Grundy County, IL Property Tax Exemptions (and How to Apply for a Homestead Exemption)

by Brian Wittman

An appeal argues about what your house is worth. An exemption does not argue about anything. It takes a fixed amount off the value your tax bill is calculated on, every year, for as long as you qualify, and nobody on the other side of the counter is going to talk you out of it.

The catch is that most of them require you to ask. And a few of the numbers people have been told about them are no longer the numbers.

How do I apply for a homestead exemption in Grundy County?

Apply through the Grundy County Supervisor of Assessments Office at 111 East Washington Street in Morris, using the state PTAX form that matches the exemption you want. The general homestead exemption for an owner occupied home is worth up to $6,000 off your equalized assessed value and may be applied for you automatically or may require an initial application, so it is worth confirming yours is on. Everything else has to be claimed: the senior citizens homestead exemption uses Form PTAX-324, the senior assessment freeze uses Form PTAX-340 and has to be filed again every single year, the disabled persons exemption uses PTAX-343, veterans exemptions use PTAX-341 or PTAX-342, and a home improvement exemption uses PTAX-323. The office number is (815) 941-3269. Exemptions reduce the value your bill is figured on, so the savings repeat every year you hold the exemption rather than arriving once.

The senior freeze income limit went up, and a lot of people were told the old number

This is the one worth reading even if you skip everything else.

The Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze locks the equalized assessed value of your home at a base year, so rising values stop pushing your bill up. It has always been income limited, and for years that limit was $65,000. A great many seniors asked, were told they earned too much, and never asked again.

The limit is no longer $65,000. Per the Illinois Department of Revenue, the household income maximum is $75,000 for tax year 2026, $77,000 for 2027, and $79,000 for 2028 and after. Grundy County's own PTAX-340 for the 2026 assessment year says it plainly on the form: your total household income for the prior year has to be $75,000 or less, and you have to be 65 or older during the assessment year.

Read that pairing twice, because it trips people up. The age is measured in the assessment year. The income is measured in the year before it. Someone who turns 65 this year is looking at last year's household income.

Now the part that matters more than the number. There is no mechanism anywhere in Illinois that goes back and tells a senior who was denied at $65,000 that they are eligible now. No letter goes out. Nobody calls. If you were told no, or if you read a $65,000 figure somewhere and never bothered applying, the only way you find out is by asking again. If you have a parent or a neighbor in that band, this paragraph is the reason to mention it to them.

One more thing about the freeze that costs people real money: it is not permanent once granted. You have to file Form PTAX-340 every year, and the form says so in as many words. A year you forget is a year the freeze lapses.

What is each Grundy County exemption actually worth?

These are the amounts that apply in Grundy County. They are not universal across Illinois, because the general homestead and senior homestead amounts are set by county population tiers, and Grundy sits in neither the Cook tier nor the tier for counties touching Cook.

General Homestead Exemption. Up to $6,000 off your equalized assessed value on an owner occupied primary residence. This is the baseline one, and it is the one most likely to already be on your bill.

Senior Citizens Homestead Exemption. $5,000 off EAV, for owners 65 or older. Grundy publishes its own version of the state form, PTAX-324GC, and it asks for proof of age: a birth certificate, a state issued driver's license, or a state ID.

Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze. Not a fixed dollar amount. It freezes the EAV at a base year instead, so its value grows the longer you hold it and the faster values rise around you. Annual filing, income limits above.

Disabled Persons Homestead Exemption. $2,000 off EAV. Initial application on PTAX-343, annual renewal on PTAX-343-R. It cannot be combined with the veterans with disabilities exemptions in the same tax year, so if both could apply, take the larger one.

Standard Homestead Exemption for Veterans with Disabilities. Tiered by service connected disability rating: $2,500 off EAV at 30 to 49 percent, $5,000 at 50 to 69 percent, and at 70 percent or more the residence is exempt from property tax entirely. PTAX-342 initially, PTAX-342-R annually.

