out the most was TechBrot Inc’s attention to detail.
Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2 and QuickBooks Workforce Certification,
§ 01 · Why Illinois restaurant books break
Three places Illinois restaurants lose the numbers.
High volume, tips, and delivery apps hide the real number. Knowing which gap you’re in tells us where to start.
01POS & deposits
POS rang it, but did it bank?
Comps, voids, tip-outs, and delivery-app fees mean banked revenue is often well below gross POS sales — and a restaurant that books gross sales is flying on a number that isn’t real.02Tipped payroll
Tips, wages & the FICA tip credit
Tip reporting, tipped-wage and minimum-wage tracking, and Illinois 4.95% withholding make restaurant payroll complex — and a mishandled FICA tip credit leaves money on the table.03Sales tax & entity
Prepared-food tax & the PPRT
Prepared food is taxed at 6.25% State plus local tax, Chicago adds its 0.5% Restaurant Tax, and even S-corp/LLC operators owe the entity-level PPRT — all three need clean books to get right.§ 02 · What TechBrot handles
How we close an Illinois restaurant’s month.
Every engagement is scoped to your restaurant, delivered in your own QuickBooks file by your TechBrot team — reconciled to the bank, every period.
01
High-volume POS reconciliation
Daily sales, tenders, comps, and voids reconciled to bank deposits — including third-party delivery deposits net of fees — so banked revenue is real.
Bookkeeping services02
Tipped payroll & the FICA tip credit
Tip reporting, tipped-wage and minimum-wage tracking, Illinois 4.95% withholding, and the FICA tip credit kept supportable, coordinated with your payroll provider.
Payroll03
Prepared-food sales tax
QuickBooks set to the correct combined rate by jurisdiction (the 6.25% state rate plus local rates) and reconciled so the IDOR ST-1 ties; Chicago’s 0.5% Restaurant Tax carried in its own liability account for Form 7525.
Sales tax help04
Food cost & inventory
COGS and food-cost % tracked with inventory so prime cost is visible and margin decisions rest on real numbers.
Monthly bookkeeping05
PPRT & entity figures
Illinois net income tracked for the Personal Property Replacement Tax — which even S-corps and LLCs owe — so your CPA can compute it and model the PTE election.
Replacement tax help06
Monthly close that ties
A monthly close with POS reconciled, tips and sales tax clean, and food cost current — CPA-ready and decision-ready.
QuickBooks accountant07
Dine-in, takeout & retail split
Where you sell packaged retail items beside a dining room, the POS keeps them on their own tax codes and the takeout area’s sales on their own records, because without that split IDOR presumes everything was sold at the high rate.
Sales tax help08
Tips through a clearing account
Charged tips from each card batch sit in a liability account until payroll pays them out, and each pay period is checked against Illinois’s $15.00 minimum and the 60% tipped rate.
Payroll09
Delivery-app payouts
DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub payouts broken back into gross sales, commissions, promotions and refunds, so delivery margin is visible and every payout ties to the bank.
Restaurant bookkeeping§ 03 · Tools we work alongside
Connected to your POS, delivery apps, and payroll.
- POS systems (Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed) — daily-sales exports
- QuickBooks Online or hosted Desktop — your file
- Third-party delivery (DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub) deposit reports
- Gusto, ADP, and restaurant payroll providers (tip reporting)
- Merchant and card processors (summary level)
- Inventory and food-cost tools for COGS tracking
We reconcile from the financial summaries your systems produce — POS daily sales, delivery-app payout reports, payroll, and deposits — tying gross sales down to what actually banked.
§ 04 · How engagements work
From POS rang to actually banked.
Every Illinois restaurant engagement follows the same rhythm — POS reconciled to the bank first, sales tax and tipped payroll clean second, advisory third.
- Step 1
Free restaurant review
A QuickBooks ProAdvisor reviews your POS-to-bank reconciliation, tipped payroll, sales-tax setup, and food cost — at no cost. - Step 2
Written fixed-fee scope
A written scope and fixed fee within 3 business days — setup, cleanup, or monthly. No hourly billing. - Step 3
Reconcile & clean
POS reconciled to deposits, delivery fees separated, tipped payroll and sales tax corrected by jurisdiction, food cost organized. - Step 4
Monthly banked-revenue close
A monthly close showing real banked revenue, prime cost, and margin — CPA-ready.
§ 05 · Beyond the books
Clean reconciliation is the start. Prime cost and margin are the point.
When the POS reconciles to the bank and tipped payroll is clean, the decisions get real: which dayparts and menu items actually make money, whether delivery apps are worth their fees, where labor and food cost are outrunning sales — answered from numbers that tie, not gross POS sales that flatter.
