Chicago City Wire

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas is sending more than $22 million in automatic refunds to over 10,000 property owners who overpaid their property taxes last year.

“For many senior citizens and others, the value of tax breaks known as exemptions is greater than the amount of property taxes they were billed,” Pappas said. “Since they already made a First Installment payment in March, they are entitled to refunds that we send automatically as a convenience for taxpayers.”

Most automatic refund recipients will not have to file applications, fill out forms, or deal with any paperwork. Some will have refunds directly deposited into bank accounts, while others will be mailed checks.

The $22 million in refunds will be distributed to owners of 10,099 properties. Of those, 5,813 will have funds directly deposited and 4,286 will receive checks in the mail by Aug. 9.

Visit cookcountytreasurer.com to see if you have an automatic refund coming. Select the purple box labeled “Your Property Tax Overview” and enter your address or 14-digit Property Index Number (PIN).

Most of the refunds will go to homeowners receiving property tax exemptions, which are applied to the Second Installment tax bill and reduce the total taxes due. Exemptions include Homeowner, Senior Citizen, Senior Freeze and Disabled Persons. Second Installment 2023 bills are due on Aug. 1.

Since launching the automatic refund program in 2018, Pappas has refunded about $143.2 million to more than 165,114 property owners without the need for applications.

Property taxes are due in two annual installments. First Installment bills are an estimate that is 55% of a property owner’s total bill for the previous year. First Installment 2023 bills were due March 1.