Illinois Taxing Separately for Party Food and Drinks

Posted on February 27, 2018

At one time or another, we have all been dragged to a Chuck-E-Cheese or a skating rink for a child’s birthday party.

In addition to the bad pizza, the birthday party also includes something else that is packaged with it, such as bowling, roller skating or laser tag. The question then remains, how does the State of Illinois charge sales tax on the birthday party package?

According to a recent letter from the Illinois Department of Revenue, when a single charge is made for the birthday party package that includes admission to an attraction plus food and soft drinks, the entire package is subject to sales tax.

However, if the food and soft drinks are separately stated from the admission to the attraction, the sales tax only applies to the food and soft drinks. By keeping the admission to the attraction separate from the food and soft drinks, the venue would not have to pay sales tax on the attraction, only on the food and soft drinks.

Is anybody up for a bad slice of pizza?