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90_HB1513
35 ILCS 200/15-170
Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that once a person
qualifies for the Senior Citizens Homestead Exemption the
person need not reapply for the exemption. Provides that the
exemption shall then automatically be granted so long as the
qualified person continues to occupy the residence or, if the
qualified person moves into a facility licensed under the
Nursing Home Care Act, so long as the qualified persons's
spouse occupies the residence if the spouse is 65 or older
or, if the residence remains unoccupied, so long as the
person qualified still owns the residence. Deletes current
provisions regarding annual filing. Effective immediately.
LRB9004723KDcc
LRB9004723KDcc
1 AN ACT to amend the Property Tax Code by changing Section
2 15-170.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Property Tax Code is amended by changing
6 Section 15-170 as follows:
7 (35 ILCS 200/15-170)
8 Sec. 15-170. Senior Citizens Homestead Exemption. An
9 annual homestead exemption limited, except as described here
10 with relation to cooperatives, to a maximum reduction set
11 forth below from the property's value, as equalized or
12 assessed by the Department, is granted for property that is
13 occupied as a residence by a person 65 years of age or older
14 who is liable for paying real estate taxes on the property
15 and is an owner of record of the property or has a legal or
16 equitable interest therein as evidenced by a written
17 instrument, except for a leasehold interest, other than a
18 leasehold interest of land on which a single family residence
19 is located, which is occupied as a residence by a person 65
20 years or older who has an ownership interest therein, legal,
21 equitable or as a lessee, and on which he or she is liable
22 for the payment of property taxes. The maximum reduction
23 shall be $2,500 in counties with 3,000,000 or more
24 inhabitants and $2,000 in all other counties. For land
25 improved with an apartment building owned and operated as a
26 cooperative or a building which is a life care facility which
27 shall be considered to be a cooperative, the maximum
28 reduction from the value of the property, as equalized by the
29 Department, shall be multiplied by the number of apartments
30 or units occupied by a person 65 years of age or older who is
31 liable, by contract with the owner or owners of record, for
-2- LRB9004723KDcc
1 paying property taxes on the property and is an owner of
2 record of a legal or equitable interest in the cooperative
3 apartment building, other than a leasehold interest. In a
4 cooperative where a homestead exemption has been granted,
5 the cooperative association or its management firm shall
6 credit the savings resulting from that exemption only to the
7 apportioned tax liability of the owner who qualified for the
8 exemption. Any person who willfully refuses to so credit the
9 savings shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor. Under this
10 Section and Section 15-175, "life care facility" means a
11 facility as defined in Section 2 of the Life Care Facilities
12 Act, with which the applicant for the homestead exemption has
13 a life care contract as defined in that Act, which requires
14 the applicant to pay property taxes.
15 When a homestead exemption has been granted under this
16 Section and the person qualifying subsequently becomes a
17 resident of a facility licensed under the Nursing Home Care
18 Act, the exemption shall continue so long as the residence
19 continues to be occupied by the qualifying person's spouse if
20 the spouse is 65 years of age or older, or if the residence
21 remains unoccupied but is still owned by the person qualified
22 for the homestead exemption.
23 A person who will be 65 years of age during the current
24 assessment year shall be eligible to apply for the homestead
25 exemption during that assessment year. Application shall be
26 made during the application period in effect for the county
27 of his residence.
28 The assessor or chief county assessment officer may
29 determine the eligibility of a life care facility to receive
30 the benefits provided by this Section, by affidavit,
31 application, visual inspection, questionnaire or other
32 reasonable methods in order to insure that the tax savings
33 resulting from the exemption are credited by the management
34 firm to the apportioned tax liability of each qualifying
-3- LRB9004723KDcc
1 resident. The assessor may request reasonable proof that the
2 management firm has so credited the exemption.
3 The chief county assessment officer of each county with
4 less than 3,000,000 inhabitants shall provide to each person
5 allowed a homestead exemption under this Section a form to
6 designate any other person to receive a duplicate of any
7 notice of delinquency in the payment of taxes assessed and
8 levied under this Code on the property of the person
9 receiving the exemption. The duplicate notice shall be in
10 addition to the notice required to be provided to the person
11 receiving the exemption, and shall be given in the manner
12 required by this Code. The person filing the request for the
13 duplicate notice shall pay a fee of $5 to cover
14 administrative costs to the supervisor of assessments, who
15 shall then file the executed designation with the county
16 collector. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code
17 to the contrary, the filing of such an executed designation
18 requires the county collector to provide duplicate notices as
19 indicated by the designation. A designation may be rescinded
20 by the person who executed such designation at any time, in
21 the manner and form required by the chief county assessment
22 officer.
23 The assessor or chief county assessment officer may
24 determine the eligibility of residential property to receive
25 the homestead exemption provided by this Section by
26 application, visual inspection, questionnaire or other
27 reasonable methods. The determination shall be made in
28 accordance with guidelines established by the Department.
29 When a homestead exemption has been granted under this
30 Section, the person qualifying need not reapply for the
31 exemption in subsequent years. The exemption shall continue
32 so long as the person qualified for the exemption continues
33 to occupy the residence, or if the qualified person becomes a
34 resident of a facility licensed under the Nursing Home Care
-4- LRB9004723KDcc
1 Act, so long as the qualified person's spouse continues to
2 occupy the residence if the spouse is 65 years of age or
3 older, or if the residence remains unoccupied but is still
4 owned by the qualified person. In counties with less than
5 3,000,000 inhabitants, if the assessor or chief county
6 assessment officer requires annual application for
7 verification of eligibility for an exemption once granted
8 under this Section, the application shall be mailed to the
9 taxpayer.
10 The assessor or chief county assessment officer shall
11 notify each person who qualifies for an exemption under this
12 Section that the person may also qualify for deferral of real
13 estate taxes under the Senior Citizens Real Estate Tax
14 Deferral Act. The notice shall set forth the qualifications
15 needed for deferral of real estate taxes, the address and
16 telephone number of county collector, and a statement that
17 applications for deferral of real estate taxes may be
18 obtained from the county collector.
19 (Source: P.A. 88-455; 89-412, eff. 11-17-95.)
20 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
21 becoming law.