That’s where fractional-CFO advisory picks up, on cleaned-up books, in coordination with your CPA.
Checked against IDOR PIO-115 and the City of Chicago Department of Finance.
§ 07 · Around this page
Around Illinois.
Illinois QuickBooks ProAdvisor & bookkeeping
The state page: services, industries, cities and the Illinois tax terms in one place.Restaurant accounting, nationally
The national engagement this page is the Illinois version of — same scope, same written fixed fee.Also in Illinois
Other Illinois industries
Illinois cities
Not sure where your file stands? Start with the free QuickBooks file review · how Illinois compares: state-by-state tax quirks.
§ 08 · FAQ
Illinois restaurant accounting questions.
What does Illinois restaurant accounting include?
High-volume POS reconciliation to the bank (daily sales, tenders, comps, voids, and third-party delivery deposits net of fees), tipped payroll with the FICA tip credit, prepared-food sales tax set to the correct combined rate by jurisdiction (the 6.25% state rate plus local rates) and reconciled, and food-cost and inventory tracking — in your own QuickBooks file.
How do you reconcile a high-volume restaurant POS to the bank?
We tie the POS daily-sales figures — gross sales, tenders, comps, and voids — to actual bank deposits, and we account for third-party delivery (DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub) deposits net of their commissions and fees. The result is real banked revenue rather than gross POS sales that overstate the picture. The data comes from your POS exports and delivery-app payout reports, not from individual tickets.
How does tipped payroll and the FICA tip credit work for an Illinois restaurant?
Tipped restaurant payroll involves tip reporting, tipped-wage and minimum-wage tracking, and Illinois 4.95% withholding. The FICA tip credit lets an employer offset part of the Social Security and Medicare tax paid on reported tips above the minimum wage. We keep tips, wages, and withholding tracked cleanly so the credit is supportable and reconciled every period; your CPA computes and files it.
Is restaurant food taxed in Illinois, and what extra tax does Chicago add?
Yes — food prepared for immediate consumption is taxed in Illinois at the high rate, 6.25% State plus local taxes, and a restaurant with seating is presumed to sell all its food at that rate (IDOR PIO-115). In Chicago the combined sales-tax rate is the 6.25% state rate plus Cook County, city and transit taxes, and on top of that the City of Chicago imposes its Restaurant Tax: 0.5% of the selling price of all food and beverages sold at retail by each place for eating, reported on Form 7525. Since July 1, 2021, the City also requires delivery companies to collect and remit the Restaurant Tax. We configure QuickBooks to the correct combined rate by jurisdiction, carry the Restaurant Tax in its own liability account with delivery-app sales on their own line, and reconcile so the IDOR ST-1 and the City return tie to the books.
How is an Illinois restaurant taxed as an entity?
Many restaurants operate as S-corporations or LLCs. Illinois has a flat 4.95% income tax, and even pass-throughs owe the entity-level Personal Property Replacement Tax (PPRT) — 1.5% for S-corps and partnerships, 2.5% for C-corporations — which surprises owners new to the state. An elective Pass-Through Entity (PTE) tax is also available to partnerships and S-corps. We track Illinois net income cleanly so it’s supportable; your CPA computes the tax and makes any PTE election. TechBrot does not prepare or file tax returns; we work with your CPA or EA.
Do you work in my own QuickBooks file?
Yes — your file, your data, in QuickBooks Online or hosted Desktop, with a senior bookkeeper assigned to your file, and every close reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor before it reaches you, reconciling from the POS daily-sales exports and delivery-app payout reports your systems produce.
Do you file my Illinois taxes or represent me before the IDOR?
No. TechBrot does not prepare or file tax returns; we work with your CPA or EA. TechBrot is a bookkeeping and advisory firm — we keep the books CPA-ready for the Illinois income tax, the PPRT, sales tax and the Chicago Restaurant Tax, and your CPA makes any PTE election.
What is the Illinois tipped minimum wage, and how does it show up in the books?
The Illinois Minimum Wage Law sets $15.00 an hour for workers 18 and older, and an employer whose staff receive gratuities may pay 60% of the minimum wage, which the Illinois Department of Labor lists as $9.00. Tips have to make up the rest. In the books, charged tips from each card batch sit in a liability account until payroll pays them out, cash tips are reported through payroll, and each pay period is checked against the minimum. Chicago sets its own higher floor: from July 1, 2026, $17.05 an hour for employers with four or more employees and $12.96 for tipped workers, adjusted every July 1. So the rate that applies depends on where the restaurant is; your payroll provider carries the local rate and we reconcile to it.
Illinois restaurants start here