Chicago Amusement Tax: Tickets, Streaming and What to Charge
Learn how the Chicago amusement tax applies to event tickets, resales and streaming subscriptions, and how to set up checkout to collect the right amount.
Photo: Pixabay
On this page 7 sections
- What Counts as an Amusement Under Chapter 4-156
- Current Chicago Amusement Tax Rates and Exemptions
- Chicago Streaming Tax: What Amusement Tax Ruling 5 Covers
- Resellers, Ticket Platforms and the Chicago Ticket Tax
- Configuring Checkout to Locate Chicago Customers
- Filing and Recordkeeping Basics
- Next Steps for Chicago Sellers
Key takeaways
- Since January 1, 2025, Chicago taxes streaming and other electronically delivered amusements at 10.25%, most other amusements at 9% and registered-reseller ticket resales at 3%.
- Amusement Tax Ruling #5 taxes streaming rentals and subscriptions sold to Chicago customers. Permanent-download purchases are not taxed.
- For in-person events, the venue's location sets the tax. For streaming, the customer's residential or primary business address in Chicago does.
- Agree in writing on who collects with any ticketing partner, file exemption applications early and keep records that let you rebuild each Form 7510 return.
The Chicago amusement tax is a city tax on what patrons pay to attend, watch or take part in entertainment. Since 2015 it has also covered streamed video, music and online games delivered to Chicago customers. If you sell event tickets, memberships or digital subscriptions to people in Chicago, it can apply to you even if your business is based somewhere else. This guide covers what counts as an amusement, the current rates and exemptions, how Amusement Tax Ruling #5 treats streaming, who collects on resold tickets, and how to set up checkout and records so you charge the right amount.
This article is general information current as of October 2026. It is not tax or legal advice. Confirm your obligations with a qualified tax professional and the Chicago Department of Finance before you change what you charge.
What Counts as an Amusement Under Chapter 4-156
The tax sits in Chapter 4-156 of the Chicago Municipal Code and is reported on Form 7510. According to the Department of Finance's amusement tax page, owners, managers and operators of amusements, and ticket resellers, must collect the tax from patrons. The patron owes the tax, but the seller collects it.
The ordinance defines an amusement broadly as an exhibition, performance, presentation or show for entertainment purposes. Examples include movies, athletic contests and theatrical or musical performances, and Chicago's version also lists paid television, according to an analysis from law firm Kilpatrick Townsend.
In practice, sellers usually run into it with:
- Admissions: concerts, sporting events, theater, comedy shows, film screenings and similar paid entry inside city limits
- Participation charges: fees to take part in an amusement, not just watch it
- Electronically delivered amusements: video and audio streaming, online games and paid TV sold to Chicago customers
The tax applies to the "charges paid," which can cover more than the face value of a seat. The same Kilpatrick Townsend analysis points to a court decision on premium seating that may encourage the city to look past the value of the seat alone. If you bundle hospitality, parking or perks into a ticket price, ask your adviser how that package should be taxed.
Current Chicago Amusement Tax Rates and Exemptions
The Department of Finance lists these rates, in effect since January 1, 2025 (checked October 2026):
| Type of charge | Chicago amusement tax rate |
|---|---|
| Paid television and electronically delivered amusements (video streaming, audio streaming, online games) | 10.25% |
| All other taxable amusements, including in-person admissions | 9% |
| Ticket resale transactions, registered resellers only | 3% |
Before January 1, 2025, every type of taxable amusement was taxed at 9%. The 2025 change raised only the streaming and electronic rate. Illinois Policy reported in August 2026 that the 9% rate on other amusements has been in place since 2009.
Cook County Is a Separate Layer
Cook County has its own amusement tax. Illinois Policy notes that the county adds 3% to events like Cubs games but doesn't apply it to streaming. The county's small-venue rules and reduced rates also differ from Chicago's, so treat the two as separate calculations with separate filings.
Exemptions to Check Before You Charge
- Live cultural performances in smaller venues. Chicago exempts admissions to live theatrical, musical or other cultural performances in venues with a maximum capacity, balconies included, of no more than 1,500 people, according to Kilpatrick Townsend's 2024 analysis. Older city guidance used a 750-person cutoff with a reduced rate for larger venues, so check the current ordinance text. The department has also issued Amusement Tax Ruling #4 on when a DJ set counts as a live cultural performance.
