the wasserblawg

Cook County tax bills are due March 2nd by Michael H. Wasserman "'Tis impossible to be sure of anything but death and taxes." Christopher Bullock's infamous quote still rings true, some 300 years later.  Cook County tax bills are due March 2nd Cook County's 2020 First Installment property tax bills are due March 2nd. Surrounding counties will be due soon enough too. Thankfully, while none of us can avoid death, there are a few ways to save money on property taxes...which might make living a little sweeter. We are talking here are 2020 property tax bills that we will all need to pay this year, in 2021. Exemption eligibility is determined as of January 1st, 2020 . If you closed on property last year, you can certainly check the former owner’s status and ride on his or her coat-tails. You will not be eligible to claim exemptions you may qualify for yourself. Check out all the property-tax exemptions currently available for Cook County homeowners. Scroll below to f...

By Michael H. Wasserman Paying property tax bills before the end of the 2017 may help some owners save on their federal income tax liabilities. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has been called the most sweeping tax reform bill in decades. Like it or not, tax reform is coming. Others might wring their hands with glee or with worry. We are already working on ways to minimize the pain this reform might cause.  One aspect of the pending tax reform plan presents a clear challenge for most Chicagoland home owners, the elimination of deductions for State and Local Taxes (SALT). The house and senate plans both limit deductibility to $10,000. Once the tax reform is signed into law, we will pay federal income taxes on the money we use to pay our local taxes exceeding that $10,000 threshold. Some homeowners who have the foresight (and lets face it, the savings) to act swiftly may want to pre-pay their first installment 2017 property tax bills this year before the tax laws kick in, so...

by Michael H. Wasserman Cook County property owners can now see their 2014 1st Installment property tax bills online at the County Treasurer's web site . Tax bills are due on or before March 3, 2015.  The first installment bill is not a predictor of what the final annual tax bill will look like. This is merely 55% of last years bill and is simply an estimate  of what the final levy may look like. IF YOU ESCROW FOR TAXES WITH YOUR LENDER: Property tax payers who escrow for taxes with their lender need not take any action - the lender is supposed to pay for you. (OK, maybe you should check to make sure that your lender actually does pays the bill.). IF YOU PAY YOUR OWN TAXES: Make sure that you pay on time! The County charges 18% per anum interest on delinquent taxes (1.5% per month). You can pay any number of ways, including - Payment the County directly , in person at the Treasurer's Offices or by mail at any local (Illinois) Chase Bank branch location at oth...

By Michael H. Wasserman Nothing gets the phones ringing in my office quite like property tax bill season.  Cook County mailed out 1st installment bills this past week. They are due by March 4th. The taxing system is dreadfully complicated and consumers, particularly new property owners, have questions. Here are some of the most common questions received in my office and, of course, some answers too! WHAT TAXES ARE WE PAYING? All Illinois property taxes are paid one year in arrears. In other words, the bills we all just received in 2014 are actually taxes due from 2013. This presents an obvious question for anyone who closed last year or earlier this month - is this my bill or the sellers?

by  Michael H. Wasserman, Attorney at Law Applications for the Cook County property tax Homeowner, Senior Citizen and Senior Freeze Exemptions are now available from the County Assessor's Office. Homeowners who apply & qualify for exemptions will receive deductions off of their second-installment property tax bills - which are expected to be issued by summer 2014. Forms are available as follows: 2013 Homeowner Exemption 2013 Senior Citizen Exemption 2013 Senior Tax Freeze 2013 Disabled Persons Exemption 2013 Disabled Veterans Exemption 2013 Returning Veterans Exemption 2013 WAIVER of Exemption  More information is available from the County Assessor

by  Michael H. Wasserman, Attorney at Law Cook County property owners wee mailed last week. Better start asking around if you did not receive yours yet - those bills are all due by March 1st. If you know a property's PIN, you can look them up at the County Treasurer's web site.  If you do not know the PIN, you can look that  up at the Cook County Assessor's site . How to Hold  Your Cook County Tax  Bill QUICK TIPS FOR HOME BUYERS Home buyers especially for first time home buyers, should not panic after looking at a 1st installment tax bill. Sure it looks  like a 10%  increase over last year. Yes, the tax bill  may (probably will?) go up, but for now - it is just too soon to tell. First installment bills are estimates only . They are automatically set at 55% of the previous year's levy. County and Municipal taxing bodies still have to finalize their respective budget processes and the actual tax bills will not be computed or ...

