Cook County Senior Exemption Deadline: February 3, 2016

Attention all seniors in Cook County: the deadline for applying and re-applying for both the Senior Citizen Exemption and the Senior Freeze Exemption is February 3, 2016.

Not doing so will result in the loss of the exemption applied to your 2016 second installment property tax bills that you will receive this summer. Even if you have had one or both of these exemptions previously, you must now re-apply every year.

The Senior Citizen Exemption application is part of a booklet that the Cook County Assessor’s Office mails out to eligible seniors. The booklet also contains the separate, income-based Senior Freeze Exemption application.

To qualify for the Senior Citizen Exemption, you must meet all of the following criteria:

• Been born prior to or in the year 1950
• Owned the property, or have a lease or contract which makes you responsible for the real estate taxes
• Used the property as a principal place of residence

To qualify for the Senior Freeze Exemption, you must meet all of the following criteria:

• Been born prior to or in the year 1950
• Have a total household income of $55,000 or less for the income tax year 2014
• Owned the property or had a legal, equitable or leasehold interest in the property on January 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015
• Used the property as a principal place of residence as of January 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015
• Been liable for the payment of 2014 and 2015 property taxes

Learn about other Cook County property tax exemptions here.

Contact us to learn more about Cook County Property Tax exemptions