Round 3 Against The Proposed Incentive Amendments

Navigating the evolving landscape of property tax incentives in Cook County, Illinois has become an increasingly complex task for business leaders aiming to optimize their real estate investments. Liston & Tsantilis has been at the forefront of property tax incentives for industrial and commercial properties for the last 40 years. In this article, we offer the recent incentives updates and insights into the significant changes that have recently unfolded in the realm of commercial and industrial property incentives. Understanding their implications is essential as real professionals move their businesses forward against the never-ending changes taking place. Brian & Peter Source: Bisnow | Reposted Liston & Tsantillis 4/1/2024 - Nearly four decades ago, attorney Brian Liston worked as an assistant at the Illinois Attorney General’s office, playing a key role in drafting Cook County incentives ordinances to boost the local economy and attract new businesses. “I worked in a team alongside the Cook County Assessor Thomas Tully and Cook County President George Dunne to implement tax incentives to compete with the surrounding counties’ to lower assessment classifications, instill economic development and create jobs,” Liston said. “As Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead would say, ‘It’s been a long, strange trip.’” Today, Liston is a partner alongside Peter Tsantilis at the Chicago-based Liston & Tsantilis, a law firm that specializes in eminent domain litigation, property tax litigation and incentives for industrial and commercial properties. His law firm has consistently been ranked No. 1 for the past 19 years by the Leading Lawyers Network . In the decades since Liston helped shape those incentives, a lot has changed. And those changes seemed to speed up significantly in the last few years amid the changing real estate landscape. “There have been significant changes in the last 36 months that we need to update the real estate community on to ensure they have all the necessary and accurate information they need to make informed decisions when it comes to incentives,” he said. Liston and Tsantilis walked Bisnow through the major changes of the last four years and what they mean for the commercial and industrial real estate communities. Read the full article...

While Cook County has not yet mailed 2022 Second Installment tax bills, they have issued the 2022 tax rates used to calculate final tax bills. The 2022 Second Installment Tax Bill amounts for your property can be found below: https://www.cookcountytreasurer.com/yourpropertytaxoverviewresults.aspx

The Bring Chicago Home Proposal Would Quadruple the Real Estate Transfer Tax. The proposed three-tiered system discourages global investment by increasing transfer taxes on properties valued at $1 million and above. While transfer tax on properties under $1 million will decrease slightly from .75% to .6%, properties over $1 million will see significant increases in the midst of market turmoil:

Source: Illinois Revenue | Repost Liston & Tsantilis 9/6/2023 - A final 2022 property tax equalization factor of 2.9237 for Cook County was announced today by the Illinois Department of Revenue. The Department is required by law to calculate the factor, often called the multiplier, to achieve uniform property assessment throughout the state. The 2022 Final equalization factor increased from the 2022 tentative factor of 2.7230.The department determines the equalization factor for each county by comparing over a three-year period the actual selling price of individual properties to the assessed value placed on those properties by the county assessor. If the median level of assessment for all property in the county varies from the 33 1/3 percent level required by law, an equalization factor is assigned to bring assessments to the legally mandated level. The three-year average level of assessments (weighted by class) for Cook County property is 11.40 percent. The department calculated the multiplier to bring the average level of assessments to the required 33 1/3 percent level by dividing Cook County's three-year average of 11.40 into 33.33. After taking into account the 2022 reassessments, the levels of assessment are as follows: 3-Year Class 2019 2020 2021 Average 1 (Vacant Lots) 9.38 7.34 7.65 8.12 2 (Residential) 9.52 9.37 8.60 9.16 3 (Apartments) 7.24 8.65 7.42 7.77 5a (Commercial) 22.76 24.79 23.78 23.78 5b (Industrial) 27.27 25.38 23.88 25.51 COUNTYWIDE 11.64 11.74 10.81 11.40 (weighted average) The equalization factor does not cause individual tax bills to go up. Tax bills are determined by local taxing bodies when they request the dollars needed to provide services to citizens. The assessment process simply determines how the bill will be divided among taxpayers. A Cook County ordinance requires that residential property (homes, condominiums, apartment buildings of six units or less) be assessed at 10 percent of market value; all other residential property (apartments with more than six units), 10 percent; vacant lots, 10 percent; property owned by not-for-profit corporations, 25 percent; commercial property, 25 percent; industrial property, 25 percent; and commercial or industrial property being developed in economically deprived areas, usually 10 percent. Official Announcement:

On Wednesday, July 19th, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced that the second installment of the property tax bills for the 2022 tax year should be ready by November 1st and due December 1st. The article below from the Chicago Tribune has the details of the announcement. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as we are made aware of them. Brian & Peter Source: Chicago Tribune | Repost Liston & Tsantilis 7/20/2023 - Property tax bills owed by Cook County residents and business owners are once again landing in mailboxes months later than usual. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced Wednesday that second installment property tax bills for the 2022 tax year are expected to be ready Nov. 1 and due Dec. 1. It’s an improvement compared to last year’s delay: Bills were not ready until late November and were due by Dec. 31. The year before, second installment bills were due two months later than usual. For most of the previous decade, second installment bills have usually been mailed in July and due by Aug. 1. But technological issues between Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office and the three-member Board of Review, which hears assessment appeals, proliferated during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a monthslong delay and weeks of finger-pointing between Kaegi and BOR Commissioner Larry Rogers Jr. Read the full article...