- Nonprofit fundraising events. The city's amusement tax guidance exempts certain events that religious, charitable or educational nonprofits hold to raise funds. The exemption is limited to two events per calendar year, totaling no more than 14 days.
- Apply early. The same guidance says the exemption application is due 30 calendar days before the event or 15 calendar days before tickets first go on sale, whichever is earlier. An exemption you never applied for won't help at audit.
Illustrative Math
These figures are illustrative only. A $50 admission to a taxable event in Chicago at 9% adds $4.50 in city tax. A $15 monthly streaming subscription sold to a Chicago subscriber at 10.25% adds about $1.54 per billing cycle. Round the way the city expects, and keep the rounding the same across every channel you sell through.
Chicago Streaming Tax: What Amusement Tax Ruling 5 Covers
The Department of Finance issued Amusement Tax Ruling #5 on June 9, 2015, according to Jones Day. The Illinois Appellate Court's opinion in Labell v. City of Chicago describes it as taking effect July 1, 2015. The ruling applies the existing amusement tax to TV shows, movies, videos, music and games delivered electronically to customers in the city. It did not create a new tax.
Key points from the text of Ruling #5:
- Rentals are taxed and purchases are not. The tax applies to streaming and "temporary" downloads. It does not apply to sales of content, which usually happen through a permanent download.
- Billing model doesn't matter. Subscription fees, per-event fees and other charges for rentals are all covered.
- Providers collect. A business that receives the charges is treated as an owner or operator and must collect the tax from its Chicago customers.
How Ruling #5 Locates a Chicago Customer
According to the Labell opinion, the department said the tax applies to customers whose residential street address or primary business address is in Chicago, as shown by their credit card billing address, ZIP code or other reliable information. In November 2015, the City Council amended the code so that sourcing rules from the Illinois Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Conformity Act may be used for amusements delivered to mobile devices.
Streaming providers challenged the tax, and a Cook County Circuit Court decision upheld it in 2018, as reported by Inside SALT.
What This Means for Subscription Businesses
- Pure streaming, on-demand libraries and online games sold to Chicago customers are the clearest cases.
- Mixed offerings need a closer look. Examples include memberships that combine streamed content with permanent downloads, or a live in-person event packaged with a livestream. Ask your adviser how to split the price. The city also publishes private letter rulings that show how it has handled specific fact patterns.
- Adding tax to existing subscribers changes what they pay at renewal. Check the notice requirements in our automatic renewal laws compliance map before the first taxed renewal goes out.
A separate social media amusement tax took effect January 1, 2026. It charges social media businesses for each Chicago consumer above 100,000 per month, according to the department's 2026 rate-change notice. Most subscription sellers won't be affected, but don't mix it up with the streaming rate.
Resellers, Ticket Platforms and the Chicago Ticket Tax
The Chicago ticket tax isn't only the primary seller's job. The city lists ticket resellers alongside owners and operators as parties that must collect. The 3% resale rate is available to registered resellers only, so registration status affects what a resale costs the buyer.
Where several parties touch one ticket, uncertainty about who collects causes most of the errors. Before you go on sale:
- Put collection duties in writing. If a ticketing platform sells for you, your contract should say who calculates, collects, reports and remits Chicago and Cook County tax.
- Check settlement reports. Payouts should show tax separately from ticket revenue and fees. Then you can tie what you remit to what customers paid.
- Set fees deliberately. If you add service or facility fees, confirm with your adviser whether they count as taxable charges. Our guide on how much ticket service fees should be covers the pricing side, and our explainer on the FTC's total-price rules for tickets covers how fees appear in advertised prices.
- Plan for refunds. When a show is canceled, the refund should reverse the tax as well as the ticket price, and your reports should reflect it. See our cancelled event refund and chargeback guide.
Configuring Checkout to Locate Chicago Customers
The trigger depends on what you sell. For in-person admissions, what matters is where the event takes place. For streamed content, Ruling #5 looks at where the customer lives or has their primary business address.
