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| 1 | AN ACT concerning revenue.
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| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | Section 5. The Property Tax Code is amended by changing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Sections 23-10, 23-15, and 23-30 as follows:
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| 6 | (35 ILCS 200/23-10)
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| 7 | Sec. 23-10. Tax objections and copies. Beginning with the | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | 2003
tax year, in
counties with 3,000,000 or more inhabitants, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | the person paying the taxes due
as provided in Section 23-5 may | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | file
a tax
objection
complaint under Section 23-15 within 165 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 | days after the first
penalty
date of the final installment of | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | taxes for the year in question.
In counties with 3,000,000 or | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 | more inhabitants, within 30 days of the filing of the tax | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14 | objection complaint, the person filing the tax objection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15 | complaint shall serve a copy of the tax objection complaint by | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 | electronic mail upon the municipality and the school districts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 | whose tax moneys may be affected by the tax objection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 | complaint. The person providing a copy of the tax objection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19 | complaint shall send such copy to the electronic mail address | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 | for the municipality and school districts used by the local | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 | county clerk for tax extension purposes. The local county | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22 | clerk shall make such electronic mail addresses readily | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23 | available. Beginning with the 2003 tax year, in counties with | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1 | less than 3,000,000
inhabitants, the person paying the taxes
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| 2 | due as provided in Section 23-5 may file a tax objection | ||||||
| 3 | complaint under
Section 23-15 within 75 days after the first | ||||||
| 4 | penalty date of the final
installment of taxes for the year in | ||||||
| 5 | question.
However, in all counties in cases in which the | ||||||
| 6 | complaint is permitted to be
filed without
payment under | ||||||
| 7 | Section 23-5, it must be filed prior to the entry of judgment
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| 8 | under Section 21-175. In addition, the time specified for | ||||||
| 9 | payment of the tax
provided in Section 23-5 shall not be | ||||||
| 10 | construed to delay or prevent the entry
of judgment against, | ||||||
| 11 | or the sale of, tax delinquent property if the taxes have
not | ||||||
| 12 | been paid prior to the entry of judgment under Section 21-175.
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| 13 | An objection to an assessment for any year shall not be
allowed | ||||||
| 14 | by the court, however, (i) if an administrative remedy was | ||||||
| 15 | available by
complaint to the board of appeals or board of | ||||||
| 16 | review under Section 16-55 or
Section 16-115, unless that | ||||||
| 17 | remedy was exhausted prior to the filing of the tax
objection | ||||||
| 18 | complaint; or (ii) in counties with 3,000,000 or more | ||||||
| 19 | inhabitants, if the person paying the taxes is unable to | ||||||
| 20 | provide written evidence to the State's Attorney that a copy | ||||||
| 21 | of the tax objection complaint was served by electronic mail | ||||||
| 22 | on the municipality and school district..
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| 23 | When any complaint is filed with the court in a
county
with | ||||||
| 24 | less than
3,000,000 inhabitants, the plaintiff shall
file 3 | ||||||
| 25 | copies of
the complaint with the clerk of the circuit court. | ||||||
| 26 | Any
complaint
or amendment
thereto shall contain (i) on the | ||||||
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| 1 | first page a listing of the taxing
districts
against which the | ||||||
| 2 | complaint is directed
and (ii) a summary of the
reasons
for the | ||||||
| 3 | tax
objections set
forth in the complaint with enough copies | ||||||
| 4 | of the summary to be distributed to
each of the
taxing | ||||||
| 5 | districts against which the complaint is directed.
Within 10 | ||||||
| 6 | days after
the complaint is
filed, the clerk of the circuit | ||||||
| 7 | court shall deliver one copy to the State's
Attorney and one | ||||||
| 8 | copy to the county clerk, taking their receipts therefor. The
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| 9 | county clerk shall, within 30 days from the last day for the | ||||||
| 10 | filing of
complaints, notify the duly elected or appointed | ||||||
| 11 | custodian
of funds for each
taxing district that may be | ||||||
| 12 | affected by the complaint,
stating (i) that a complaint has | ||||||
| 13 | been filed and (ii) the
summary of the reasons for the tax | ||||||
| 14 | objections set forth in the complaint.
Any amendment to a
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| 15 | complaint,
except any amendment
permitted to be made in open | ||||||
| 16 | court during the course of a hearing on the
complaint, shall | ||||||
| 17 | also be filed in triplicate, with one copy
delivered to the
| ||||||
| 18 | State's Attorney and one copy delivered to the county clerk by | ||||||
| 19 | the clerk of the
circuit court. The State's Attorney shall | ||||||
| 20 | within 10 days of receiving his or
her copy of the amendment | ||||||
| 21 | notify the duly elected or appointed custodian of
funds for | ||||||
| 22 | each taxing district whose tax monies may be affected by the
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| 23 | amendment, stating (i) that the amendment has been filed and | ||||||
| 24 | (ii) the
summary of the reasons for the tax objections set | ||||||
| 25 | forth in the amended
complaint.
The State's Attorney shall | ||||||
| 26 | also notify the custodian and the county
clerk in writing of | ||||||
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| 1 | the date, time and place of any hearing before the court to
be | ||||||
| 2 | held upon the complaint or amended complaint not later than 4 | ||||||
| 3 | days prior to
the hearing. The notices provided in this | ||||||
| 4 | Section shall
be by letter addressed to the custodian or the | ||||||
| 5 | county clerk and may be
mailed by regular mail, postage | ||||||
| 6 | prepaid, postmarked within the required period,
but not less | ||||||
| 7 | than 4 days before a hearing.
