Here’s What It Takes to Get a Nonprofit Property Tax Exemption in Chicago.

It’s tax season. What are you going to do about those 217 acres of land?

(Link to video is here.)

Getting a nonprofit property tax exemption requires dealing with three state agencies and potentially years of application review, but it might be worth it for multi-billion dollar nonprofits like the University of Chicago.

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For better or worse, when you file your taxes in April, there are some well defined rules: there’s a clear deadline, specific forms to fill out, and ways to calculate your return.

When it comes to tax exemption for nonprofit institutions with property, those rules are a little different.

In Illinois, property tax exemptions for nonprofits are decided on a case by case basis, and involve three different government entities.

In an informal survey conducted by the Illinois Facilities Fund, 40 percent of respondents (all nonprofits who considered applying for nonprofit property tax exemption) saw major challenges in the application process.

But for nonprofit institutions with significant amounts of property, navigating that ambiguity can have a major financial payoff.