What If Your Property Tax Appeal Is Denied? (and How to Appeal to the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board)
The board of review said no. Now you get a second shot, and this one doesn't care what the county decided. The state's Property Tax Appeal Board starts your case fresh. It's free to file, and you can do it without a lawyer. Here's what you may not realize. That fresh start works both ways. The state
How to Appeal Your Property Taxes in Kendall County, IL (and When Is the Appeal Deadline?)
Getting your assessment right is one of the few tax fights you can win on your own. The form is free. The office is in Yorkville. You don't need a lawyer, and you don't need an appraisal. Here's what you may not realize. Kendall County doesn't give each township its own window. It sets one date for
Kendall County, IL Property Tax Exemptions (and How to Apply for a Homestead Exemption)
An exemption is the easiest money on your tax bill. Nobody argues with you about it. You qualify, you file, and a fixed amount comes off the value your bill is figured on, every year you keep qualifying. Here's what you may not realize. The amount depends on the county, and the county line doesn't c
How to Appeal Your Property Taxes in Illinois (and Which County's Rules Actually Apply to You)
You can appeal your assessment yourself. It's free at the first level, you don't need a lawyer, and if you win as an owner-occupant the reduction follows you for years, not just one bill. Here's what nobody tells you before you file. A Lake County homeowner appealed his 2021 assessment. His board of
How Do Property Taxes Work in Illinois? (and Why They're Different in Every County)
Every year the State of Illinois assigns each county a single number, and the county clerk multiplies every assessment in that county by it. It is called the equalization factor, and it is the number people reach for when the bill goes up and nobody can explain why. Here is what almost nobody who bl
Grundy County, IL Property Tax Exemptions (and How to Apply for a Homestead Exemption)
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 mos
How to Appeal Your Property Taxes in Grundy County, IL (and How to Actually Win the Appeal)
Most people find out about the appeal deadline after it has passed. That is not carelessness. It is what happens when the date genuinely moves. In Grundy County, the assessment list was published on December 4 one year and the deadline landed on January 3 of the following year. In another year the n
Will County Property Tax Exemptions (and the Ones People Never Claim)
There is a good chance you have never filled out a single piece of paper for your Will County property tax exemption, and you are getting it anyway. That is not an accident and it is not a mistake. It is how the county runs. It is also why the other exemptions get missed. When the big one shows up o
Kankakee County Property Tax Exemptions (and the Ones People Never Claim)
In some Illinois counties the main homestead exemption lands on your tax bill without you ever asking for it. Kankakee County is not one of them. Kankakee publishes an application form for it. That single fact is the most important thing on this page, because if you bought a house here and assumed t