If you have outstanding state tax debt in Illinois, you have until Nov. 17 to take advantage of an amnesty program allowing people and businesses to avoid the penalties they've racked up.

The amnesty It's as easy as going to tax.illinois.gov for the 2025 Illinois Tax Amnesty program before the Nov. 17 deadline.

"If you have a tax debt, we are going to track you down," Illinois Department of Revenue Director David Harris said. "We are going to eventually catch you. Don't think you won't get caught."

Any Illinois taxpayer owing state taxes can clear their debt and have penalties and interest forgiven if they pay their tax debt in full by Nov. 17. After that, you could face more serious consequences than just the added penalties and interest.

"We have the capability to put a levy on your bank account. If you're a business and haven't paid your sales tax, we could slap that red notice on your door saying the business cannot operate until they pay their taxes. We could garnish wages," Harris said.

The state already has collected more than $102 million in debt through the amnesty program. That figure is expected to rise to $240 million by the time the program wraps. Harris said he expects to see even more.

To qualify for the amnesty program, the debt has to have been incurred between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2024.

"You can go to our website, you can call us up, you can pay via email, you can pay online, you can walk into one of our offices and pay in person," Harris said.

It's not the first time the state has run a program like this.

"We have done it in the past. The most recent one was 2019. Before that it was 2010," Harris said.

The money collected through the amnesty program will go to the state's general revenue fund, but not just the state will see a cash influx thanks to this. Local governments also will get a share of the money.

"It hasn't been programmed in for those local governments that are going to share in those dollars coming through the door, because those are going to be distributed to them," Harris said.

For more information on the tax amnesty program, go to tax.illinois.gov.