Filing an Appeal

Section 1910.10(c) of the Rules provides:

 

Only a taxpayer or owner of property dissatisfied with the decision of a board of review as such decision pertains to the assessment of his property for taxation purposes, or a taxing body that has a tax revenue interest in the decision of the board of review on an assessment made by any local assessment officer, may file an appeal with the Board.

Although many boards of review accept appeals filed by citizens other than the owner of or taxpayer for the subject property, the Property Tax Appeal Board does not accept appeals from local board decisions on such appeals. 35 ILCS 200/16-160.

The petition for appeal to be filed with the Property Tax Appeal Board must be on the prescribed form. The forms vary according to the type of property appealed: residential, commercial, industrial, or farm. The forms may be acquired from the Board office in Springfield or at the offices of all boards of review, or they may be downloaded from this website. 35 ILCS 205/16-165. Petitions for appeal must be filed in triplicate. If the appropriate number of petition forms are not filed, the appeal will be returned. Faxed copies of the forms will not be accepted.

All written and documentary evidence that the appellant intends to rely on must be submitted in duplicate with the petition for appeal. No written or documentary evidence will be accepted into the record of the appeal at the hearing. See Official Rules §1910.67(k). If additional time to submit written evidence is required, a letter requesting an extension of submission time must accompany the petition for real property appeal. In any event, the petition must be filed within the appropriate 30-day period or the Board may lose jurisdiction to consider the appeal. Section 1910.30(g) of the Official Rules provides:

 

If the contesting party is unable to submit written or documentary evidence with the petition, he must submit a letter requesting an extension of time with the petition. Upon receipt of such a request, the Board shall grant a 30 day extension of time. The Board shall grant additional or longer extensions for good cause shown. Good cause may include but is not limited to the inability to submit evidence for a cause beyond the control of the contesting party, such as the pendency of court action affecting the assessment of the property or the death or serious illness of a valuation witness. Without a written request for an extension, no evidence will be accepted after the petition is filed. Evidence sent by mail shall be considered as filed on the date postmarked.

The appellant is advised to provide all information required for submission on both sides of each petition form. Each copy of the petition form must bear an original signature of either the contesting party or his attorney. If the petition form is not completed fully or if it is not signed, the form will be returned. Section 1910.30(k) of the Official Rules provides:

 

All information required to fully complete the petition shall be furnished by the contesting party at the time the petition is filed. Incomplete petitions and/or a letter shall be returned with an explanation or the reasons for the rejection. The contesting party must resubmit the corrected petition within 20 days after the date of the return of the petition. If the returned petition is not resubmitted within the 20-day period, the appeal will be dismissed from consideration by the Board. Petitions which are not signed, petitions which do not state the assessed valuations assigned by the local assessor and the board of review, petitions which do not state the assessed valuation considered correct by the contesting party, and petitions not containing all information as required herein, shall be treated as incomplete petitions. Written or documentary evidence will be accepted after receipt of a completed petition only when a letter requesting an extension of time was received and granted.

Any petition for appeal is date-stamped upon receipt by the Property Tax Appeal Board. The postmarks are retained for record purposes. The Board assigns a docket number to each petition received. The first two digits indicate the assessment year at issue; the following digits indicate the actual complaint number; the letter that follows (R, F, C, or I) indicates the type of property appealed; and the last digit (1, 2, or 3) indicates the amount of assessed valuation at issue ("1" indicates that less than $100,000 of assessed valuation is at issue; "2" indicates there is at least $100,000 and less than $300,000 of assessed valuation at issue; and "3" indicates there is $300,000 or more of assessed valuation at issue). Thus, a Property Tax Appeal Board docket number might appear as 95-1234-C-2.

To aid the parties to appeals before the Property Tax Appeal Board, definitions of commonly used terms have been provided in §1910.5 of the Official Rules. However, the definitions are intended only as an aid to interpretation and do not represent an attempt on the part of the Board to make policy or interpret law.

After a docket number is assigned to a petition, an appeal file is created. The Property Tax Appeal Board informs the appellant of the docket number assigned and of any deficiencies with either the petition or the evidence filed with it. At this time, extensions of time are granted if appropriate. The Clerk of the Property Tax Appeal Board informs the local board of review by letter after the contesting party has perfected an appeal. Copies of the petition and all documentation received are sent to the board of review/supervisor of assessments and to the state's attorney of the county in which the subject parcel is located. Under revisions to both the Property Tax Appeal Board and board of review statutes, boards of review are required, upon receipt of a petition for appeal filed with the Property Tax Appeal Board requesting a change of assessed valuation of $100,000 or more, to "serve a copy of the petition on all taxing districts as shown on the last available tax bill." 35 ILCS 200/16-180. To ensure compliance in such cases, the Property Tax Appeal Board requires the chair of the board of review to submit a certificate stating that copies of petitions have been served on all interested taxing districts. See Section 1910.40(f) of the Property Tax Appeal Board Rules. It is then incumbent on any taxing district wishing to participate in the Property Tax Appeal Board proceeding to file a request to intervene. If the appeal does not involve a change of $100,000 or more, notice to the state's attorney of an appeal is notice to all interested taxing districts.