Assessor's Web Site Screen Grab by  Michael H. Wasserman, Attorney at Law Whenever a client hires me in connection with a local real estate purchase or sale, one of the first things I do is check out the local county assessor’s web site. For Cook County transactions, that would be here . The property search function allows home buyers, owners, and the professionals that represent them, many data points that can be critical to their deals. I am on this site every day. What the Assessor’s Office Does The Assessor sets the valuations (worth) of each of Cook County’s 1.8 millions parcels of property. These assessments are then plugged into the mathematical formula used to calculate our annual property taxes. Your property’s assessed value, in part, determines how much you will pay in property taxes. Taxes are likewise impacted by the use (or failure to claim) any of several recognized tax “exemptions.” Why I Search A check in with the County Assessor helps me assure cli...

No snow in the forecast and the earth has not frozen over, but indeed, your Cook County 2011 2nd Installment Property Tax bill is on its way to your mail box and will be due August 1st. First time it is out this early in 40 years. MORE INFORMATION HERE.

The tax man cometh. Cook County first installment property tax bills should be hitting mail boxes everywhere this week. The bills will be due and payable by March 1st . Taxpayers are reminded that the first installment bills are being sent out now, even though the County does not know how much is actually owed. These are "estimated" bills. For now, bills are simply computed based on a percentage of last year's tariff. A law change enacted in 2009 raised the estimated amount due from 50% to 55%.  The final reckoning will not be announced until later this fall. In theory , those final bills will be mailed out at the beginning of August and will be due September 3rd. The actual due dates may be (and typically are) much later. Our County is notorious for tardy tax bills. Last year's final installments were due in November. Bills paid in 2010 were so late that they were not due until December!  The Second Installment due dates vary because they are computed based on th...

A last minute reminder that 2010 1st Installment Cook County property tax bills are due tomorrow, April 1st. Starting Saturday, delinquent taxpayers will have to pay a 1.5% late charge for each month they are late. Of all the nuances in my work helping buyers and seller close their real estate transactions, few facets of the process cause as much confusion as Cook County property taxes. There are a great many reasons for this, but on the bottom line, it is just darn messed up. The property tax system pits citizen tax payers against citizen consumers of governmental services. We want the good services and benefits our State, County, and City...but we would like them a whole lot better if someone else would pay for them. Carrie Porter over at the Morton Grove Patch is running a week long series on the Cook County property tax system. I highly recommend taking a look at her reports: A video explaining the basic computation of property tax bills A look at the extra burd...

Some news is (finally) starting to leak out regarding those inevitable Cook County property tax bills everyone has been waiting for. We all, of course, know that local property tax bills are sent out in two installments. The first installment, a/k/a the estimated bill, is always taken as a percentage of the previous years levy. Formerly half of the prior years taxes, the most recent bill demanded 55% of the last known taxes, owing to a recently changed state law. The County, it seems, needs more money sooner. A prior blog post alerted readers to this change earlier this year. The second, of final installment of the tax bills is supposed  to get mailed out in August, providing a theoretical  due date of September 1st. These bills are very often mailed much later. Last year they went out in November  and were due December. There has been a good deal of rumor mongering and speculation about the timing of the second installment 2009 tax bills. Harken back to this report ...

Anyone out there interested in a Visa Check Card loaded with money? Did I mention that it is free? A gift, from the City of Chicago? Our fair City is offering checks of up to $200 to help offset the costs of higher property tax bills to qualifying homeowners. Here are the details: To be eligible, homeowners must have a principal residence in the City of Chicago, make $200,000 a year or less, and an increase in their 2008 property tax bill, when measured against the 2007 tax. The amount of "tax relief" is based on a combination of income level and the size of the your property tax increase. This chart breaks it down: Anyone who wants to apply for a taxpayer relief grant must Complete the application Attach a copy of his or her 2008 tax bill Attach a photocopy of a government-issued photo I.D. that shows the same home address. Relief checks will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and applications will be taken until March 31, 2010. The City anticipa...

WHY EVERY CHICAGO PROPERTY OWNER OUGHT TO CHECK IT OUT Those property tax bills every Cook County owner received over the last week or two? Did you notice how they have that very detailed table that shows you "who gets what" from your tax dollars? Pretty detailed, right? Well maybe not so much, if your property is in one of the City's Tax Increment Financing districts (TIFs). TIFs cover nearly one third of the City now. TIF districts divert money from the regular property tax stream to help "combat blight" in those areas. For years, there has been no public accountability or accounting of its use. Property tax bills do not show any amount of directed being directed to the TIFs (nothing) . In reality, TIFs fund a budget nearly 1/6 as big as the "official" city budget. Some quirk in the law or other allows them to hide the numbers from us. A stunning Chicago Reader expose on TIF financing here . Among the many revelations - City funds will be used t...

