Don’t Pay for What You Can Get for Free: How to Claim Your Property Tax Refunds

By Maria Pappas

Every year, many Cook County homeowners are bombarded with letters, emails and phone calls from vendors offering to help secure property tax refunds — for a fee. But here’s the truth: You don’t need to pay anyone to get money that’s already yours.

My office has $122 million in potential refunds available from overpayments going back 20 years. In addition, more than $33 million in refunds may be available to homeowners who missed exemptions in the last four years.

Applying is simple, free and secure — and you keep every dollar of your refund, tax-free.

To get started, visit cookcountytreasurer.com. On the homepage, look for the purple box labeled Your Property Tax Overview and click on it. You’ll be asked to enter your 14-digit Property Index Number (PIN). If you don’t know your PIN, use your property address — just enter the house number, street name, city, and zip code.

A photo of your property will appear. Click the words View Your Property Tax Information to get details about your property and its tax history. Scroll down the page until you reach the section titled “Are There Any Overpayments on Your PIN?” If you’re eligible for a refund, you’ll see red text indicating the amount available and the year the overpayment occurred. It will say “Refund Available, Application Required, Apply Now.” Click “Apply Now” and an application will open with several sections already filled in.

You’ll be asked to confirm or provide a phone number and email address, and to certify that you’re entitled to the refund. On the following screen, you’ll have the option to upload any proof of payment you may have, especially helpful if the property changed hands. After submitting the application, your refund should arrive within six to eight weeks.

While checking for overpayments, you should also review whether you’ve missed any exemptions in recent years. Just below the overpayment section, you’ll see a grid titled “Have You Received Your Exemptions in These Tax Years?” This tool will show you whether you have received the Homeowner, Senior Citizen, Senior Freeze, or any other exemptions. If you have missed one or more, you may be owed hundreds or even thousands of dollars — and you can apply for a refund for missed exemptions going back four years right there on the site.

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Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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