EXEMPTIONS IN THE NEWS AGAIN
Recent coverage about Cook County homeowner exemptions have highlighted problems with the application, accuracy, costs and monitoring of homeowner exemptions. See Letter to the Editor.
Efforts are in process to legislate methods for addressing errors and abuse in the system, particularly in Cook County.
Reform initiatives deserve our support, but only if they better define how exemptions are granted, specify a fair process for removal when there are errors, and allow for review of assessor decisions. With such reviews, taxpayers could appeal exemption decisions without hiring an attorney to go before the Circuit Court.
Cook County has the most exemptions in Illinois. Information on most of these are available on-line at the Assessor's Office. Cook County exemptions are also linked on our website, and we provide details on the Long-Time Occupant Exemption forms as well.
Andrea Raila: Expert Gives Tips on Property Taxes
See Niles Patch Article on key points of recent Tax Talk.
Progress on Overpayment Refunds
Raila & Associates has advocated for changes to the process of securing property tax refunds to make them more understandable and accessible. Illinois Public Act 097-0521 was recently signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn. This law provides a one year window for taxpayers of Cook County to apply for refunds with the Treasurer for any tax overpayments mistakenly made since January 2000.
Progress on Uncashed Government Checks Public Act 096-1159 initiated by Raila & Associates, helps taxpayers reclaim uncashed government checks issued by the Cook County Treasurer. New, transparent check status procedures are now available 0n-line at CookCountyTreasurer.com homepage under Refunds.
Southside Chicago businesses in the West Pullman Community were stung with big tax increases and are fighting back. See columnist David Roeder's Series in the Chicago Sun-Times on their challenge to a new SSA.
Joseph Berrios announces thousands of refunds for corrected homeowner exemptions. Read about this and more useful background on various types of exemptions in his December 29, 2010 Press Release.
If you need the Adobe Acrobat reader for the worksheet, download the free software from their site: Acrobat Reader
