COVID-19 Homestead Exemptions Legislation Update from the CAOA Legislative & Policy Committee

On June 5, 2020, Governor Pritzker signed into law Public Act 101-0635 which provides several updates to the Property Tax Code, including provisions for homestead exemptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The full text of Public Act 101-0635 may be found on the General Assembly website.

The assessment portions of the bill are summarized as follows:

Homestead Exemption for Persons with Disabilities (35 ILCS 200/15-168):  For any property that received this exemption in 2019, the CCAO MAY (NOT SHALL) automatically approve this exemption without application for 2020 only, as long as the following conditions exist:

• the county board has declared a local disaster as provided in the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act related to the COVID-19 public health emergency;
• the owner of record of the property as of January 1, 2020 is the same as the owner of record of the property as of January 1, 2019;
• the exemption for the 2019 taxable year has not been determined to be an erroneous exemption as defined by this Code; and
• the applicant for the 2019 taxable year has not asked for the exemption to be removed for the 2019 or 2020 taxable years.

Standard Homestead Exemption for Veterans with Disabilities (35 ILCS 200/15-169):  For any property that received this exemption in 2019, the CCAO MAY (NOT SHALL) automatically approve this exemption without application for 2020 only, as long as the following conditions exist:

• the county board has declared a local disaster as provided in the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act related to the COVID-19 public health emergency;
• the owner of record of the property as of January 1, 2020 is the same as the owner of record of the property as of January 1, 2019;
• the exemption for the 2019 taxable year has not been determined to be an erroneous exemption as defined by this Code;
• the applicant for the 2019 taxable year has not asked for the exemption to be removed for the 2019 or 2020 taxable years; and

A veteran who has a change in disability rating since the 2019 exemption was granted can apply for the exemption based on the subsequent service connected disability rating.

Senior Citizen Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption (35 ILCS 200/15-172):  For any property that received this exemption in 2019, the CCAO MAY (NOT SHALL) automatically approve this exemption without application for 2020 only, as long as the following conditions exist:

• the county board has declared a local disaster as provided in the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act related to the COVID-19 public health emergency;
• the owner of record of the property as of January 1, 2020 is the same as the owner of record of the property as of January 1, 2019;
• the exemption for the 2019 taxable year has not been determined to be an erroneous exemption as defined by this Code;
• the applicant for the 2019 taxable year has not asked for the exemption to be removed for the 2019 or 2020 taxable years; and

Nothing in the bill impairs the authority of a CCAO to conduct audits of any taxpayer claiming the Senior Freeze.

The Department of Revenue will be providing additional guidance for county assessment offices; Townships Assessors with questions should contact their local county assessment office.