Box Office and On-Site Sales
- Set up admissions as their own item category in your POS with the correct amusement tax rate, or with the exemption if the event qualifies.
- Keep merchandise, food and drink in separate categories. They're typically taxed under different rules, so check each category's treatment with your adviser.
- Tag each event with its venue and capacity so staff can't apply the wrong rate. Modern POS systems for event venues let you build tax rules by item, and our article on box office and gate card readers covers fast entry when Wi-Fi is unreliable.
Online Ticket Sales for Chicago Events
Set the tax at the event level, not the buyer level. A buyer in another state who buys a ticket to a Chicago show is still paying for an amusement that takes place in Chicago. Default every new Chicago event to taxable, and switch an event to exempt only after your exemption documents are on file.
Streaming and Recurring Billing
Location data is the hard part for subscription sellers:
- Collect the full billing address, not only the ZIP code. Some ZIP codes cross the city line, so match street addresses to city limits where you can.
- Use ZIP as a fallback only, and record which method set the tax for each customer.
- Recheck on address changes. Recalculate tax when a subscriber updates their billing address, not just at signup.
- Show tax as a separate line on receipts and invoices so subscribers can see what they pay.
- Keep the logic in one place. Run tax through your billing platform or tax engine, not through manual adjustments in the online payment gateway.
If you're choosing a platform, our guide to choosing recurring billing software explains what to look for. MannyPay supports online and e-commerce payments with integrations including Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce. Set up tax rules with your tax adviser or tax software.
Filing and Recordkeeping Basics
Register for the amusement tax with the Department of Finance before you collect it, and file on Form 7510. Compliance providers such as Sphere describe Form 7510 as a monthly return filed through the city's online system. Confirm your filing frequency and due dates directly with the department. The city's exemptions and registration page notes that certificates generally require you to be registered for the tax type and free of holds for late returns or unpaid balances. Filing on time protects more than your penalty exposure.
Keep records that would let an auditor rebuild each return:
- Tax collected per transaction, by rate (10.25%, 9%, 3% or exempt)
- For streaming, the address or ZIP used and how you decided the customer was in Chicago
- Event details, venue capacity documents and exemption applications and approvals
- Reseller registration and platform settlement reports
- Refunds and chargebacks that reversed tax
One more reconciliation point: processor deposits include the tax customers paid, and processing fees are usually figured on the full transaction amount. Book collected tax to a liability account rather than to revenue. That way your sales figures and your tax returns tie out.
Next Steps for Chicago Sellers
- List every product or event you sell to Chicago customers and assign each a rate: 10.25%, 9%, 3% or exempt.
- Confirm current rates, exemptions and filing rules with the Department of Finance and your tax adviser.
- Fix your checkout so location data and tax line items are captured consistently.
- Agree in writing with any ticketing partner on who collects and remits.
If your payment setup makes any of this harder, MannyPay works with event and ticketing businesses on in-person and online payments. You can request a free quote, and a MannyPay specialist will respond within one business day.
Sources
- City of Chicago: Amusement Tax (7510, 7510W, 7510S)
- City of Chicago: Is Your Event Subject to the Chicago Amusement Tax?
- City of Chicago Department of Finance: Amusement Tax Ruling #5
- City of Chicago: Amusement Tax Ruling #4 (Live Cultural Performance Exemption – DJs)
- City of Chicago: Tax Rate Changes as of January 2026
- City of Chicago: Tax Exemptions and Registration Certificates
- City of Chicago: Tax Private Letter Rulings
- Labell v. City of Chicago, 2019 IL App (1st) 181379
- Kilpatrick Townsend: Chicago and Cook County Amusement Tax
- Illinois Policy: Chicago Charges a 10.25% Tax to Stream a Cubs Game
- Jones Day: City of Chicago's Department of Finance Issues Rulings Impacting Web Based Entertainment
- Inside SALT: Circuit Court of Cook County Upholds City of Chicago's Imposition of Amusement Tax on Internet-Based Streaming Services
- Sphere: Chicago Amusement Tax Explained
This article is for general educational purposes and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Card network rules and state laws change; confirm current requirements for your business.
