Treasurer Pappas urges owners to pay late property taxes to avoid upcoming tax sale as 22,884 owe less than $1,000

CHICAGO, Dec. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas urges property owners who have not paid property taxes that were due in 2022 to act quickly to avoid the Annual Tax Sale.

To find out if your property is on the Annual Tax Sale list:

• Go to cookcountytreasurer.com
• Use the purple box on the home page labeled "Your Property Tax Overview" and search using an address or Property Index Number (PIN)
• A banner with an urgent warning will appear if your property is on the Annual Tax Sale list.

You may also use the website to correct your mailing address. Each year the U.S. Postal Service returns thousands of certified notices sent to owners of properties on the Annual Tax Sale list because property owners have not kept their mailing addresses up to date.

The Annual Tax Sale will occur Jan. 9-12, 2024, for properties with unpaid 2021 property taxes due in 2022. The Annual Tax Sale occurs 13 months after the due date.

Owners of 52,401 properties owe more than $236 million in taxes that were due in 2022. Nearly 30,000 owe more than $1,000 while 22,884 owe less than $1,000, including owners of 15,944 properties in Chicago and 6,940 parcels in suburban Cook County.

The Treasurer's Office is mailing certified notices alerting property owners their unpaid taxes are to be offered for sale, which would put a lien against their properties. It is the first step in a process that can end with a property owner losing their home, business or land. Besides the mailings, the Treasurer's Office will publish lists of properties with delinquencies tax lists in local newspapers.

Payment can be made in five ways:

• Online for free at cookcountytreasurer.com
• In person at any Chase Bank location in Illinois
• In person at any of more than 100 community banks where you have an account
• By mail
• In person at the Treasurer's Office

Homeowners also can use the website to make sure they are receiving exemptions for which they qualify. Examples include the Homeowner, Senior Citizen and Senior Freeze exemptions.

Investors buy delinquent tax debt during the Annual Tax Sale. The Annual Tax Sale does not involve the sale of actual properties.

By law, the Treasurer's Office cannot and does not give legal advice related to tax sales. You are strongly advised to seek an attorney's advice relating to any sale of your taxes. If your taxes are sold your options include redeeming your taxes, seeking a Sale-in-Error Declaration or filing a statutory "Redemption Under Protest."

Visit cookcountytreasurer.com for more information about property taxes sold at the Annual Tax Sale.

SOURCE Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas