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Public Act 92-0196
SB38 Enrolled LRB9202024SMdv
AN ACT to amend the Property Tax Code by changing Section
15-170.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Property Tax Code is amended by changing
Section 15-170 as follows:
(35 ILCS 200/15-170)
Sec. 15-170. Senior Citizens Homestead Exemption. An
annual homestead exemption limited, except as described here
with relation to cooperatives or life care facilities, to a
maximum reduction set forth below from the property's value,
as equalized or assessed by the Department, is granted for
property that is occupied as a residence by a person 65
years of age or older who is liable for paying real estate
taxes on the property and is an owner of record of the
property or has a legal or equitable interest therein as
evidenced by a written instrument, except for a leasehold
interest, other than a leasehold interest of land on which a
single family residence is located, which is occupied as a
residence by a person 65 years or older who has an ownership
interest therein, legal, equitable or as a lessee, and on
which he or she is liable for the payment of property taxes.
The maximum reduction shall be $2,500 in counties with
3,000,000 or more inhabitants and $2,000 in all other
counties. For land improved with an apartment building owned
and operated as a cooperative or a building which is a life
care facility which shall be considered to be a cooperative,
the maximum reduction from the value of the property, as
equalized by the Department, shall be multiplied by the
number of apartments or units occupied by a person 65 years
of age or older who is liable, by contract with the owner or
owners of record, for paying property taxes on the property
and is an owner of record of a legal or equitable interest in
the cooperative apartment building, other than a leasehold
interest. For land improved with a life care facility, the
maximum reduction from the value of the property, as
equalized by the Department, shall be multiplied by the
number of apartments or units occupied by persons 65 years of
age or older, irrespective of any legal, equitable, or
leasehold interest in the facility, who are liable, under a
contract with the owner or owners of record of the facility,
for paying property taxes on the property. In a cooperative
or a life care facility where a homestead exemption has been
granted, the cooperative association or the its management
firm of the cooperative or facility shall credit the savings
resulting from that exemption only to the apportioned tax
liability of the owner or resident who qualified for the
exemption. Any person who willfully refuses to so credit the
savings shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor. Under this
Section and Section 15-175, "life care facility" means a
facility as defined in Section 2 of the Life Care Facilities
Act, with which the applicant for the homestead exemption has
a life care contract as defined in that Act, which requires
the applicant to pay property taxes.
When a homestead exemption has been granted under this
Section and the person qualifying subsequently becomes a
resident of a facility licensed under the Nursing Home Care
Act, the exemption shall continue so long as the residence
continues to be occupied by the qualifying person's spouse if
the spouse is 65 years of age or older, or if the residence
remains unoccupied but is still owned by the person qualified
for the homestead exemption.
A person who will be 65 years of age during the current
assessment year shall be eligible to apply for the homestead
exemption during that assessment year. Application shall be
made during the application period in effect for the county
of his residence.
The assessor or chief county assessment officer may
determine the eligibility of a life care facility to receive
the benefits provided by this Section, by affidavit,
application, visual inspection, questionnaire or other
reasonable methods in order to insure that the tax savings
resulting from the exemption are credited by the management
firm to the apportioned tax liability of each qualifying
resident. The assessor may request reasonable proof that the
management firm has so credited the exemption.
The chief county assessment officer of each county with
less than 3,000,000 inhabitants shall provide to each person
allowed a homestead exemption under this Section a form to
designate any other person to receive a duplicate of any
notice of delinquency in the payment of taxes assessed and
levied under this Code on the property of the person
receiving the exemption. The duplicate notice shall be in
addition to the notice required to be provided to the person
receiving the exemption, and shall be given in the manner
required by this Code. The person filing the request for the
duplicate notice shall pay a fee of $5 to cover
administrative costs to the supervisor of assessments, who
shall then file the executed designation with the county
collector. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code
to the contrary, the filing of such an executed designation
requires the county collector to provide duplicate notices as
indicated by the designation. A designation may be rescinded
by the person who executed such designation at any time, in
the manner and form required by the chief county assessment
officer.
The assessor or chief county assessment officer may
determine the eligibility of residential property to receive
the homestead exemption provided by this Section by
application, visual inspection, questionnaire or other
reasonable methods. The determination shall be made in
accordance with guidelines established by the Department.
In counties with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, the
county board may by resolution provide that if a person has
been granted a homestead exemption under this Section, the
person qualifying need not reapply for the exemption.
In counties with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, if the
assessor or chief county assessment officer requires annual
application for verification of eligibility for an exemption
once granted under this Section, the application shall be
mailed to the taxpayer.
The assessor or chief county assessment officer shall
notify each person who qualifies for an exemption under this
Section that the person may also qualify for deferral of real
estate taxes under the Senior Citizens Real Estate Tax
Deferral Act. The notice shall set forth the qualifications
needed for deferral of real estate taxes, the address and
telephone number of county collector, and a statement that
applications for deferral of real estate taxes may be
obtained from the county collector.
(Source: P.A. 89-412, eff. 11-17-95; 90-471, eff. 8-17-97.)
Passed in the General Assembly May 09, 2001.
Approved August 01, 2001.
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