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| 8 | (Source: P.A. 93-378, eff. 7-24-03.)
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| 9 | (35 ILCS 200/23-15)
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| 10 | Sec. 23-15. Tax objection procedure and hearing.
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| 11 | (a) A tax objection complaint under Section 23-10 shall be | ||||||
| 12 | filed in the
circuit court of the county in which the subject | ||||||
| 13 | property is located.
Joinder of plaintiffs shall be permitted | ||||||
| 14 | to the same extent permitted by law in
any personal action | ||||||
| 15 | pending in the court and shall be in accordance with
Section | ||||||
| 16 | 2-404 of the Code of Civil
Procedure; provided,
however, that | ||||||
| 17 | no complaint shall be filed as a class action. If an objection | ||||||
| 18 | is made claiming incorrect valuation, the complaint shall | ||||||
| 19 | specify the current assessment and the assessment alleged by | ||||||
| 20 | the plaintiff to be correct. The
complaint shall name the | ||||||
| 21 | county collector as defendant and shall specify any
objections | ||||||
| 22 | that the plaintiff may have to the taxes in question. No | ||||||
| 23 | appearance
or answer by the county collector to the tax | ||||||
| 24 | objection complaint, nor any
further pleadings, need be filed. | ||||||
| 25 | Amendments to the complaint may be made to
the same extent | ||||||
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| 1 | which, by law, could be made in any personal action pending in
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| 2 | the court.
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| 3 | (b) (1) The court, sitting without a jury, shall hear and | ||||||
| 4 | determine all
objections specified to the taxes, assessments, | ||||||
| 5 | or levies in question. This
Section shall be construed to | ||||||
| 6 | provide a complete remedy for any claims with
respect to those | ||||||
| 7 | taxes, assessments, or levies, excepting only matters for
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| 8 | which an exclusive remedy is provided elsewhere in this Code.
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| 9 | (2) The taxes, assessments, and levies that are the | ||||||
| 10 | subject of the objection
shall be presumed correct and legal, | ||||||
| 11 | but the presumption is rebuttable.
The plaintiff has the | ||||||
| 12 | burden of proving any contested matter of fact by
clear and | ||||||
| 13 | convincing evidence.
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| 14 | (3) Objections to assessments shall be heard de novo by | ||||||
| 15 | the court. The
court shall grant relief in the cases in which | ||||||
| 16 | the objector meets the burden of
proof under this Section and | ||||||
| 17 | shows an assessment to be incorrect or illegal.
If an | ||||||
| 18 | objection is made claiming incorrect valuation, the court | ||||||
| 19 | shall
consider the objection without regard to the correctness | ||||||
| 20 | of any practice,
procedure, or method of valuation followed by | ||||||
| 21 | the assessor, board of appeals,
or board of review in making or | ||||||
| 22 | reviewing the assessment, and without regard
to the intent or | ||||||
| 23 | motivation of any assessing official. The doctrine known
as | ||||||
| 24 | constructive fraud is hereby abolished for purposes of all | ||||||
| 25 | challenges to
taxes, assessments, or levies.
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| 26 | (c) If the court orders a refund of any part of the taxes | ||||||
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| 1 | paid, it shall
also order the payment of interest as provided | ||||||
| 2 | in Section 23-20. Appeals may be
taken from final judgments as | ||||||
| 3 | in other civil cases.
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| 4 | (d) This amendatory Act of 1995 shall apply to all tax | ||||||
| 5 | objection matters
still pending for any tax year, except as | ||||||
| 6 | provided in Sections 23-5 and 23-10
regarding procedures and | ||||||
| 7 | time limitations for payment of taxes and filing tax
objection | ||||||
| 8 | complaints.
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| 9 | (e) In counties with less than 3,000,000 inhabitants, if | ||||||
| 10 | the court
renders a decision lowering the assessment of a | ||||||
| 11 | particular parcel on which a
residence occupied by the owner | ||||||
| 12 | is situated, the reduced assessment, subject to
equalization, | ||||||
| 13 | shall remain in effect for the remainder of the general
| ||||||
| 14 | assessment period as provided in Sections 9-215 through 9-225, | ||||||
| 15 | unless that
parcel is subsequently sold in an arm's length | ||||||
| 16 | transaction establishing a fair
cash value for the parcel that | ||||||
| 17 | is different from the fair cash value on which
the court's | ||||||
| 18 | assessment is based, or unless the decision of the
court is | ||||||
| 19 | reversed or modified upon review.
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| 20 | (Source: P.A. 88-455; 88-642, eff. 9-9-94; 89-126, eff. | ||||||
| 21 | 7-11-95; 89-290, eff.
1-1-96; 89-593, eff. 8-1-96; 89-626, | ||||||
| 22 | eff. 8-9-96.)
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| 23 | (35 ILCS 200/23-30)
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| 24 | Sec. 23-30. Conference on tax objection. Following the
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| 25 | filing of an objection under Section 23-10, the court may hold | ||||||
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| 1 | a
conference
with the objector and the State's Attorney. | ||||||
| 2 | Compromise
agreements on tax objections reached by conference | ||||||
| 3 | shall be filed with the
court, and the parties shall prepare an | ||||||
| 4 | order covering
the settlement
and submit the order to the | ||||||
| 5 | court for
entry. When a taxing district has intervened in a tax | ||||||
| 6 | objection proceeding and filed its appearance, compromise | ||||||
| 7 | agreements shall not be accepted by the court over the | ||||||
| 8 | objection of the intervening taxing district.
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| 9 | (Source: P.A. 88-455; 89-126, eff. 7-11-95.)
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