Live Webcast Wednesday, January 25, 2023 CLE – 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Virtual Networking – 1:00 – 1:15 p.m. 3.75 hours MCLE credit Whether it’s the State, Cook County, or the City of Chicago – our elected officials decide how taxes are collected, how they are distributed, how (and who) they help, and how to achieve equitable burden and distribution while ensuring the maximum collection and compliance. Join us for an in-depth look at how the laws and ordinances in our tax system operate, as well as how they impact you and your clients. Brian Liston will presenting on Tax Incentives Today as part of the overall event. Topics include: Valuation issues for condominium/townhouse association assessments, as well as the pitfalls, remedies, and existing laws to be aware of; What to expect from Illinois legislative as we enter the Spring 2023 session; An introduction to the Cook County property tax system; and What has changed (and stayed the same) with property tax incentives. Here is the flyer with the complete schedule for the event!

The Cook County Board of Commissioners announced that the second installment of the 2021 property tax bills will be due before the end of the year. Board President Toni Preckwinkle also announced that there will be a loan program to help towns, school districts, and other taxing bodies to help them pay for their ongoing operations. The article below from the Chicago Tribune has the details of the announcement. We will continue to monitor the situation and provides updates as we are made aware of them. Brian & Peter Source: Chicago Tribune | Repost Liston Tsantilis 7/19/2022 - Cook County property tax bills will be due before the end of the year, board President Toni Preckwinkle announced Thursday afternoon, along with a plan to help towns, school districts and other taxing bodies affected by a monthslong delay. Preckwinkle didn’t offer a definitive date for when bills would be sent, only telling reporters that she was “confident that the separately elected officials will be able to collect and distribute property taxes by the end of the calendar year.” But she hinted that there could be delays in future billing cycles. The pledge means individual taxpayers will be able to “take full advantage of the federal, state and local tax deduction” on their 2022 federal income taxes, she said. But thanks to the late bills, Cook County cities and villages, along with fire, library and school districts, will have to wait to get property tax revenues that they use to pay for ongoing operations. To help struggling districts make it through, Preckwinkle announced a new, one-time program the county will operate with PNC Bank to loan suburban districts money so that they don’t have to take on short-term debt through a measure known as a “tax anticipation note.” Read the full article...

There may be a delay for the second installment of the 2021 Cook County property tax bill. The Cook County Assessor's office implemented a new data system that replaced their mainframe computer on 2021. The implementation has cause there to be delays in the triennial reassment of real estate values in Cook County. Because of those delay's, they are months behind in transmitting the the final 2021 data from Assessor's office to the Cook County Board of Review which will delay the appeals process. The appeals process needs to be completed at the Board of Review before second installmants for the 2021 second installment bills can be issued. Normally, the second-installments are issued in late June with a due date of August 1st. Because of the delay's, we believe the second-installments property tax bills will be issued late 2022 or the first part of 2023. If this happens, it is possible that second-installment of your 2021 property tax bill and your first-installment of you 2022 property tax bill could be both due in a short window. Normally, the first installment is issued on January with a due date of March 1st. We will continue to monitor the situation and provides updates as we are made aware of them. Brian & Peter

Source: Wall Street Journal | Repost Liston & Tsantilis 11/21/2021 - Plan your 2021 taxes now—or else. Or else what? Or else risk missing out on a large stimulus payment, or face a surprise bill at tax-filing time, or forgo a charitable deduction. Year-end tax planning always matters, but new or temporary tax-code changes make it different this year. “There are so many new variables, and they bring opportunities for saving—if you plan,” says Jeffrey Porter, a CPA who practices in Huntington, W.Va. Here’s a dramatic but not far-fetched example of how strategizing could save a young family at least $7,600 this year. Say that a married couple has a new baby plus two children ages six and eight. They think their 2021 adjusted gross income will be $162,000, which is below their 2020 income because one spouse temporarily left the workforce this year. This couple didn’t qualify for $7,000 in third-round stimulus payments based on their 2020 income. And their 2021 income will be just above the $160,000 limit for payments to married joint filers. But see what happens if this couple rearranges their 2021 income so it’s below $150,000. They become eligible for $7,000 of stimulus payments, and they’ll get $600 in new child tax credits for 2021 that they would have lost due to a separate phaseout. Read the full article...