Many are first time home buyers trying to squeak "under the wire" in hopes of closing contracts before November 30 th - the sunset date for the Federal First Time Home Buyer's Tax Credit. The impending deadline presents some unique challenges for Buyers and Sellers. That November 30th deadline comes smack dab at the end of the Thanksgiving day weekend. (What genious in Washington did that?) That means a host of closings are being scheduled for Friday the 27 th and Monday the 30 th the last two possible days to get closings done. Will the title companies and lenders cancel all holiday vacations and work at full capacity to get these closings done expeditiously, or will be have to sit for hours at the closing table while closers handle multiple simultaneous closings? Will loan officers and processors get files to the underwriters with time enough for review and to satisfy conditions before the inevitable holiday slowdown, or will some Buyers be disappointed when there ...

The Cook County Clerk's Office has released the 2008 annual property tax rates . The state has set out the equalization factors. Look forward to the County treasurer's letter soon folks. Property tax bills will be due December 1st. The Sun Times reports that, on average, Chicago landowners can expect to see a collective 6.04 %increase from last year. Across Cook County, property owners will pay 4.2% percent more. Property taxes are computed using four factors: A property's assessed value (look it up here .); The property tax rate (check it out here .); The state equalization factor of 2.9786 (aka the "multiplier") up 4.74 % from last year; and Applicable exemptions (described here ) Homeowners exemptions (available to anyone who lived in the property as their principal residence as of 1/1/08) can vary based on the property's location and any increase in assessed valuation over the three year assessment cycle, but the minimum homeowners exemption increase...

Like most all of you (I imagine) I have been spending every waking hour by the front door, staring at the mailbox, waiting for the letter carrier person to deliver my 2008 2nd Installment Property Tax bill. OK, maybe not. For the 16th year of the last 17 (by my count, anyway) tax bills will be delivered late. No word from anyone I've spoke with on when to expect them. But let us leave that sleeping dog lie for a moment. Lets look forward to next year's property taxes... and to pieces of legislation still pending action NEWLY ENACTED: Two weeks ago, Governor Quinn signed SB2125 into law. Beginning in 2010, the 1st installment of property tax bills in Cook County will be computed at 55% of the total of each tax bill for the preceding year (up from 50%) The purpose of the bill is to reduce payment pressure on taxpayers when actual tax numbers are calculated and reflected in the second bill. Counties with 3 million or more residents (i.e., Cook) can also now change their tax cy...

CRAINS CHICAGO BUSINESS : County to lower home assessments By: Lorene Yue May 11, 2009 (Crain’s) — Residents in some suburban Cook County townships will see a reduction in the assessed value of their homes as the tax system catches up with the real estate downturn. But because tax bills are paid in arrears, it won’t be known if homeowners will see any benefit until next year. Homes in 30 suburban townships will have their assessed values lowered by 4% to 15%, Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan announced Monday. The reduction is being made to accommodate market changes at a time when suburban areas are not up for reassessment, which happens every three years. “After careful analysis of market sales and foreclosure data, we determined those townships should not have to wait until their next reassessment for the impact to be reflected,” Mr. Houlihan said in a statement. River Forest Township will receive a 5% reduction, while C...

An important note for anyone you know who purchased a new home in 2007 or 2008. The Cook County Assessor mailed out 2008 Taxpayer Exemption Applications last week. Exemptions reduce a property's "equalized value", which in turn lowers the overall property tax bill. More details about the various exemptions can be found on my web site , and on the County Assessor's site . Forms were mailed to anyone who purchased a home in 2007 or 2008, or who did not claim exemptions for 2007. Applications can also be down-loaded here . Please contact me if you have any questions about claiming these tax exemptions or filing "certificates of error" to correct mistakes on older tax bills.

This just in from the Wasserlaw Department of Unconfirmed Facts and Useless Speculation ( DUFUS ): 2007 Cook County 2 nd Installment Property Tax Bills might possibly be mailed out October 3, 2008. That would make them payable on or before November 3, 2008. This is sourced to a title company closing officer I worked with yesterday and is attributed to a conference call with one of the "higher ups" at the Treasurer's office. The treasurer's web site seems to substantiate the rumor. I anticipate a rash of louder, more shrill complaints from City of Chicago property owners and from "tax reformer" types when those bills hit peoples mail boxes. More than the usual moans and groans we hear this time of year. We are confronted with a confluence of troubling factors: For starters, the property tax system is based in part on triennial re-assessments of property values. Chicago properties were last re-assessed for the 2006 tax year, back when property values w...

All Illinois homeowners will be eligible for at least some property tax relief with regard to their qualifying principal residences, as part a new law, passed in October, 2007. The GENERAL HOMESTEAD Exemption is granted to properties that are the owners’ principal residence. The exemption reduces a property’s “Equalized Assessed Value” (EAV), one of the three critical data points used in calculating tax bills (together with the local tax rate and state equalization factors). Effective with the 2008 tax year (payable in 2009) the maximum homestead exemption will rise from $5,000 to $5,500. In 2009 (payable in 2010) the maximum will increase to $6,000.