In tax year 2025 the Cook County Board of Review decided 194 residential appeals that LLCs filed without an attorney. It turned away 119 of them, 61.3%, under its reason code for not following Board rules or not giving evidence. Only 37 got a cut.
Trusts were a different story. The Board decided 912 residential appeals filed without an attorney where the appellant's name included "trust" or "trustee." 517 of them, 56.7%, got a cut. That is close to the 57.6% rate for all self-filed home appeals that year.
How your home is titled changes three things: which exemptions you can get, what paperwork the Assessor wants, and who can sign an appeal. Here is each one, taken from the agencies' own pages.
Quick Answer
If your home is in a land trust or living trust and you are the beneficiary who lives there, you can usually get the homeowner, senior and senior freeze exemptions. You apply in your own name and send the trust agreement if your name is not on the recorded deed. A home titled to an LLC usually can't get them, because the LLC is the owner and nobody living there owns the house. Any owner can appeal to the Assessor without a lawyer, LLCs included. At the Board of Review, an LLC must use an attorney. The Board's rules don't name trusts, and the record shows it decides self-filed trust appeals on the evidence.
Exemptions when your home is in a trust
The Assessor's test for the homeowner exemption has two parts. You must own the home, or have a lease or contract that makes you responsible for its taxes. And you must live there as your main home on January 1 of the tax year. The senior exemption adds age 65 during the tax year. The senior freeze adds an income limit, two January 1 dates in the home, and a new application every year.
State law counts a "legal or equitable interest" shown in a written document. A trust beneficiary has that kind of interest, and the trust agreement is the document. So the person who lives in the home applies, not the trust and not the bank that serves as trustee.
What the Assessor asks for:
- Proof of identity and that you live there. A photo ID from its List A (Illinois driver's license or state ID, Matrícula Consular, or Chicago ID) showing the property address, plus an occupancy affidavit. If your ID shows another address, send one ID from List B and one document from List C, such as a bank statement or utility bill.
- Proof you are responsible for paying the taxes. If you are on the recorded deed, for example as trustee of your own living trust, Assessor staff check the deed for you. If you are not on it, as with a land trust held by a bank, send the trust agreement.
A different program has a stricter rule. The state's senior tax deferral loan, run through the Treasurer, accepts only an Illinois land trust with you (or you and your spouse) as the sole beneficiaries, and the trustee must sign the form.
Why an LLC-owned home usually loses them
An LLC is the owner of record, and an LLC can't live anywhere. The members own the company, not the house. So nobody living in the home meets the ownership test.
The other route is a lease. State law lets a tenant of a single-family home who is responsible for paying the taxes qualify, and it lets the Assessor require a notarized application signed by both owner and tenant, a copy of the lease, and specific lease wording about taxes. The Assessor's pages don't address LLCs by name. If you plan to rely on a lease with your own LLC, ask the Assessor before you file.
What it costs to lose them: the homeowner exemption takes $10,000 off equalized assessed value and the senior exemption takes $8,000. On tax year 2024 bills (paid in 2025), homes with only the homeowner exemption saved a median of $823 from it.
Who can file and sign an appeal
| Assessor | Board of Review | |
|---|---|---|
| Can you file without an attorney? | Yes, any owner, LLCs included (Rule 5) | Individuals, for property titled in their own names. LLCs and corporations need an attorney (Rule 1) |
| Trusts | Can file, like any owner | Not named in the rules. The online form asks for your appellant type, including beneficiary and executor |
| Someone filing for you | Needs the Assessor's authorization form (Rule 6) | Must be an attorney with the Board's authorization form |
| Who signs | Affidavits for a business or trust can be signed by a representative who has looked into the facts (Rule 12) | The complaint is signed by the taxpayer or attorney (Rule 16). The authorization form lists owner, trust beneficiary, executor, or an officer of an LLC or corporation |
Three details trip people up:
- Photos. At the Assessor, only an individual filing for their own home may skip the dated photo of the front of the property (Rule 12). An LLC filing should include one.
- Sales. If you are disclosing a recent sale at the Assessor, you must name the beneficiary of any trust involved (Rule 13).
- Land trusts with a company as beneficiary. The Board wants a schedule of all beneficial owners, signed by the trustee (Rule 24).
If title is in a trust that doesn't name you and you want to file at the Board yourself, ask the Board before your township closes. Filing through an attorney avoids the question.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the exemption followed the deed. After you move a home into a trust, open the Assessor's property page for the next tax year and read the exemption history. If an exemption dropped, reapply with the trust agreement.
