Illinois Payroll Instructions

Illinois has state income tax withholding-- it's calculated via a simple percentage of the net amount, after subtracting for each exemption. The standard deduction amount changed slightly in 2022. 2023 info is not yet published. Illinois formulas have changed in 12 of the last 33 years.

HINT: TurtleSoft provides free annual updates for US federal and Illinois tax withholding rates, to all users of our payroll software.

Illinois State Withholding Instructions

To enter withholding information for an employee in your Goldenseal company file, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Payroll tab on the left, and choose Employees.
  2. Locate the employee's record.
  3. Click the Payroll Setup button.
  4. Enter the employee's marital status into the Marital Status field (see note below).
  5. Enter the number of federal dependents into the Federal Exemptions field.
  6. Enter the number of Illinois dependents into the State Exemptions field.
  7. Enter an Illinois Tax Package into the Tax Package field, based on the employee’s W4 form. Choose Old W4 for pre-2020 forms. Choose New W4 Step2- if they did not check the box in step 2 of the new form. Choose Step2+ if they did check it. HINT: If you don't see Illinois packages in the list, you'll need to import 2022 tax info first.
  8. Click OK.

Illinois State Unemployment Tax Instructions

Illinois SUTA unemployment tax is calculated on the first $12,960 of wages for each employee (2023 rate, unchanged since 2021). The tax rate starts at 3.225% for most new companies. After the first year, the rate varies between 0.525% and 6.925% depending on the company's payroll totals and UI claims.

To enter your company's Illinois state SUTA tax rate into Goldenseal payroll software, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Payroll Setup from the Costs menu, and choose Tax Items.
  2. You'll see a list of Tax Items. Open the Illinois SUTA item HINT: If you don't see Illinois SUTA in the list, you'll need to import your state's payroll info first.
  3. Enter your business SUTA percentage rate into the percentage field to the right of Calculation method.
  4. If the cutoff amount has changed, enter it into the dollar field to the right of First Adjustment.

Illinois Marital Status

Set the value for the Marital Status popup menu in each Employee account to the following:

State Tax Contacts

Website

Official State Lawn Ornament

Cornfield.