Illinois General Assembly
Burr Ridge, IL…House Republican Leader Jim Durkin told the Will County News recently about a couple of new state laws that will provide much-needed property tax relief to disabled veterans.
“Veterans who are severely injured in line of duty while serving our country deserve and need our help to stay in their homes,” said Durkin. “Recent changes to state law will ease the tax burden on a wide range of disabled veterans and their families. It is important we get the word out to the public about these changes so that veterans who qualify can apply for these benefits.”
This past spring, the Illinois General Assembly and the Governor expanded an existing state law in order to help more disabled veterans afford their property taxes. Beginning with tax year 2015 (billable in calendar year 2016) disabled veterans whose primary residence has an equalized assessed valuation of less than $250,000 may qualify for a slide-scale homestead exemption based on the following scales of service connected disabilities: (a) for veterans certified as having a service connected disability of 30% or more but less than 50%, $2,500; (b) for veterans certified as having a service connected disability of 50% or more but less than 70%, $5,000, (2) and for veterans certified as having a service connected disability of 70% or more, the property is exempted from property taxes.
The exemption is carried over for the lifetime of the veteran’s surviving spouse and to the spouse of a veteran killed in the line of duty. To apply for the exemption you are encouraged to contact your township assessor’s office http://www.willcountysoa.com/assessor-information.aspx .
Another new law would provide a 100 percent exemption to severely disabled veterans or their widowed spouses living in smaller homes with an assessed valuation of $100,000 or less. In addition to qualify, they must be severely-enough disabled to have established eligibility for and are enjoying the benefits of a home adopted for his or her special needs under the United States federal program of Section 2101 Specially Adapted Housing (Example: an adapted home with ramps that replaced steps). For more information, call the Will County Veteran Service Office at (815) 730-4334.
Additional information about other property tax relief programs is available at the Illinois Department of Veteran’s Affair webpage http://www.illinois.gov/veterans/benefits/Pages/real-estate.aspx .
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