Invest in Kids Act IL: Get 3X the Tax Benefit for Donating to Your School

If you plan on donating money to a private school this year, Here's a way to get 3X the money back on your IL taxes. 

It's called the Invest in Kids Act.

It's a program offers a 75% IL tax credit when you give a donation to your school through a Scholarship Granting Organization(SGO).

Here's an example;

You give $1,000 and get $750 back on your Illinois Taxes. 
So your total out of pocket expense is $250. 
The SGO receives $50.
The School Receives $950.

If this sounds interesting to you, bring this up to your accountant. 

Here are the step-by-step instructions to follow.  

Step One – Get a Letter ID from the state of IL

• Go to https://mytax.illinois.gov
• Click: Individuals
• Click: Request a letter ID (under Miscellaneous)
• Enter: Social Security Number
• Enter: IL PIN or last year’s adjusted gross income or IL driver’s license # or IL state identification #

Fi assistance call 1-800-732-8866

• Click: Submit (upper right) and confirm your email address

Your letter ID will be mailed to you from the Illinois Department of Revenue. Once received, go to step two.

Step Two – Activate your MyTax Illinois account

• Go to: https://mytax.illinois.gov/
• Click: Sign Up Now (under Log Into MyTax Illinois)
• Click: Social Security and enter your SSN

Answer “Yes” to the question, “Are you trying to activate your MyTax Illinois account for individual income tax?”

• Enter:
  • Letter ID (received from IL Dept. of Revenue via mail)
  • IL PIN or last year’s adjusted gross income
  • Contact Info

Create a User Name and Password and confirm both

• Clickt: Submit (top right of the page)

Print confirmation

You will then be emailed an authorization code. This code is needed to “reserve” your tax credit.

Step Three – Reserve your Tax Credit

• Go to: https://mytax.illinois.gov/ You will need your authorization code.
• Click: Individual (under “Account Type”)
• Click: Contribute to Invest in Kids Act (under the “I want to” section in the upper right)
• You will need the User Name and Password information for your MyTax Illinois Account.
  “Invest in Kids Overview” page – Check the acknowledgment box
  “Contribution” Page
  “Contribution Details”
  • “Choose a Region” (from dropdown)
  • “Choose a Scholarship Granting Organization” (from dropdown)  Big Shoulders Fund, Empower Illinois or Children’s Tuition Fund of Illinois; 
  • “Contribution Pledge” – fill in amount (amount of contribution, not tax credit amount)
  • “Confirm Amount” – same amount as above
  • Check the box to allow IL Dept. of Revenue to share info and your email with the SGO and confirm that in the next pop-up with your password
• You will then receive a confirmation page with details of your contribution, which completes the application process to “reserve” your tax credit
• Once you have applied to “reserve” your tax credit with the state, assuming state and regional limits have not been met, the Illinois Department of Revenue will put a contribution authorization certificate (CAC) in your MyTax Illinois account within three days. Check your account for this notification. It may come immediately.

Step Four – Make your Contribution to the SGO

• Once the CAC is in your account, you can make your contribution to the SGO
• You must make your contribution to the SGO within 60 days of receiving the CAC
• Retrieve the CAC from your MyTax Illinois account
  • Go to: https://mytax.illinois.gov/
  • Enter: User Name and Password
  • Click: Correspondence
  • Click: View Letters
    Your CAC should appear. Save this document to your computer for upload or mail to the SGO
• Visit the website of the SGO you chose to make your contribution. 
  This is where you can direct your gift. Each SGO has slightly different instructions. Make sure to complete a school designation form (or choose your school from a dropdown menu), and you will need to send (mail or email) your CAC to the SGO.

• Big Shoulders: https://www.bigshouldersfundsgo.org/
  • Go to the “Donate” tab on the far right of the navigation ribbon at the top
• Empower Illinois: https://empowerillinois.org/
  • Go to the “Donate” oval on the lower left of the screen under the green “Donors”
• Children’s Tuition Fund: https://childrenstuitionfund.org/states/illinois/
  • Go to the “Contribute” tab in the upper right of the screen

Contributions to SGOs can be made in various ways, including a check by mail, online with a credit card, bank withdrawal and with appreciated stock