7 Things You Need To Know About Appealing Your Lake County Property Taxes!

October 28, 2019

This year, 2019, every property in Lake County was reassessed by the Assessor and we are seeing some massive increases.  You only have one chance to fight your new assessment and NOW is the time.

Appealing your property taxes in Lake County should be no different than filing your income taxes…you need to do it every year or at minimum have an expert review them each year for you.  (We review for FREE!) Why? Because you are leaving thousands of dollars on the table if you do not. What other tax would you pay more than you have to? NONE, so why do most people pay more property taxes than they should?  Simply because some people don’t know where to start or what to do. Here are seven things that every Lake County property owner should know about appealing their property taxes:

1. Over 60% of people are over assessed and paying too much yet only 10% appeal.
   • Why would you not appeal every year?  The chances are in your favor if you file an appeal as more than 60% of all properties are over assessed.  In Lake County, there is no risk in filing an appeal every year.  Even the Chicago Tribune published an article “Why it’s foolish not to appeal your property tax assessment.” (Zorn, Eric. Chicago Tribune, Jun 16, 2017)   If you would like us to complete a FREE analysis on your property, you can click here.
2. Your assessment will NOT be raised if you lose your appeal.
   • Some people are afraid to appeal because they think the Assessor will get angry, or try to get “revenge” on them for appealing by raising their assessment.  That is just not true! The Assessor will not raise your assessment because you appeal and they will not be upset or single you out for future increases. The truth of the matter is that it is your legal right to make sure that your assessment is as accurate as possible and that you are not paying any more than you are required to by law. (You can check you assessment at the Lake County Assessor website by clicking here.)  This is why the appeal process was put into place…to help and protect you in making sure you are not paying too much in real estate taxes.   If the Assessor and/or the Board of Review do not agree that a reduction is warranted, they will NOT raise an assessment and will never  “punish” someone for an unsuccessful appeal. The review process was put in place to help taxpayers obtain a fair and equitable assessment and the worst case scenario is that your assessed valuation and taxes will remain the same.  This is known as a “No Change” ruling.
3. Once your township deadline passes this year, it’s too late to get a reduction on your next tax bill.
   • By the time your next property tax bill arrives in 2020, it is way too late to fight it.   The time to appeal is when you receive your blue notice in the mail from the Lake County Assessor which lists your new assessment.  You only have 30 days to appeal from when the new value is published.  (Because the deadline is so short and we don’t want anyone to miss it, we recommend to our clients to sign up with us for their next year’s appeal (2021) as soon as they receive their current property tax bill (2020) so there is no worry of missing the 2021 deadline.) Want to check if your township is open for appeal? You can click here to find out! If it is too late for you to appeal but you don’t want to miss the next deadline, you can click here to send us your information and we will send you the forms necessary for your next appeal opportunity.  Our goal is to make it easy for you as possible as the process is very confusing
4. Your property tax assessment will not increase if you are replacing wear items such as a roof or windows or even remodeling inside.
   • This is because there is a difference between an assessment and an appraisal.  An appraisal is an estimation of the true market value of your property. An assessment is a “mass appraisal method” that does not focus on details such as your interior finishes.  An assessment is arrived at using sales data and calculations prescribed by the Illinois Department of Revenue. The assessor is required to look at sales three years back when arriving at your assessment while an appraisal is trying to estimate the exact value of your property as of a certain date.  There is a lot of overlap but an assessment and appraisal are really two different things. If you have a recent appraisal on your house showing the value much lower than your assessment, that may be another piece of evidence in your arsenal when trying to get your assessment lowered.
5. This year, 2019, is a reassessment year in Lake County.
   • By Illinois statute, every property needs to be reassessed by the Assessor every four (4) years. (In Cook County, it is every three (3) years.)  This means that the Assessor starts with a clean slate and arrives at a new assessment for you. Any reductions you had previously are wiped out and everything starts over from scratch again.  That is why it is so important to appeal this year as your assessment may change and go up drastically. Even in a non-reassessment year, there may be recent sales or other data that justifies a reduction.  That is why we recommend to have your assessment reviewed each year by a professional. We are rare in that we review our client’s assessments for FREE! We do all the work and if there is a basis to appeal, we will help you from start to finish.  Our services are 100% guaranteed because you do not pay us a penny unless we save you money! You can click here to get started today!
6. There are many reasons to appeal and the value being too high is only one method.
   1. • Most people incorrectly assume the only reason to appeal is that the value of your home is less than what the Assessor has it listed as.  While that is one reason to appeal, there are many more:
        1. If you are being assessed at a higher price per square foot than a similar home. (Uniformity in assessments)
        2. If there is a factual error such as an extra bathroom, too much square footage, or a deck listed as an enclosed patio are just some examples.  The two most interesting errors we have seen is someone being assessed for ten (10) years for a pool they didn’t have and another client had a second story magically appear on their assessment of their one story home.
        3. If your property experienced a disaster such as a flood or fire that caused you to lose use of the home.
        4. Vacancy.  If your investment property is vacant, that is a reason for tax relief and we can help you to fill out all the paperwork correctly so you do not pay a penny more than you should.
           • Interesting fact: In Cook County a landlord can claim a vacancy reduction on both residential and commercial properties while in Lake County, you can only claim vacancy for commercial properties.
7. Every prudent and responsible homeowner should be reviewing their assessment every year or have a trusted expert to do it for them.
   • As mentioned earlier, appealing your property taxes in Lake County should be no different than filing your income taxes…you should do it every year.  You can do it on your own by clicking here or you can hire our trusted Lake County tax appeal firm.  Our founders have helped tens of thousands single-family homeowners and commercial property investors file residential & commercial appeals in both Cook County and Lake County!  Let us use our expertise to help you too. Click here to sign up with us now.

We hope you learned something new and exciting that may save you money on your Lake County property tax bill.  If we can help you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact us by clicking here to inquire about our no risk, no upfront fee services.  We look forward to helping you fight your property tax bill.

The Property Tax Department, LLC was formed to help Lake County & Cook County property owners successful fight their property taxes with absolutely no risk or upfront cost.  Click below for your FREE Property Tax Evaluation before it is too late and you are stuck paying more than your neighbors!

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