Illinois Employer Compliance Kit 2027: State Checklist, Deadline Calendar and Excel Tracker

Who it is for

Owners, office managers and bookkeepers who run payroll for employees working in Illinois, from the first hire to the year-end forms.

Not the right fit if

Your employees work outside Illinois: get that state's kit, or the 2027 Employer Compliance Bundle for several states. Not a payroll service, and not a legal review of your policies.

Why it is different

• Built only from our Illinois data files, checked November 2026 against 14 official pages, among them Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES); IDES: 2026 State Experience Factor and Employers' UI Contribution Rates (EA-50); Official page; Illinois Department of Revenue: Publication 130, Withholding Illinois Income Tax for My Employees; IDES: New Hires; Illinois Department of Labor: Posters; Public Act 103-0879 (amends the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act), Illinois General Assembly; Illinois Department of Labor: Minimum Wage/Overtime FAQ.
• 2 items the official pages didn't state are marked "not confirmed" with the page to check, never guessed.
• The workbook recalculates with zero formula errors and dates the Illinois new-hire steps for you.

What is inside

• Start here. How to use the kit, the 18 confirmed Illinois rules at a glance and the 2 items to confirm, each with the official page to check: taxable wage base for 2027 (IDES: 2026 State Experience Factor and Employers' UI Contribution Rates (EA-50)); rest breaks for adults (Illinois Department of Labor: One Day Rest in Seven Act FAQ).
• Illinois 2027 checklist. Eight steps from unemployment tax registration to year-end filing, each confirmed rule with its source link and check date, from Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), Illinois Department of Employment Security: New Hires, Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission. What it confirms: open a state unemployment tax account: IDES: register within 30 days of start-up through MyTax Illinois, or on paper with form REG-UI-1; taxable wage base for 2026 (the latest published): $14,250 per employee in 2026; new employer tax rate: 3.35% for a new employer; quarterly wage reports and payments: IDES: the quarterly UI-3/40 is due April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31; state income tax withholding: State income tax applies; workers who live in a neighboring state: Reciprocity partners named by the state: Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin; report each new hire to the state: Within 20 days of the employee's first day on the payroll; e-Verify for private employers: No state rule requires it, and neither the State nor any local government may require an employer to use E-Verify beyond what federal law requires; minimum wage now (2026): $15.00 an hour; minimum wage change in 2027: $15.00 an hour; no scheduled change in our data; tipped employees: Cash wage of at least $9.00 an hour in 2027, with tips making up the rest; paid sick leave: Paid Leave for All Workers Act (820 ILCS 192); meal breaks for adults: A 20-minute meal break for every 7.5 hours worked, starting no later than 5 hours into the shift, plus another 20 minutes on a shift of 12 hours or more; breaks for workers under 18: Minors under 16 get a scheduled meal period of at least 30 minutes no later than the 5th consecutive hour of work; workers' compensation insurance: Most employers must carry it; final pay when you let someone go: At separation if possible, and in no event later than the next regularly scheduled payday; final pay when an employee quits: At separation if possible, and in no event later than the next regularly scheduled payday; state copies of W-2s and 1099s: IDOR: Forms 1099 other than 1099-K are not included in the electronic filing mandate, 'nor are they required to be submitted to Illinois.' Pub-110 adds that IDOR may request them and that payers may voluntarily file 1099s reporting Illinois withholding.
• 2027 deadline calendar. 10 dates our Illinois files state: 4 quarterly due dates from Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES); 1 state W-2 and 1099 filing dates from Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR), with weekend dates flagged and a month-by-month planner for your own.
• New hire and pay change checklist. One page per hire, with the report to Illinois Department of Employment Security: New Hires (new hires reported in 20 days) and the I-9 steps, and one per pay change against the $15.00 minimum wage.
• Illinois compliance workbook (Excel). The Illinois dates in a deadline tracker with days left and status, a new-hire sheet that dates each step from the start date (new hires reported in 20 days), and a pay-change sheet that flags any rate below the 2027 floor.