- Moving a home into an LLC without pricing the exemptions. Liability planning can cost the homeowner and senior exemptions every year after.
- Filing a Board appeal yourself for an LLC. That is how 119 of 194 self-filed LLC appeals ended in tax year 2025.
- Signing in the wrong role. Sign as the person the form expects, such as beneficiary, trustee or officer, and attach the document that proves it.
- Forgetting the freeze is yearly. It must be filed every year, so keep the trust agreement ready if your name is not on the deed.
- Leaving missed years behind. If an exemption fell off for past years, the Assessor's refund process (it calls it a Certificate of Error) can fix recent years. See Certificate of Error vs. appeal.
Where Censum fits
Censum's exemption check shows which exemptions are on a Cook County home now, which is worth a look after any change in title. If one was missing in past years, Censum can prepare the Assessor's refund filing, or you can file the county's free form yourself. For appeals, the free appeal check shows appeal odds and your township's window. Censum's packets are for owners filing their own appeal. If an LLC holds the title, the Board requires an attorney, and Censum is not a law firm.
The numbers behind this article
Appeal figures are Censum's tabulation of the Cook County Board of Review Appeal Decision History dataset, accessed November 11, 2026: residential decisions for tax year 2025, split by the dataset's filer type ("Individual/Pro Se" or "Attorney"). Trust appeals are those whose appellant name contains "trust" (which also catches "trustee"). LLC appeals are those whose appellant name contains "LLC" or "L.L.C." "Turned away" means a No Change decision with the Board's no-change reason 3, failure to comply with Board rules or requests and/or failure to give evidence supporting a decrease. A name match is not a title search, so some trust- or LLC-held homes filed under a person's name are not counted. Each count is one decision on one PIN. The $823 median comes from PTAXSIM, the Cook County Assessor's Office research database, tax year 2024: homes with the homeowner exemption and no senior or freeze exemption (638,765 parcels), savings computed as the exemption amount (capped at the home's equalized value) times its tax code rate. The Assessor says PTAXSIM results are not official.
FAQ
Can I get the homeowner exemption if my house is in a living trust?
Usually yes, if you live there on January 1 and are the trust's beneficiary. Apply in your own name. Send the trust agreement if your name is not on the recorded deed.
My home is in a land trust with a bank as trustee. Who applies?
You do, as the beneficiary who lives there. The bank's name on the deed is why the Assessor asks for the trust agreement.
Can my LLC get the homeowner exemption?
Usually not. The LLC owns the house, and an LLC can't live in it. The other route is a written lease or contract that makes you responsible for paying the taxes, and the Assessor can require specific lease wording. Ask the Assessor first.
Do I need a lawyer to appeal for my LLC?
Not at the Assessor. At the Board of Review, yes. Its Rule 1 requires an attorney for LLCs and corporations.
Do I need a lawyer to appeal for my trust?
The Board's rules don't say so for trusts, and in tax year 2025 it decided 912 self-filed appeals naming a trust or trustee, cutting 517. If the deed doesn't name you, check with the Board before your township closes.
Sources
- Cook County Assessor, Homeowner Exemption
- Cook County Assessor, Senior Exemption
- Cook County Assessor, Low-Income Senior Freeze Exemption
- Cook County Assessor, 2026 Appeal Rules (Rules 5, 6, 12, 13)
- Cook County Board of Review, Official Rules 2026 (Rules 1, 16, 24)
- Cook County Board of Review, How to Present a Case
- Cook County Board of Review, Frequently Asked Questions
- Cook County Board of Review, How to File an Appeal Online
- Cook County Board of Review, 2027 Attorney Authorization Form
- Cook County Board of Review, decision reason codes
- Cook County Treasurer, Senior Citizen Real Estate Tax Deferral Program
- Illinois Property Tax Code, 35 ILCS 200/15-175 (general homestead exemption; subsections (e) and (f) on leaseholds and who qualifies)
- Illinois Property Tax Code, 35 ILCS 200/15-170 (senior citizens homestead exemption)
- Illinois Property Tax Code, 35 ILCS 200/15-172 (low-income senior freeze)
- Censum tabulation of the Cook County Board of Review Appeal Decision History dataset (Cook County open data), tax year 2025 residential decisions.
- Censum tabulation of PTAXSIM (Cook County Assessor's Office), tax year 2024.
Sources accessed November 11, 2026.
Next step
After any change in how your home is titled, check which exemptions are on it before you appeal. Check my exemptions
Censum LLC is a data and analytics company, not a law firm and not a tax advisor. Censum is independent and is not affiliated with Cook County or any government agency.