Pay your late taxes now because clock is ticking toward Annual Tax Sale

By Maria Pappas

If you still owe property taxes that were due in 2023, you’re running out of time to avoid the Annual Tax Sale.

State law requires that my office conduct an annual sale of delinquent property taxes. To find out if your property is on the Annual Tax Sale list:

Go to cookcountytreasurer.com
Use the purple box on the home page labeled “Your Property Tax Overview” and search using an address or Property Index Number (PIN)
A banner with an urgent warning will appear if your property is on the Annual Tax Sale list.

My office is mailing notices to owners of properties on the Annual Tax Sale list. Each year the U.S. Postal Service returns thousands of notices sent via certified mail. Many properties to be auctioned are vacant lots or abandoned homes and businesses where the notices can’t be delivered.

The three most recent tax sales sought bids for between 37,000 and 48,000 properties. In each sale about half the parcels were offered for auction despite the owners owing less than $1,000 in taxes.

The upcoming four-day tax sale that begins Dec. 10 is for delinquent property taxes for 2022 that were due in 2023. By law the Annual Tax Sale is held less than 13 months after the Second Installment due date, which was Dec. 1, 2023.

One reason the tax sale is significant for a homeowner is how it affects your ability to pay overdue taxes. Up to the tax sale, you can make partial payments. We added a Payment Plan Calculator at cookcountytreasurer.com to help you figure out how to pay late taxes in smaller increments.

But once a tax buyer acquires your tax debt at the Annual Tax Sale, the only way to redeem your delinquent taxes is to pay off the debt plus interest and fees in a single payment. No partial payments are accepted for delinquent taxes.

The interest charged on late taxes can make it more difficult to pay a bill. However, state lawmakers slashed the rate in half from 18% a year to 9%. I asked them to do that because reducing the interest rate paid by late payers helps vulnerable, low-income homeowners build generational wealth and stay in their homes.

Homeowners have about two and a half years to redeem their delinquent taxes, after which time a tax buyer can go to court and obtain ownership of your property. For commercial properties, the time to redeem delinquent taxes is about a year.

My office sends bills to owners of about 1.7 million parcels throughout Cook County every year. The vast majority pay their taxes by the initial due date. It’s best to pay on time and avoid any interest charges and fees.

If you’ve missed the due date, pay your taxes in full within 13 months of the due date to avoid the Annual Tax Sale. That way you avoid the hassle and cost of redeeming your taxes and having to make a lump-sum payment.

If you owe taxes I urge you to pay now because the Annual Tax Sale clock is always ticking.

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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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