Cook County Assessor: Veterans with Disabilities Exemption

The exemption is the State's, under 35 ILCS 200/15-169; the Illinois entry explains it. The Cook County Assessor administers it in the county. Amounts. An EAV reduction of $2,500 at 30% to 49%, $5,000 at 50% to 69%, and $250,000 at 70% or more, which for most homes means no property tax. On a two-to-six-unit building it reaches only the units the veteran lives in; units rented for more than six months are treated as commercial. Documents. A first-time applicant sends a DD-214 certified by the Cook County Clerk or by the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, and everyone sends a current VA disability certification letter showing the name, percentage and effective date. Proof of occupancy is a photo ID at the property address, or two other documents, with an occupancy affidavit. A surviving spouse using the exemption for the first time, or moving it to a new home, sends the death certificate and proof of ownership. Renewal. The page says, under a "NEW" heading, that a veteran rated 100% and permanent and total is renewed automatically each year, and in the next line that the exemption "must be filed annually" with no automatic renewal. Both are partly right. Section 15-169(e) requires everyone else to reapply each year, but since May 23, 2022 a veteran with a 100% permanent and total rating, once granted, no longer has to. Such a veteran who is asked to refile should cite the statute. Everyone else renews online or on the paper form to 118 N. Clark Street, Room 320, Chicago. Surviving spouse. The page reflects the 2023 change: a non-remarried surviving spouse who has lived in Illinois since the veteran's death can apply even if the veteran never claimed the exemption, for tax year 2023 and later, and can move the exemption to a new home after selling the old one. Missed years. A veteran who was eligible in earlier years but did not get the exemption can seek a refund for the last three tax years through a Certificate of Error. The exemption cannot be combined with the exemption for persons with disabilities or the returning veterans' exemption.