Cook County tax bills were sent out last week, and for a lot of homeowners the bills were a big surprise – and not in a good way. My phone has been ringing with home owners wondering how their taxes moved up so sharply. Home values have trended down over the last few years, but accessed values have moved up, in some cases by a lot. The problem is that properties are re-accessed every 3 years (each township rotates so they are not all done at the same time), and this year the re-assessment comes at a time when legislation has phased out some tax caps, so the result is a spike in tax bills while the value of their home is lower.

The real estate tax system is complicated and there are a number of factors that go into calculating the tax bill. The first thing to do is to check your bill and make sure you are getting all the correct exemptions. If you aren’t getting your homeowners exemption this could make a big difference. But one of the major factors is the property’s accessed value. If you can show that the accessed value is higher than the home’s real value, you may be able to get your tax bill lowered. There are attorneys and specialists who do this regularly and charge you a percentage of the taxes you saved. Or you can do this yourself.

If the property was purchased within the last 3 years, the assessor will base the new accessed value on the sale price. This might not help you if you bought when the market was still moving up, and now it is down from what you paid. If you’ve owned the home longer, your accessed value will be based on what comparable homes have sold for recently.

Here is the link to what you need to do to appeal your property taxes in Cook County.

Here is the online Cook county residential property tax appeal form.

Tax appeals are handled the same way in all of Chicago’s collar counties.

Dupage County property tax appeal process.

Dupage County tax appeal forms.

Kane County property tax appeal process.

Will County property tax appeal process.

Will County tax appeal forms.

Kendall County Assessors Office

Lake County property tax appeal process.

McHenry County property tax appeal process.

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