How to Check Your Cook County Property Tax Status

Property tax bills in Cook County come from one office, payments go to another, and questions about earlier years or sold taxes go to a third. That split is why a simple question, "are the taxes on this property behind?", can take an afternoon to answer. This guide shows which office holds which answer, what each status means in plain English, and, just as important, what these searches will not tell you. It is one part of our guide to what happens when property taxes fall behind.

Important notice: Fair Value Investments (a d/b/a of Probate Professionals of America, LLC) is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. You may stop doing business with us at any time and may reject any offer. If you stop paying your mortgage, you could lose your home and damage your credit rating. We do not provide foreclosure-rescue, loan-modification, or credit-repair services and cannot promise to save your home or stop a foreclosure. For free help, contact a HUD-approved housing counselor at 1-800-569-4287 or consumerfinance.gov/find-a-housing-counselor.

Start with the PIN

Every parcel in Cook County has a Property Index Number, or PIN, and every office below searches by it. It is printed on the tax bill and on assessment notices. If you do not have a bill handy, the Cook County Assessor's site and the Treasurer's site both let you find a PIN by address.

Write it down exactly, dashes included. A single wrong digit returns a different parcel, sometimes a neighbor's, and the result will look perfectly normal. Before you act on anything you find, check that the PIN matches the legal description on the deed.

Step 1: check the Treasurer's records for the current years

The Cook County Treasurer holds the current bills and the recent tax years. Its site shows, by PIN, what has been billed, what has been paid and what is still due, and it runs a separate search that tells you whether delinquent taxes have been sold.

If everything shows as paid, you are done. If something shows unpaid, write down which tax year it belongs to. The next step depends entirely on that year, not on how much is owed.

Step 2: for earlier years or sold taxes, go to the County Clerk

Cook County hands older tax years from the Treasurer to the County Clerk. The Treasurer's prior year taxes page names the cutoff year and says those years are the Clerk's jurisdiction, covering open items, forfeitures and redemptions of taxes that were sold to tax buyers. If the unpaid year you found is at or before that cutoff, the Treasurer's screen will not give you a payoff and the Clerk is the office to call.

The Clerk has two things you may want.

The Clerk's Delinquent Property Tax Search is the by-PIN lookup for earlier years. Check it before you plan around it: as of this writing the Clerk's site carries a notice that the search is unavailable while the county's property tax database is being upgraded, and that service will resume once the work is finished. When the online search is down, the office itself is not, and the phone and counter still work.

The Clerk's tax redemption page is the other half, and the more important one. In the Clerk's own words, if your unpaid taxes have been sold, at an annual tax sale, a scavenger sale or over the counter, the office can provide an Estimate of the Cost of Redemption detailing the amount necessary to redeem your taxes and remove the threat of losing your property. The Clerk also calculates earlier taxes that were never sold, takes redemption payments, and issues proof of payment. If you want to understand what the buyer of those taxes actually bought, read how the Cook County tax sale works.

What each status means

Paid. Nothing is owed for that installment.
Open. The Clerk's term for an earlier year that is unpaid and has not been sold. It is still owed and still payable.
Delinquent. Past due, with interest accruing, and not yet sold. It can still be paid to the Treasurer.
Sold. A tax buyer paid the taxes at a sale and holds a certificate. The owner clears it by redeeming through the Clerk, not by paying the Treasurer. If sold taxes are never redeemed, a tax buyer can eventually ask the court for a tax deed, which can transfer ownership.
Forfeited. The Clerk's term for taxes that were offered at a sale and not sold. They are still owed, and the Clerk can calculate the amount.

Two of those, sold and forfeited, are the ones people misread. Neither means the property has changed hands.

What these searches do not tell you

This is the part most guides leave out, and it is where an afternoon of careful looking can still produce the wrong answer.

They cover general taxes on that PIN, and not much else. The Clerk's own search notes that the data reflects only delinquencies for general taxes billed under that PIN, and that additional delinquencies may exist. Special assessments are handled separately and have to be asked about separately.
A parcel that was split or combined can hide a balance. The Clerk warns that delinquencies may also exist under parcel numbers that were voided in a division, subdivision or consolidation. If the property has been reconfigured, the old PINs are worth asking about.
Nothing here shows non-tax debt. Municipal water balances, city or village liens, recorded judgments and mortgage arrears do not appear in a property tax search at all. They still have to be paid before a sale can close.
A clean screen at nine in the morning is not a clean title. Only a title search answers the ownership question, and only the Clerk's estimate answers the payoff question.
An empty result is not proof. If a search is down, a PIN is mistyped or a year sits with the other office, you get the same blank screen you would get on a property that owes nothing. Confirm which office you are asking and which years it covers before reading a blank as good news.

Free help with a tax problem

The Clerk's Property Tax Redemption Legal Help Desk. The Clerk's office runs a free legal help desk for Cook County residents with questions about redemption. It is staffed by Legal Aid Chicago attorneys, works by appointment after a short screening, and gives advice rather than full representation.
A HUD-approved housing counselor. Counselors help owners understand their situation and their options at no charge. HUD's counselor search finds one near you.
Exemptions. If a bill looks higher than it should, check whether the property is receiving every exemption it qualifies for. That is the Assessor's office, and a missing homeowner or senior exemption is a common reason a bill jumped.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find my Cook County PIN?

It is printed on your property tax bill and on your assessment notice. You can also search by address on the Cook County Assessor's or Treasurer's website. Confirm the PIN against the legal description on your deed before you pay anything.

What is the difference between delinquent taxes and sold taxes?

Delinquent taxes are past due but still held by the county, and they are paid to the Treasurer. Sold taxes were bought by a tax buyer at a tax sale, and the owner clears them by redeeming through the County Clerk. Paying the wrong office does not clear a sold year.

Who can tell me my redemption deadline?

The Cook County Clerk's office. Ask for an Estimate of the Cost of Redemption for your PIN. The Clerk's free legal help desk and a private attorney can explain what that date means in your situation. Do not rely on a date from any website, this one included.

If you are weighing a sale

Selling is one option among several, and it is worth comparing more than one. When a property with unpaid or sold taxes is sold, the title company looks up what is owed and those amounts are normally paid out of the sale proceeds at closing, so the new owner takes clear title. That works the same way for a listing with an agent and for a sale to a private buyer.

Our back taxes page explains how we handle a purchase when taxes are behind, and how we buy in Cook County specifically. We are a private buyer, not the county, the Treasurer or the Clerk. There is no fee to ask for an offer and no obligation to accept one. Get the redemption figure from the Clerk first either way, so you know what any sale has to cover.

About this article: it is general information written by a home buyer, not by a lawyer or a housing counselor. Fair Value Investments (a d/b/a of Probate Professionals of America, LLC) is a private real-estate investor and home buyer purchasing property for our own account. We are not a licensed real estate broker, not a law firm, not a lender, and not a government agency, and nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice. Any offer is made at our discretion after we evaluate the property; a cash offer, if made, may be below market value. You are free to consult your own attorney, tax advisor, or a licensed real-estate professional before deciding. There is no fee to receive an offer and no obligation to accept.