Eight exemption errors worth ten minutes of your time
A checklist to run against your tax bill before you consider anything harder.
- No general homestead exemption on an owner-occupied home. The most valuable ten seconds you will spend.
- Turned 65 and never applied. It is not automatic, and the county does not know your age.
- Senior freeze never tested against the income limit. The limit is higher than most people assume.
- A renewal card not returned. Compare this year's exemption block to last year's.
- Exemption lost after a trust transfer. Extremely common in estate planning and entirely fixable.
- Home improvement exemption not applied after a permitted renovation in the last four years.
- Veteran's rating increased without the county being told, leaving a smaller exemption in place.
- Exemption on the wrong property after a move, where the old home still carries it and the new one does not.
Every one is corrected with a phone call to the assessor, none requires an appeal, and several can be fixed for prior years as well.
This is general information about how Illinois assessments and appeals work. It is not
legal advice, not an appraisal, and not a prediction about your case. Deadlines and rules differ by
county — check yours with your Board of Review.