Our research found that 80% of properly-filed property tax appeals are granted, and if one or more of these following scenarios apply to you, your chances are even higher than that! (For those unsure about whether or not they meet the criteria, you can find out right away with a risk-free, no obligation estimate from Tax Back!)
The following are the most common characteristics of successful property tax appeals:
Property purchased within the last three years
If you have purchased your home within the last three years, you will have a more-detailed understanding of your home and its value than the government. But you also may have been too caught up in the responsibilities of new-home ownership to think about appealing your property tax rate. Tax Back can do the leg work for you and find out if you&rsquo;re eligible for savings while you continue taking care of your new place!
One important thing to remember is that your purchase price is not the same as the assessment value for property taxes, which can be lower depending on a variety of factors. Also, a property tax reassessment will not have any impact on resale value. With this in mind, you should feel empowered to make your appeal because you can potentially save thousands on your property tax bill each year.
Property tax rate never appealed
[does this mean an appeal filed by the current owner, or if the property has not been appealed ever? - Answer: Both relevant]
If you have never filed a property tax appeal for your home, that means your property has been assessed by the county without ever having any outside input. While the people count on local leadership to make lives better, there is evidence that they want to raise property tax revenue. If your property has never been appealed, you have a very good chance of being able to correct some errors in the county&rsquo;s favor and put some money back in your pocket!
Nearby properties assessed at lower valuations
When other properties in your area are reassessed or have lower valuations than yours, it will help you with your appeal. Perhaps your neighbors filed appeals or the county assessors had a misunderstanding about your home compared to the ones around you. So if you [look around - is there a public site for this? Answer: No, you have to look around and do a lot of research] and see many others are assessed at a lower value, you are very likely to have a successful appeal. In these appeals you need to submit your own evidence&nbsp;
Using TaxHack&rsquo;s automated platform, you can find the right comparables to make your case for a lower tax bill. This data and algorithm are more sophisticated than the assessments the county assessors use, and will increase the chances of filing a successful appeal.
Area recently reassessed
In Cook County, assessments are done every three years. Right after this process is completed for your zone is a perfect time to file an appeal. Often these reassessments are where the government tries to raise its income and hope that most people don&rsquo;t look into their calculations too closely.&nbsp;
Notes: North Side (tax: 2019), South Side (2020), Middle Corridor (2021)
Don&rsquo;t be like most people! If you can make an informed, intelligent appeal that is properly filed, you have a very good chance of winning your appeal. After an assessment, property values often increase up to [25% or 30%] after just three years! If that is the case for you, it would be a good idea to make an appeal.
With Tax Back, you can get a risk-free, no obligation estimate of your new assessment and property taxes.

Our research found that 80% of properly-filed property tax appeals are granted, and if one or more of these following scenarios apply to you, your chances are even higher than that!

The 4 most common traits of successful property tax appeals

Filing a property tax appeal in Cook County is complicated, for a variety of reasons. You have to submit a lot of information, the deadlines could potentially change, and the timeframe and processes occur at the whims of multiple government offices.
On top of that, municipalities have a motivation to make the appeal process challenging because thousands of people overpaying on their property taxes means more money for them. Because of the complexity of the process, it is almost impossible to properly file the appeal without the help of an accountant or lawyer, with some instances requiring assistance from both!
If you&rsquo;re going to face the tall task of filing an appeal on your own, these are the steps you&rsquo;ll need to get 100% right:
Find Proper Comparables
If the assessed value of comparable properties is lower than that of your house, you can make a strong appeal for lower property taxes. However, many people filing their own appeals do not use the ideal set of comparables. You need uniformity across the comparables you provided and they can&rsquo;t appear cherry-picked to support your appeal.
In some cases, having bad comparables could mean your appeal is denied, and in others your taxes may go down, but not by as much as they should have. EIther way, you&rsquo;re leaving money on the table.
Understand the Assessed Value of Your House
Even if you just purchased your home, the assessed value is likely to be different from the sale price. In Cook County, every zone is assessed once every three years. This is a much different situation than the real estate market, which rises and falls based on a variety of factors. Because of this difference, your sale price is not your assessment value and your property tax appeal has no bearing on your resale value.
Keep up with the deadlines
Adhering to Cook County&rsquo;s deadlines is far more complicated than it needs to be. Depending on your township, there are potentially multiple offices you need to deal with for your appeal which could result in you needing to keep track of numerous deadlines. Often, these deadlines are change and the towns are basically counting on you not being able to keep up with the different stages of the process. Any minor inaccuracy can be reason to delay or deny your appeal.
Additionally, all the red tape makes the process very confusing. This is the part where lawyers and accountants can be helpful, but they&rsquo;re expensive! This stacks the deck against anyone who doesn&rsquo;t want to pay that costly hourly rate.
Even if you do work with lawyers, they&rsquo;ll have trouble finding quality comparables and a paralegal may write your appeal. A lawyer&rsquo;s job is to provide evidence to make a case, but many aren&rsquo;t equipped to analyze the market the way a solution like Tax Back can. Real estate agents are also limited in their ability to help in this complicated situation.
The Tax Back platform is a low-cost, risk-free answer to securing a lower property tax rate and potentially saving thousands of dollars on your property taxes.&nbsp;

Filing a property tax appeal in Cook County is complicated, for a variety of reasons. You have to submit a lot of information, the deadlines could potentially change, and the timeframe and processes occur at the whims of multiple government offices.

Taxback Blog

The 4 most common traits of successful property tax appeals

How to Make a Successful Property Tax Appeal