Assessor: Time to Make the Senior Tax Freeze Permanent
By Don DeBat
How many senior citizens in Chicago are seeing a hefty growth in their net income and wealth after age 65? With most elderly people living on Social Security and a fixed income, the number of seniors pocketing rising income probably is not in the tens of thousands.
So, now is the time for the Illinois Legislature and Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi to change the law and automatically give all senior homeowners in Chicago and Cook County three key exemptions that will lead to a permanent substantial property-tax break without making them jump through hoops.
“Every homeowner should review their exemptions outlined on the second installment of their real estate tax bill because they can reduce their bill by hundreds of dollars if they have the proper exemptions applied to it,” advised Michael Griffin, a Chicago real estate tax appeal attorney.
Great advice, but many hard-working homeowners apparently are too busy. They don’t look at their tax bill or go online to check their exemptions and often miss the potential financial rewards.
Now that the second installment of the 2025 tax bill has arrived in their mailbox, every homeowner can check the exemptions printed on the bill.
Property owners also can check online by visiting the Cook County Assessor’s website:
www.cookcountyassessor.com. Then, they are asked to type in their PIN (property identification number), and acknowledge that they are not a robot. When the property data pops up, just click on exemptions to learn the history of the property.
How tax exemptions work
All property owners qualify for the Homeowner’s exemption, which recently was increased to $10,000 from $7,000. Seniors can benefit from two additional exemptions. First, the Senior Exemption, which recently was hiked to $8,000 from $5,000. Those exemption amounts are deducted from assessed value of your property on the tax bill.
Secord, many seniors can qualify for the coveted Senior Tax Freeze. In 2024, the Illinois Legislature increased the maximum annual income to receive the “Senior Citizens Real Estate Tax Deferral Program,” (simply known as the senior freeze), to less than $65,000 from less than $55,000.
For the 2026 tax year, the maximum annual household income to qualify for the senior freeze will be increased to $75,000. For the 2027 tax year, the maximum income rises to $77,000, and elevates to $79,000 beginning in 2028 and thereafter, according to the Illinois Dept. of Revenue.
“Our seniors have spent their lives building our communities and strengthening our state, and they deserve stability and peace of mind,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “This senior-freeze legislation helps ensure that more older Illinoisans can remain in their homes without the fear of losing them to rising property costs.”
Other available tax exemptions are designated for: Persons with Disabilities, Veterans with Disabilities, Returning Veterans, Long-time Homeowners, Home Improvement, and Religious Institutions.
Governmental red tape abounds
Unfortunately, under current practices qualified seniors who earn Senior Freeze Exemption typically have to pay their full property tax then wait for a tax refund from the Cook County Treasurer via a “Certificate of Error.”
In subsequent years, seniors seeking the freeze are required to file an annual application to prove that their net income currently is less than $65,000 for 2025 taxes, and below $75,000 for 2026, less than $77,000 in 2027 and $79,000 in 2028. Nothing about the freeze is automatic.
Senior-freeze delays and errors
Earlier this year, the Home Front column traced the timeline on one senior-citizen property owner’s delayed tax refund following a whopping 21.5% 2024 tax increase on a North Side 3-flat.
In 2023, the senior property owner, living on a fixed income, applied for a long-awaited Senior Tax Freeze Exemption with the Cook County Assessor. But the exemption was not finally approved with the issuance of a Certificate of Error until January of 2026. Here are the facts:
• Income documents and required forms filed with the Assessor in 2023 showing the senior’s net income was well under $65,000—the qualifying limit for the freeze.
Unfortunately, for unexplained reasons, no action was taken by the Assessor in 2024. Total 2023 tax bill—after the owner’s Homeowner Exemption ($662) and Senior Exemption ($529) were subtracted—was $27,628.
• The required documents and forms were filed again in 2024 showing the property owner’s net income was well under the $65,000, qualifying limit for the freeze. Unfortunately, again no immediate action was taken by the Assessor, likely because of computer errors and bureaucratic red tape.
After Homeowner and Senior Exemptions were subtracted, the property owner paid a whopping total 2024 tax bill of $33,565.94. The 1st Installment was $13,409. The 2nd Installment rose to $20,157.
The total 2024 tax increase was 21.5%. To cover the tax increase, the property owner’s lender increased his mortgage payment to $7,883 a month from $5,826 to cover tax-escrow shortage.
• The Senior Tax Freeze finally was granted in January of 2026 based on documents originally submitted in 2023, and resubmitted in 2024.
As a result of the Senior Freeze, the property’s assessed value was lowered from $173,001 to $130,945. The assessment reduction created by the Senior Tax-Freeze approval resulted in a reduced 2024 total property tax bill on the 3-flat of $23,068—a savings of $10,498.
• A Certificate of Error was issued by the Cook County Assessor in January of 2026. In February, the property owner’s lender issued an escrow refund of about $1,605, and lowered the borrower’s monthly loan payment to $5,446.
• After about 60 days, the senior citizen property owner finally received a 2024 tax refund of $10,498 from the Cook County Treasurer.
Exemption boondoggle continues
However, when the second installment of the 2025 tax bill was posted online in late August of 2026, despite the freeze, the tax bill on the North Side 3-flat jumped back up to $19,286 from the first installment bill of $12,687.
The shocked senior citizen checked the Cook County Assessor’s website and found that his hard-fought and won Senior Freeze Exemption for 2025 had not been recorded in Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s computer.
Now, the homeowner is racing to appeal again, seeking a corrected second-installment tax bill before the October 1 due date to prevent a huge increase in his mortgage escrow payment.
Tax-refund bottleneck
In early 2026, an estimated 20,000 approved Certificate-of-Error refunds worth more than $46 million were bottlenecked at the Cook County Treasurer’s office, according to reporting by the Chicago Tribune.
It is easy to imagine that hundreds, maybe thousands of these refunds are owed to senior citizens living on fixed incomes. This reporter asks: Is it possible for the Treasurer to expedite refunds to property owners who recently earned the Senior Tax Freeze Exemption?
Also, is it possible for the Illinois Legislature and the Cook County Assessor to grant a permanent Senior Tax Freeze to low-income seniors who earned it, and likely will not see a substantial increase in their net income for the rest of their lifetimes?
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For more housing news, visit www.dondebat.biz. Don DeBat is co-author of “Escaping Condo Jail,” the ultimate survival guide for condominium living. Visit www.escapingcondojail.com.
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