No, and this is a common misconception for many Cook County homeowners.

If you appeal your Cook County property taxes and the county analyst does not agree with the evidence provided, the assessed valuation and taxes for your property will remain the same. The county refers to this denial status as a “No Change” ruling.

A “comparable property” is a property located in your given taxing district with similar characteristics to those of your property. Similar characteristics that are considered include property classification, building age, building square footage, land square footage, exterior construction, etc.

Your property’s assessed value is 10% of your estimated market value. The assessor determines this value by considering a large set of factors such as sales of comparable properties, square footage, location and construction type.

Your market value is how much your property is worth based on improvements and updates you made, as well as how much someone is willing to pay for the property.

When you appeal your property taxes, you are attempting to reduce your property’s assessed value. A reduction of your assessed value will NOT influence the market value of your property.

Yes! You can always appeal your property taxes regardless of occupancy status.

Whether a primary residence, 2nd home, or rental property, as long as you are responsible for paying the property taxes, you have a right to appeal.

A property tax bill is composed of 2 installments and is paid in arrears.

• The 1st installment is usually due by March 1st every year and is comprised of 55% of the past year’s total tax bill.
• The 2nd installment is billed by August 1st. Any reduction obtained through the appeal process will be reflected in the 2nd installment.

Once the appeal evidence has been submitted and the 30-day township deadline window has closed, it takes around 60 days to receive the results. This time frame can vary based on the number of appeals that have been filed at the Assessors Office.

We have no upfront fees for our service and there is no charge if we are unsuccessful. Our fee is 50% of the first year savings for a successful appeal. If your property is being reassessed this year, a successful reduction in your assessed value would result in three years of savings.

Our advanced software takes into consideration 117 property factors as well as comparable properties in your neighborhood to determine the fair assessment of your property.

Xpress Tax Appeals is the appeal-focused business of Taxpayer Advocate Group (TAG). TAG developed the Xpress Tax Appeals software to discover discrepancies in property assessments and provide the evidence needed to reduce property taxes.

In addition to appealing taxes through Xpress Tax Appeals, TAG also assists customers in the identification and collection of overpaid taxes and refunds resulting from taxation errors.