Property Tax Refunds
If you believe you overpaid your property taxes, or you are certain there has been a mistake on your bill, there are multiple ways you can request a refund from your county. While the process changes in each state and even in each jurisdiction, today’s technology easily allows you to figure out how to proceed. Most, if not all, local governments have the instructions and links readily available online. Nevertheless, not all property tax refunds are made equal, and some may require more work from you as a property owner than others.
There are multiple reasons why you could be entitled to a refund:
- Tax overpayment.
- Missed exemptions.
- Property description errors.
- Calculation errors.
- A property tax appeal.
Some of these refunds can be processed automatically by your county and others will require your direct involvement to push them through.
Tax Overpayment:
Refunds due to a tax overpayment are one of the simplest refunds to process in any jurisdiction. You can apply for such a refund if you believe that you or a party responsible for paying property taxes on your property, such as a lender or title company, incorrectly paid more than they were billed in property taxes.
Missed Exemptions:
When paying property taxes, you need to make sure that your tax bill reflects all property tax exemptions that you were entitled to for a given tax year. Unfortunately, if it does not, you cannot simply go to the county treasurer’s office to get the bill adjusted. In most instances, you need to pay your tax bill in full and then apply for a missing property tax exemption retroactively with your county assessor’s office. After the county assessor verifies that you were indeed entitled to receive an exemption, the assessor’s office will send a certificate of error to the treasurer, who will adjust the final tax bill on the property and issue you a refund.
Property Description Errors:
The county assessor maintains a database of property description information for each property in the county, which is used to set the assessed valuations of all properties at the start of each re-assessment period. The description information maintained in that database only deals with location and physical characteristics of properties, such as tax code, neighborhood, construction type, size, age, etc. If your property has 3000 sq. ft. of living area but the assessor has it recorded at 4000 sq. ft. your property will be overassessed, and your bill will be much higher than it should be. To correct this, you need to contact your county assessor’s office to file a property tax description appeal first. Once the appeal is approved and the property’s tax assessment is adjusted for the current and past years, the county assessor will send all documents to the treasurer to process your refund.
Calculation Errors:
Calculation errors are very uncommon these days due to the automatization of the whole tax bill creation process, but they can still happen from time to time. When you spot a calculation error in your tax bill, you should contact your county treasurer’s office to discuss your findings. Refunds due to calculations errors do not require involvement from the county assessor’s office and may be processed on the spot by the county treasurer.
Property Tax Appeals:
If you file a property tax appeal with the state property tax appeal board, a certificate of error appeal with the county assessor or board of review, or an “appeal by legal” appeal retroactively with a county assessor, it will result in a refund only after a favorable appeal decision is made in each case by the agency involved. This is because, by the time an appeal decision is issued, you will have already paid your property taxes for the appeal year(s) in question.
A state property tax appeal board will usually issue their appeal decision 2 or 3 years after you file your original appeal, and certificate of error or “appeal by legal” appeals are usually filed to contest property taxes for prior years. Regardless of the agency involved, once your final assessment is set by the appropriate agency, it will be transmitted to the county treasurer as part of the recommended tax bill and the treasurer will issue your refund.
To file an application for a property tax refund in Cook County, you will need to submit a completed application form along with one of the following documents:
- A voided check
- A copy of your paid tax bill
- A copy of your real estate closing statement along with a copy of the title company check
- A copy of your bank statement
- A copy of your credit card statement
- A copy of the IRS form 1098, if your mortgage company paid the bill or a letter from said mortgage company including PIN, the amount paid, date paid, tax year, and installment.
- A letter of direction if your tax bill was paid by a third party. This might be also requested by the treasurer’s office.
It is especially important to submit proof of payment so that the refund goes back to the correct person or entity. If the payment receipt is not available, you should provide a copy of the bank statement showing the property tax payment. In a case where refunds are issued as part of any appeal and your property is sold while the appeal is in progress, the treasurer will require you to obtain a letter of direction from the new owner prior to issuing the refund.
If your property is not located in Cook Country, IL and you want to consider applying for a property tax refund, you should contact your local county treasurer or county assessor. They should be able to guide you with specific steps: application, fees, and documents needed.