Bill Text: IL SB0631 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that no certificate of error allowing a homestead exemption shall be executed for any tax year more than 6 years (instead of 3 years) after the date on which the annual judgment and order of sale for that tax year was first entered. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2019-01-09 - Session Sine Die [SB0631 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2017-SB0631-Introduced.html

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100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2017 and 2018 SB0631 Introduced 1/25/2017, by Sen. Emil Jones, III SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
35 ILCS 200/14-15
Amends the Property Tax Code. Provides that no certificate of error allowing a homestead exemption shall be executed for any tax year more than 6 years (instead of 3 years) after the date on which the annual judgment and order of sale for that tax year was first entered. Effective immediately.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY HOUSING AFFORDABILITY IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning revenue.
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 14-15 as follows:
(35 ILCS 200/14-15)
Sec. 14-15. Certificate of error; counties of 3,000,000 or
more.
(a) In counties with 3,000,000 or more inhabitants, if,
after the assessment is certified pursuant to Section 16-150,
but subject to the limitations of this subsection (a) and
subsection (c) of this Section, the county assessor discovers
an error or mistake in the assessment, the assessor shall
execute a certificate setting forth the nature and cause of the
error. The certificate when endorsed by the county assessor, or
when endorsed by the county assessor and board of appeals
(until the first Monday in December 1998 and the board of
review beginning the first Monday in December 1998 and
thereafter) where the certificate is executed for any
assessment which was the subject of a complaint filed in the
board of appeals (until the first Monday in December 1998 and
the board of review beginning the first Monday in December 1998
and thereafter) for the tax year for which the certificate is

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issued, may, either be certified according to the procedure
authorized by this Section or be presented and received in
evidence in any court of competent jurisdiction. Certification
is authorized, at the discretion of the county assessor, for:
(1) certificates of error allowing homestead exemptions under
Article 15; (2) certificates of error on residential property
of 6 units or less; (3) certificates of error allowing
exemption of the property pursuant to Section 14-25; and (4)
other certificates of error reducing assessed value by less
than $100,000. Any certificate of error not certified shall be
presented to the court. The county assessor shall develop
reasonable procedures for the filing and processing of
certificates of error. Prior to the certification or
presentation to the court, the county assessor or his or her
designee shall execute and include in the certificate of error
a statement attesting that all procedural requirements
pertaining to the issuance of the certificate of error have
been met and that in fact an error exists. When so introduced
in evidence such certificate shall become a part of the court
records, and shall not be removed from the files except upon
the order of the court.
Certificates of error that will be presented to the court
shall be filed as an objection in the application for judgment
and order of sale for the year in relation to which the
certificate is made or as an amendment to the objection under
subsection (b). Certificates of error that are to be certified

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according to the procedure authorized by this Section need not
be presented to the court as an objection or an amendment under
subsection (b). The State's Attorney of the county in which the
property is situated shall mail a copy of any final judgment
entered by the court regarding any certificate of error to the
taxpayer of record for the year in question.
Any unpaid taxes after the entry of the final judgment by
the court or certification on certificates issued under this
Section may be included in a special tax sale, provided that an
advertisement is published and a notice is mailed to the person
in whose name the taxes were last assessed, in a form and
manner substantially similar to the advertisement and notice
required under Sections 21-110 and 21-135. The advertisement
and sale shall be subject to all provisions of law regulating
the annual advertisement and sale of delinquent property, to
the extent that those provisions may be made applicable.
A certificate of error certified under this Section shall
be given effect by the county treasurer, who shall mark the tax
books and, upon receipt of one of the following certificates
from the county assessor or the county assessor and the board
of review where the board of review is required to endorse the
certificate of error, shall issue refunds to the taxpayer
accordingly:
"CERTIFICATION
I, .................., county assessor, hereby certify

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that the Certificates of Error set out on the attached list
have been duly issued to correct an error or mistake in the
assessment."
"CERTIFICATION
I, .................., county assessor, and we,
........................................................,
members of the board of review, hereby certify that the
Certificates of Error set out on the attached list have
been duly issued to correct an error or mistake in the
assessment and that any certificates of error required to
be endorsed by the board of review have been so endorsed."
The county treasurer has the power to mark the tax books to
reflect the issuance of certificates of error certified
according to the procedure authorized in this Section for
certificates of error issued under Section 14-25 or
certificates of error issued to and including 3 years (or 6
years in the case of a homestead exemption under Article 15)
after the date on which the annual judgment and order of sale
for that tax year was first entered. The county treasurer has
the power to issue refunds to the taxpayer as set forth above
until all refunds authorized by this Section have been
completed.
To the extent that the certificate of error obviates the
liability for nonpayment of taxes, certification of a

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certificate of error according to the procedure authorized in
this Section shall operate to vacate any judgment or forfeiture
as to that year's taxes, and the warrant books and judgment
books shall be marked to reflect that the judgment or
forfeiture has been vacated.
(b) Nothing in subsection (a) of this Section shall be
construed to prohibit the execution, endorsement, issuance,
and adjudication of a certificate of error if (i) the annual
judgment and order of sale for the tax year in question is
reopened for further proceedings upon consent of the county
collector and county assessor, represented by the State's
Attorney, and (ii) a new final judgment is subsequently entered
pursuant to the certificate. This subsection (b) shall be
construed as declarative of existing law and not as a new
enactment.
(c) No certificate of error, other than a certificate to
establish an exemption under Section 14-25 or a certificate of
error allowing homestead exemptions under Article 15, shall be
executed for any tax year more than 3 years after the date on
which the annual judgment and order of sale for that tax year
was first entered, except that during calendar years 1999 and
2000 a certificate of error may be executed for any tax year,
provided that the error or mistake in the assessment was
discovered no more than 3 years after the date on which the
annual judgment and order of sale for that tax year was first
entered. No certificate of error allowing homestead exemptions

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under Article 15 shall be executed for any tax year more than 6
years after the date on which the annual judgment and order of
sale for that tax year was first entered.
(d) The time limitation of subsection (c) shall not apply
to a certificate of error correcting an assessment to $1, under
Section 10-35, on a parcel that a subdivision or planned
development has acquired by adverse possession, if during the
tax year for which the certificate is executed the subdivision
or planned development used the parcel as common area, as
defined in Section 10-35, and if application for the
certificate of error is made prior to December 1, 1997.
(e) The changes made by this amendatory Act of the 91st
General Assembly apply to certificates of error issued before,
on, and after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the
91st General Assembly.
(Source: P.A. 95-644, eff. 10-12-07.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.