As homeowners in Cook County receive their 2021 Second Installment Tax Bills (tax bill) in the mail they are encouraged to look at the bottom left corner to ensure that the correct exemption(s) are applied. If a homeowner believes they are entitled to an exemption that is not reflected on their tax bill, they can apply for what is called a Certificate of Error. The Certificate of Error process provides homeowners an opportunity to redeem missing exemptions for up to three years in addition to the current tax year. Homeowners can now apply for the 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018 tax years all on one easy to use form available online. Please see the full list of property tax exemptions administered by the Assessor’s Office here: cookcountyassessor.com/exemptions.

In addition to the Homeowner and Senior exemptions, the Assessor’s Office processed auto-renewals for the “Senior Freeze”, Veterans with Disabilities, and Persons with Disabilities exemptions. In total, more than 1.1 million exemptions were auto-renewed, which provided millions of dollars in tax relief to homeowners in Cook County. As a reminder, homeowners are responsible for paying the entirety of the tax bill to the Cook County Treasurer’s Office by December 30, 2022. If the Certificate of Error application is granted, either a corrected tax bill or a refund for the difference will be issued. Please download a guide on, How to Apply for Missing Property Tax Exemptions that is available in six languages.  To learn more about how to apply for missing exemptions, join a virtual workshop on the following dates: 

Wednesday, December 14, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. in Spanish 

Wednesday, December 21, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. in English