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Illinois Publishes Draft Rules for 0.2% Digital-Asset Transaction Tax

Active lawsuits and a pending repeal bill leave enforcement of the new levy uncertain.

Overview

  • Illinois published draft implementing rules on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, and opened a public comment period that runs through Oct. 30, 2026.
  • The draft says the 0.2% levy applies to the value of covered exchange, transfer and storage services rather than to capital gains, so each taxable transaction would carry the charge even if the customer took a loss.
  • Stablecoins are explicitly taxable under the proposal while nonfungible tokens and certain tokenized securities or commodities are excluded from the tax.
  • DeFi trades are generally exempt unless a platform collects protocol fees or other paid 'valuable consideration,' in which case the platform can be treated as a taxable digital-asset broker and the activity becomes subject to the levy.
  • Remote brokers can fall under Illinois rules when gross receipts from Illinois customers reach $100,000 and enforcement could still be delayed or blocked by ongoing lawsuits and a repeal bill before the Jan. 1, 2027 effective date.