5 items, in order: articles of organization (llc) or an assumed business name, employer identification number (ein), illinois business registration (form reg-1) for sales tax, certificate of occupancy or occupancy approval and unemployment insurance account (form reg-ui-1).
How to open a business in Illinois
5 licenses, permits and registrations, in the order to get them, each with the agency, the fee and the official page.
What licenses do you need to open a business in Illinois? 5, in the order to get them
These are the steps every business in Illinois takes. A license specific to your kind of business comes from the agency that regulates it; if one of the twenty named businesses is close to yours, its page lists those too.
Every row checked against its agency’s page; the latest on Oct 17, 2026.
Step 1 of 4Set up the business. Now: Articles of organization (LLC) or an assumed business name
0 of 5 items done. Each step opens when the one before it is complete. Progress stays on this device. Log in to save it to your account and pick it up anywhere.
Set up the business0 of 2
An LLC keeps your personal assets apart from the business and is what landlords and lenders expect to see on a lease. A sole proprietor trading under any name but their own must file the assumed name with the county clerk and publish a notice in a local newspaper once a week for three weeks, within 15 days of filing.
- Fee
- Premium only
- Renewal
- Premium only
- Official page
- ilsos.gov
Checked Oct 17, 2026
Register for taxOpens after step 1
Approve the spaceOpens after step 2
Before the first hireOpens after step 3
Then pick the place
- The free location checkWho lives and works around an address, the businesses already there and the traffic on its road, from public records.
- The full reportWhether the rules allow a business at that address, the rent it supports, what has opened and closed nearby, and the questions to settle before signing.
Have an address in mind?
Check the address freeNo account. The business check reads public records at the address itself.
Sources and dates
Illinois Secretary of State LLC pages; Form LLC-1.20; Cook County Clerk assumed business name page; IRS EIN page; Illinois Department of Revenue business registration page; City of Chicago Department of Buildings certificates of occupancy page and 2025 permit fee tables; IDES new employer page. Fees are as published by each agency on the date checked; cities add their own.