MAILING AND DUE DATES FOR FIRST INSTALLMENT PROPERTY TAX BILLS EXTENDED BY A MONTH
Release Date: February 1, 2026
Ordinarily, first installment tax bills are mailed around the first of February and are due on March 1. This year, however, the bills will not be mailed until early March and will be due on April 1, 2026.
The state legislature enacted this one-time-only extension to give taxpayers more time between tax bill payments. The due date for last year’s second installment bills should have been on August 1, 2025, but was delayed to December 15, 2025 because of problems with Cook County’s new computer system.
If the legislature had not acted, there would have been just two and a half months between tax bill due dates. Riverside Township Assessor Mary Jo Miller, along with her colleagues in the Cook County Township Assessors Association, felt that this short gap between tax bills would have caused financial hardship for many taxpayers. So, the Assessors Association advocated for an extension with Senate President Don Harmon’s office. Officers from Cook County agencies worked on the same issue with members of the Illinois House.
On the final day of the legislature’s fall veto session, lawmakers worked late into the night. At 3:30 am, they unanimously approved the one-month extension of the due date for first installment property tax bills.
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Illinois also lets senior citizens defer up to $7,500 a year in property taxes through the Senior Citizen Real Estate Tax Deferral Program. Read more about it, and how to qualify HERE.
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