Hi all,
This seems high to me, but I am not sure where the extra amount might be.
2025 Wagoneer S Limited
24 months
12K
$2K down (includes first payment)
$596.43
I live in Chicago. So there is an extra 11% tax on all payments here.
Some things to research:
Are you able to generate a TDM code, or has it already been applied?
Beyond the TDM code, does the $9k in incentives include every other incentive to which you’re entitled?
Is the MF at buy rate, or is it marked up?
How many BEV coupons can they use on this model July? Are the ones applied here part of the dealer discount, or are they included in the incentive section? I’ve seen these contracted both ways depending on the state.
As a reference point, the MSRP on mine was $200 less than this, but selling price was $57,700. BEV coupons were included in the dealer discount.
(I got mine in May in Southern California, and I don’t know how market conditions compare to Chicago. CA is probably a more competitive market, but EV demand where you are is likely lower).
I have not tried to do the TDM code. I will try that now.
I believe the $9K does included everything.
I will also ask about the BEV coupons.
Thank you.
FYI Two separate dealerships said to wait until the 17th as new incentives will be announced.
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my lease is 250 and it’s shitty car
really bad experience
That’s because it is high. I checked all dealer calculations manually, and there are some mistakes that center around tax calculations…
In Illinois, the sum of the base payments is taxed, not the individual payments streams. So, the 59.11 monthly tax is bogus and pure BS. Also, the 537.72 base payment if inaccurate… it should be lower.
I have no idea how they arrived at capped taxes = 2228 other than to say that they are wrong which means the payments are off. The 351 capped fee likely includes the 151-license fee. I don’t know the nature of the 200 balance and so, I have no idea whether it is taxable or not. This worksheet is pure garbage. The dealer seems totally clueless. You may find the following helpful…
Building a Motor Vehicle Lease- Data Collection and Calculations.pdf (403.6 KB)
Yes. In Illinois you are charged on the base payments. But in the City of Chicago we pay an additional 11% on top of that on each payment. Sucks, but I am used to it.
Thank you for the link. Will go through it now.
Nope… You may want to review these docs…
Illinois Lease Sales Tax.pdf (305.3 KB)
Illinois Sales Tax Calculations.pdf (1.3 MB)
That is just the sales tax. The extra tax is called the personal property lease transaction tax. PPLTT. They charge it on leased or rental of personal property within the city limits. It changed in 2025 to 11% from 9%.
They can now charge tax on the down payment the rebates also. Oo the $2,200in taxes is the total of the monthly plus the total cap reduction of $9,300 times the 9.5% sales tax.
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I’m aware of that.
Nope. Do you know what the upfront charge of 1030.98 is for? It’s the tax on the 9372.59 CCR @11%…
11% x 9372.59 = 1030.98.
Also, 1030.98 + 24 x 59.11 does not equal 2228. Furthermore, it makes no sense. Again, the 59.11 monthly tax is bogus. Even if it weren’t it should not be included in the capped 2228 tax.
Your lease inception fees…
1st payment … 596.43 … which is wrong
CCR… 9372.59 … needs to be recalculated
CCR Tax… 1030.98… needs to be recalculated
TOTAL… 11000.00
Rebate Cr.. … 9000.00
DAS… 2000.00
Calculation of Illinois taxes, including Chicago, is complicated. I wrote the above posted pdf dealing with the calculations and am well acquainted with how those taxes are calculated.
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Great. Thank you very much!
They totally messed up with the numbers for sure. Thank you that PDF helped me to show them why.
And as a side note, in the city of Chicago we do have that extra $11% on top of the 9.5% tax. 20.5% tax hurts for sure. But oh well. I have links that I can send you, but here is the overall information on it.
Chicago tax on car leases
Leasing a car in Chicago involves two main taxes: Illinois sales tax and the Chicago Personal Property Lease Transaction Tax.
- Illinois sales tax
- The sales tax rate in the City of Chicago is 9.5%.
- When leasing a car in Illinois, you pay sales tax on the down payment and each monthly lease payment, not on the total value of the vehicle upfront.
- If you decide to purchase the vehicle at the end of the lease, you’ll pay sales tax on the depreciated price at that time.
- Chicago Personal Property Lease Transaction Tax (PPLTT)
- This is a separate, locally imposed tax on the privilege of leasing personal property used in Chicago.
- As of January 1, 2025, the PPLTT rate is 11% of the lease or rental price for all leases, including cars.
In summary, for a car lease in Chicago, you’ll generally pay:
- Illinois Sales Tax: 9.5% on the down payment and total of each monthly lease payment.
- Chicago Personal Property Lease Transaction Tax: 11% on the lease or rental price due monthly.
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Thanks for the info. That changed recently (Jan 2025) for which I was not aware. Chicago is an absolute mess. Geez, it was a mess when I was going to school in Evanston many years ago.
Here’s the latest pdf…
Illinois Tax Guidelines- (3-25) st-9-lse.pdf (1006.4 KB)
Without you, I would have never known. Thanks
The best fiscal car buying rule living in Chicago is to just pay cash or finance if you don’t have the $ and hold for several years. I refused to pay ~20% tax on top of crazy City property and sales taxes.
It’s double taxation too with tax being paid on tax.
-
Obtain your base monthly payment (P).
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Calculate sales tax = P Ă— 9.5%.
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Add sales tax to get payment_with_sales = P + (P Ă— 0.095).
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Calculate Chicago tax = payment_with_sales Ă— 0.11.
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Sum total payment = payment_with_sales + Chicago tax.
I just finished reviewing this document and, it shows on P. 22-23 that the methodology for computing tax remains the same. It’s the tax rate treatment that seems to have changed. According to this pdf, the total of the base payments is taxed, not the individual payment streams. The dealer idswrong and so is this dealer…
Isn’t the overall tax amount the same tho?
Say individual stream/base payment equal 100 on 24 month lease…10% tax is 10 for 240 total over lease…total of base payment times 24 equals 2400 times 10% is 240.
Yes, but there is a fundamental difference… tax levied on each payment as it is received is excluded from the total taxes due at signing. Taxing the sum of the base payments forces those taxes to be due at signing and is included in the total taxes due at signing. So, in the image above, the total tax of 5137.83 should exclude the monthly tax of 38.81 which is bogus anyway. There is no monthly tax levied on the base payments that the lessee would pay each month in Illinois. The monthly tax is totaled over the lease term and paid at lease inception as you described. Simply stated, your pay the payment tax all at once instead of monthly.
I might add that the Illinois tax guidelines, not surprisingly, are very poorly written. Much is open to interpretation triggering the need for clarity.
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I sat with a finance person at a very busy BMW dealership in the city once and they couldn’t explain the lease tax calc equation. I could never match it with my Excel calcs exactly. They just said they use software certified by the city/state to calculate it. Lol!
I would never lease in the city because of that crazy use tax and especially because I couldn’t personally calculate it! Ugh.
Of course they couldn’t. The last two dealer worksheets I saw, the one above and the one below, the taxes are not calculated correctly according to Illinois tax guidelines.
Both worksheets levy tax on the individual payment streams and collect the tax when each monthly payment is due. This is not accurate according to Pp. 22-23 of the tax guidelines.