Veterans with Disabilities Exemption for specially adapted housing. A separate and larger benefit, up to $100,000 off assessed value, with eligibility determined through the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs rather than the county, and reestablished annually.

Returning Veterans Homestead Exemption. $5,000 off EAV for two consecutive tax years on returning from active duty in an armed conflict, on PTAX-341. It can be claimed again after a later deployment.

Homestead Improvement Exemption. This one is widely misunderstood, because it gets quoted two different ways and both are correct. It shields up to $75,000 of fair cash value added by an improvement, which is up to $25,000 in assessed value, since assessed value in Illinois runs at one third of fair cash value. It lasts four years from completion. PTAX-323, and it may be applied automatically in some cases.

Natural Disaster Homestead Exemption. PTAX-327, for a residence rebuilt after a catastrophic event.

There is also a solar energy assessment provision on PTAX-330 if you have added a solar system.

Do I put an addition on hold to protect my taxes?

No, and this is the practical read on the improvement exemption that nobody gives you.

Finishing a basement, adding a bathroom, putting on an addition: those add fair cash value, and that added value normally flows straight into your assessment. The improvement exemption exists precisely so that the first $75,000 of added market value does not hit your bill for four years. It is not a loophole. It is the legislature deciding you should get a runway.

What it does mean is that year five is a step up, and it is a step up nobody warns you about. If you improve a house and you plan to still be in it in five years, budget for the bill you will have then rather than the one you have now. Over the five to ten years most people actually stay in a house, that single line of arithmetic is the difference between a renovation that fit and one that quietly did not.

When do you have to apply?

Grundy prints one deadline and leaves another blank, and that is worth knowing before you assume they share a date.

The senior citizens homestead exemption form says to file by November 30 of the assessment year. That is printed on Grundy's own PTAX-324GC.

The senior assessment freeze form, PTAX-340, has a "last date to apply" line on it that is left blank for the county to fill in. So the freeze deadline is set locally and does not travel with the form.

The honest instruction, and the one that costs you nothing: if you are applying for anything in the fall, call (815) 941-3269 and ask for the current date for the specific exemption you are claiming. One call covers every exemption you are filing, and it beats discovering in February that one of them missed by a week.

And if you are not sure whether an exemption you already have is still showing up, look at your bill or your assessment record before you call, so the conversation starts from what is actually on the property rather than what you think should be.

What about the senior tax deferral program?

It exists, it is a statewide Illinois program rather than a Grundy one, and it is genuinely different from everything above, so treat it separately.

An exemption reduces what you owe. The deferral does not reduce anything. It lets a qualifying homeowner 65 or older postpone paying, with the state placing a lien on the house for the deferred amount plus interest, repayable when the property is sold or transferred or within a year of the owner's death. The income ceiling climbed alongside the freeze, up from the old $65,000 figure, the annual deferral is capped, and unlike every exemption on this page you apply to the county collector rather than the assessments office, inside a filing window that opens in January.

That is the pointer, not the analysis. Whether deferring is a good idea depends on your equity, your heirs, and what you want the house to do for your family, and that is a conversation with an estate attorney rather than a paragraph on a blog. Start by calling the Grundy County Treasurer for the current year's income limit, cap, and filing dates.

One thing to check first if you live in Minooka or Channahon

Your exemptions are administered by the county your parcel sits in, and both of those villages cross county lines.

Parcels inside the same village can fall in Grundy, in Will, or in Kendall. Your mailing address does not settle it and neither does your school district. Your parcel number does. Look it up on the county assessment inquiry site or read it off your tax bill, then apply through that county, because filing a Grundy form on a Will County parcel accomplishes nothing at all. Two neighbors can end up doing their paperwork at two different courthouses, which is one of the stranger consequences of a village sitting in three counties at once.

The Bottom Line

Exemptions are the least glamorous money in real estate and close to the easiest. There is no adversary, no evidence to assemble, and no hearing. There is a form, an office on East Washington Street, and a deadline in the fall.

