Skip to content
CPA license renewal deadlines by state — verified and kept current

Illinois CPA License Reinstatement: What a Lapsed License Costs

If your Illinois CPA license has already lapsed

What it actually takes to get a lapsed Illinois CPA license back — the fee, the catch-up CPE, and exactly what triggers "lapsed" in the first place. Sourced the same way every fact on this site is: a board page, plus the codified rule itself where we could confirm it against primary law, clearly labelled where we could only confirm it against the board's own page, never a guess.

Verified 2026-09-12
Reinstatement Fee
$260

A capped formula, not a flat fee: $50 restoration fee plus all lapsed annual renewal fees ($40/yr Licensed CPA, $30/yr Registered CPA), capped so the total cannot exceed $260 (68 Ill. Admin. Code 1420.40(g)). Restoring from voluntary inactive status costs only the current renewal fee instead. IDFPR's own site doesn't publish a CPA-specific restoration figure (its general reactivation-fee table explicitly excludes CPAs), so the administrative code is the authoritative source for the exact amount.

Catch-Up CPE Required
  • No extra CPE beyond the normal 120-hour/3-year total (68 Ill. Admin. Code 1420.60/1420.70) -- restoration just requires those 120 hours to fall within the 3 years immediately preceding the restoration application, not an additional amount.
Source of record 68 Ill. Admin. Code 1420.60 (Restoration); 1420.40 (Fees); 1420.70 (CPE requirement); 1420.80 (Renewals, cross-refs 1420.70) read the rule →

What triggers lapsed status: Individual license expires September 30 every 3 years (firm license: November 30) if not renewed in the 2-month pre-expiration window. No grace period -- practicing on an expired license is unlicensed activity from the day after expiration (68 Ill. Admin. Code 1420.80).

Last verified: 2026-09-12 · checked against the state's codified statute or administrative rule, not just a board webpage — if we can't verify a date against primary law, we say so instead of guessing (see how we verify every deadline). Always confirm with the official state board before relying on this date. License requirements and deadlines can change.

See Illinois's CPA license renewal deadline →

How many CPE hours does Illinois require? →

← Back to all states