Board of Review Reason Codes – BOR-Form-195

BOR-Form-195, Board of Review Reason Codes, is the Cook County Board of Review document that lists the numbered reasons for a change or no change in a property assessment, sorted under three headings: Decrease Codes, No Change Codes and Increase Codes.

The page is a reference list, not a questionnaire. Each heading finishes the sentence "The decrease is the result of", "The no change is the result of" or "The correction is the result of", and each numbered line completes it:

• Decrease Codes (1 to 6): consideration of cost, income or market data and/or an appraisal; analysis of comparable properties, a recent sale or updated property characteristics; vacancy, demolition, fire or natural disaster, or exempt status or a C of C; a value supported by an AR, restoration or a prior Board of Review, PTAB or Specific Tax Objection lawsuit decision; condominium/cooperative analysis; and a recent sale supporting a lower market value than the current assessment.
• No Change Codes (1 to 8): the same analysis-based reasons, plus failure to comply with Board of Review rules or requests and/or to provide evidence supporting a decrease, a matter pending before PTAB for a prior year or prior Assessor-held Board of Review action, a recent sale supporting a higher value, no documentation submitted in addition to the complaint form, and "Exausting Administrative Remedies" (spelled as printed).
• Increase Codes (6 to 9): cost, income or market data and/or appraisal(s); comparable-property analysis or a recent sale; a recent sale supporting a higher value; and a value supported by an AR, a C of C, a Board of Review action on its own motion, removal of exempt status or a court order.

The Board of Review lists this document on its forms page as "Board of Review Reason Codes", separate from the Complaint Form, the affidavits and the attorney authorization forms.

BOR-Form-195 sets no filing obligation of its own. It is a reference for people who deal with a Cook County Board of Review property assessment and want to understand the reason code that explains a decrease, a no change result or an increase.

The Board of Review publishes it on its forms page together with the documents used in property assessment appeals: the Complaint Form, the Attorney Authorization Form for the 2026 and 2027 sessions, the Substitution of Representation Form, the General Affidavit, the Vacancy / Occupancy Affidavit, the Short Form Affidavit and the Surviving Spouse Abatement. Property owners, attorneys and other representatives who work with those forms may therefore need the code list to read an outcome.

Read each code under its own heading. The same number means different things under Decrease Codes, No Change Codes and Increase Codes, and the Increase Codes are numbered 6 to 9 rather than starting at 1. The document does not say who may complete or sign anything on it.

BOR-Form-195 is published by the Cook County Board of Review on its forms page at https://www.cookcountyboardofreview.com/forms, where the Complaint Form and the other Board of Review forms are also downloaded. The PDF prints no mailing address, portal or office for sending it, so nothing on the page itself is filed.

The Board's forms page also states that the Board of Review is accepting property assessment appeals and links to its website for submitting an appeal and for more information. Use that page, and the instructions printed on the forms you file, for any appeal. FillingPDF lets you fill out and download the PDF; submission follows the agency's channels.