Check what is already on your bill. Claim what is not. If you are 65 or over, or you have a parent who is, treat the freeze as the priority, apply even if you were told no under the old income limit, and put the annual refiling on the calendar so it never lapses.

If your assessment itself looks wrong, that is a separate fight with a separate deadline, and how to appeal your property taxes in Grundy County covers it. If you want a set of eyes on your assessment before you decide which of the two you are dealing with, ask me and I will pull the sales and tell you honestly which one applies. That is broker work I do not charge for, and it costs you nothing to find out you are fine.

Nobody in the property tax system is paid to notice that you are missing an exemption. The forms are public, the money is real, and the asking is the only part that has to come from you. For how all of this fits together across the region, Illinois property taxes is the wider picture, and it is also why your escrow payment went up the year an exemption came off.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is the homestead exemption in Grundy County, Illinois?

Up to $6,000 off your equalized assessed value for the general homestead exemption on an owner occupied primary residence. That is the figure for Grundy and for most Illinois counties. The $10,000 figure you may see quoted is the Cook County amount, and $8,000 applies to counties that border Cook. Grundy is neither.

What is the income limit for the senior freeze in Illinois?

$75,000 for tax year 2026, $77,000 for 2027, and $79,000 for 2028 and after, per the Illinois Department of Revenue. The old limit was $65,000, and it is still quoted in a lot of places. If you were turned down under the old number, apply again. Income is measured on the year before the assessment year.

Do I have to reapply for my exemptions every year?

Some of them, yes. The senior assessment freeze requires a new PTAX-340 every year without exception, and the disabled persons and veterans with disabilities exemptions have annual renewal forms. The general homestead and senior citizens homestead exemptions generally carry forward once granted. If you are unsure what is currently on your property, check your bill or call the assessments office.

What is the deadline to file for a property tax exemption in Grundy County?

Grundy's senior citizens homestead form says November 30 of the assessment year. The senior freeze form leaves its deadline line blank for the county to fill in, so it is not printed on the form you download. Call (815) 941-3269 and confirm the current date for the exemption you are claiming rather than assuming they share one.

Will finishing my basement raise my property taxes?

Eventually, and the homestead improvement exemption is what delays it. Up to $75,000 of added fair cash value, which is $25,000 in assessed value, is shielded for four years from completion. After that the full value flows into your assessment. Plan for the year five bill, not the year one bill.

I live in Minooka. Which county do I file my exemption with?

Whichever county your parcel is actually in, and you cannot tell from your address. Minooka and Channahon both span Grundy, Will and Kendall. Look up your parcel number on the county assessment inquiry site or read it from your tax bill, then file with that county's assessments office.

Is the senior tax deferral the same as an exemption?

No, and the difference matters. An exemption reduces what you owe. The deferral postpones payment and puts a lien on the house for the deferred amount plus interest, repaid when the home is sold or transferred or within a year of the owner's death. It is a cash flow tool that trades against the equity your heirs inherit. Apply through the county collector, not the assessments office, and talk to an estate attorney before you commit.

If you are not sure which exemptions are already on your property, or you are helping a parent sort theirs out, contact me and I will look at it with you. There is nothing to sell on this one; the forms are free and the office is a phone call away. It is just easier with someone who has read them.

If you're not even sure what an exemption is and want help figuring out how to improve your life around your biggest expense, start with scheduling time with me.

Brian Wittman is a licensed real estate broker (Real Broker LLC), mortgage loan originator (NMLS #2646598, NEXA Mortgage, LLC, Equal Housing Lender), and life insurance producer (Levinson & Associates). This article is for educational purposes only and is not financial, lending, tax, or legal advice, an offer, or a commitment to lend; all loans are subject to credit approval. Information is accurate as of the publication date; for current details and full disclosures, visit https://bluejeanbroker.com/disclosures.