How to Get an Illinois Liquor License

Last updated: September 11, 2026

In Illinois your mayor is the liquor commissioner, and that is not a figure of speech. The mayor or village president — or the county board chairman outside municipalities — is the local liquor control commissioner, with power to grant, suspend, and revoke licenses for premises in their jurisdiction. You need their license and a state license from the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. And every person who serves alcohol or checks ID needs BASSET certification within 120 days of hire, renewed every three years.

BASSET: Required Within 120 Days of Hire

Since July 1, 2018, Illinois has required all on-premises alcohol servers — and anyone whose job includes checking identification for alcohol service — to complete BASSET, the state’s Beverage Alcohol Sellers and Servers Education and Training program, run under the Illinois Liquor Control Commission.

• 120 days from your hire date to be certified.
• Valid three years, then renewed — or sooner where a local ordinance demands it.
• The on-premises course runs about four hours, covering intervention techniques, alcohol’s effects on the body, the relevant laws and penalties, and checking ID.
• Training comes from ILCC-licensed BASSET providers, who set their own course prices; the state maintains the program and the certification records.
• Local rules can be stricter — Illinois municipalities regularly add requirements on top of the state minimum.

Two Licenses: The Local One, Then the State One

Illinois requires a license from the local liquor commissioner and one from the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. They are separate approvals from separate authorities:

• The local liquor control commissioner is your mayor — specifically, the mayor or president of the board of trustees of each city, village, or incorporated town, or the president or chairman of the county board, or their designee.
• That commissioner grants, suspends (up to 30 days), and revokes local licenses for premises within the jurisdiction — and sets the local fee, hours, and conditions.
• The ILCC then issues the state license, across 39 different license categories; the commission processes more than 200 new and 2,000 renewal state licenses a month.
• State fees are set by class under the Liquor Control Act and paid to the ILCC. Because they vary by category and are amended from time to time, confirm the current amount for your class in the ILCC portal rather than trusting a figure quoted on a third-party page — including this one, which deliberately does not print a number it cannot verify against the commission’s current schedule.
• Every on-premises server needs BASSET — the staffing requirement runs alongside the licensing one.

What It Costs

Item	Cost	Notes
BASSET certification (per server)	Set by the provider	ILCC licenses the providers; required within 120 days of hire, valid 3 years
Local liquor license	Set by your municipality	Issued by the mayor or county board chairman as local liquor control commissioner
State liquor license (ILCC)	By license class	Set under the Liquor Control Act; confirm the current figure for your class with the ILCC
Illinois LLC	$150	Articles of organization, Illinois Secretary of State

Your Mayor Holds the License That Matters

Illinois concentrates real licensing power at the most local level in the country. The statute makes the mayor or village president — or the county board chairman — the local liquor control commissioner, with authority to grant local licenses, suspend them for up to thirty days, and revoke them for cause.

Practically, that means your liquor licensing outcome is decided by a local elected official and the ordinance their community has written: how many licenses the municipality allows, what classes exist, what they cost, how late you may serve, how close you may sit to a school or church. Many Illinois municipalities cap the number of licenses outright, and some issue a specific class attached to a specific address. None of that is visible in state-level research, which is why an Illinois plan built only from state sources is incomplete.

The state license is the second gate, not the first. The ILCC issues across 39 license categories and processes thousands of applications a month, but it operates on top of the local decision. Start at the village hall or city clerk’s office, get the ordinance and the fee schedule in writing, and confirm a license is even available for your address before you sign anything.

And put BASSET on the hiring checklist, not the wish list. Every on-premises server and ID-checker must certify within 120 days of hire, with renewal every three years — and local ordinances can shorten that. It is the one requirement here that is uniform statewide.

How to Get Licensed, In Order

1. Go to your municipality first — get the liquor ordinance, the license classes, the fee, and confirmation that a license is available for your address.
2. Apply to the local liquor control commissioner (the mayor, village president, or county board chairman, or their designee).
3. Register the entity with the Illinois Secretary of State.
4. Apply to the ILCC for the matching state license class through the state licensing portal, and confirm the current fee there.
5. Certify your staff in BASSET — within 120 days of each hire date, sooner if your local ordinance says so.
6. Diary both renewals plus each employee’s three-year BASSET expiration.

Staying Licensed

Both licenses renew on their own cycles — the local one on your municipality’s calendar at its fee, the state one with the ILCC at the fee for your class. BASSET certifications expire every three years per employee, and local ordinances may require renewal sooner, so track certification dates by person rather than by business. A local commissioner can suspend a local license for up to thirty days or revoke it for cause, which makes the local relationship worth maintaining as carefully as the paperwork.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do bartenders need BASSET certification in Illinois?

Yes. Since July 1, 2018, all on-premises alcohol servers — and anyone required to check identification for alcohol service — must complete BASSET, the state’s Beverage Alcohol Sellers and Servers Education and Training program. You have 120 days from your hire date to get certified, and the certification is valid for three years. The on-premises course runs about four hours.

How long is BASSET certification good for?

Three years, and every BASSET student must renew at the end of that period — or sooner if a local ordinance requires it. Illinois municipalities can impose stricter rules than the state, so check whether your city shortens the cycle.

Do I need both a local and a state liquor license in Illinois?

Yes. Illinois requires a license from your local liquor commissioner and a license from the Illinois Liquor Control Commission to sell alcohol. The local piece comes first in practice: the mayor or village president — or the county board chairman outside municipalities — serves as the local liquor control commissioner and has the power to grant, suspend, or revoke local licenses for premises in their jurisdiction.

Who issues liquor licenses in Illinois?

Two authorities. Locally, the mayor or president of the board of trustees of each city, village, or incorporated town — or the president or chairman of the county board — is the local liquor control commissioner for that jurisdiction. At the state level, the Illinois Liquor Control Commission issues the state license, processing more than 200 new and 2,000 renewal state licenses every month across 39 different license categories.

How much does an Illinois liquor license cost?

There are two bills and only one of them has a published statewide answer. State license fees are set by class under the Liquor Control Act and paid to the ILCC; because they vary by category and change periodically, confirm the current figure for your class in the state’s licensing portal rather than relying on a number quoted elsewhere. The local license fee is set entirely by your municipality and is often the larger of the two.

How soon do new employees need BASSET in Illinois?

Within 120 days of the hire date. That gives a new hire time to start work before certifying, but the clock is on the employer as much as the employee — an uncertified server past 120 days is a compliance problem for the license holder.

Forming the company, taxes, insurance, and hiring are covered in our full guide to starting a business in Illinois.

Sources

Source	What It Covers
Illinois Liquor Control Commission — BASSET	Mandatory BASSET for on-premises servers and ID checkers, 120-day deadline, three-year validity, four-hour on-premises course
Illinois — New Illinois Server Training Law effective July 1	Effective date of the mandatory server training law
235 ILCS 5/4-2 — Local liquor control commissioner	The mayor or president of the board of trustees, or county board president/chairman, is the local liquor control commissioner, with power to grant, suspend up to 30 days, and revoke local licenses
Illinois Liquor Control Commission — Licensing	39 state license categories; volume of new and renewal state licenses; state licensing portal
Illinois Secretary of State — LLC Articles of Organization	$150 filing fee