Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi announced that his office has mailed Senior and Senior Freeze Exemption renewal applications for tax year 2018. Over 300,000 applications were mailed to seniors who received the exemptions last year. The application deadline is February 6th, 2019 and annual renewal is required.  The Senior Exemption application is part of a booklet sent to eligible seniors. The booklet also contains the separate, income-based Senior Freeze Exemption application. To qualify for the Senior Citizen Exemption for tax year 2018, a taxpayer must have:

• been born prior to or in the year 1953

• owned the property during 2018 or have a lease or contract for 2018 which makes them responsible for the real estate taxes

• used the property as his or her principal place of residence in 2018