Title 15, Title 15

(1) All taxable property must be appraised at 100% of its market value except as otherwise provided. (2) (a) Market value is the value at which property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both …

(1) The assessments of all lands, all city and town lots, and all improvements must be made on the classification and appraisal as made or caused to be made by the department. (2) The percentage basis of assessed value as provided for in chapter 6, part 1, is determined and assig…

If any taxpayer disagrees with the percentage assignment made by the department, the taxpayer may appeal to the county tax appeal board on the percentage assignment the same as a taxpayer may now appeal on valuations and also may appeal from the county tax appeal board to the Mon…

(1) Except as provided in 15-8-202, the department is the party defendant in any proceeding before a county tax appeal board, the Montana tax appeal board, or a court of law that seeks to dispute or adjust an action of the department under 15-8-101 arising from the exercise of th…

All income and expense information furnished by a property owner or a property owner's agent to the department for property tax purposes, including but not limited to the department performing an income approach to valuation or determining a property owner's income as disclosed i…

(1) The department shall, between January 1 and the first Monday of August in each year, ascertain the names of all taxable inhabitants and assess all property subject to taxation in each county. (2) The department shall assess property to: (a) the person by whom it was owned or …

(1) (a) The department of justice shall determine the registration fee on light vehicles in accordance with 61-3-321 and 61-3-562. (b) For the purposes of the local option motor vehicle tax under 61-3-537, the department of justice shall assess all light vehicles in accordance wi…

When any personal property liable to taxation is brought into a county at any time after the first Monday of August and the property has not been assessed for that year, it must be listed and assessed the same as if it had been in the county at the time of the regular assessment,…

The department shall assess trailer, manufactured home, and mobile home property as class four property under 15-6-134 immediately upon arrival in the county if the taxes have not been previously paid for that year in another county in Montana.

(1) The department may require from a person a statement under oath setting forth specifically all the real and personal property owned by, in possession of, or under the control of the person at midnight on January 1. The statement must be in writing, showing separately: (a) all…

The department may deliver the statement specified in 15-8-301 to the person owning taxable property and require the person, within an appointed time, to return the statement, properly filled out. The department shall notify the person making the statement of any corrections made…

(1) The department may: (a) require any person in the state to make and subscribe an affidavit, giving the person's name, place of residence, and post-office address; (b) subpoena and examine any person in relation to any statement furnished to the department or any statement tha…

Upon discovery, any property willfully concealed, removed, transferred, or misrepresented by the owner or agent thereof to evade taxation must be assessed at not exceeding 10 times its value, and the assessment so made must not be reduced by the county tax appeal board.

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), land must be assessed in parcels or subdivisions not exceeding 640 acres, and tracts of land containing more than 640 acres that have been sectionized by the United States government must be assessed by sections or fractions of sections. …

No assessment or act relating to assessment or collection of taxes is illegal on account of informality or because the same was not completed within the time required by law.

A person who fails for any reason to file or return the statement required by 15-8-301 must be assessed a $25 penalty. The department shall deposit the penalty to the credit of the state general fund.

All personal property consigned for sale to any person within this state from any place out of the state must be assessed as other property.

The property of every person must be assessed in the county where the property is located and must be assessed in the name of that person.

(1) The personal property belonging to the business of a merchant or of a manufacturer must be listed in the town or district where the business is carried on. (2) The personal property of express, transportation, and stage companies must be listed and assessed in the county, tow…

Street railroads, bridges, and ferries owned by persons or corporations must be listed and assessed in the county, town, or district where the property or any portion of the property is located. The track of the railroad and the bridge are personal property.

Railroads operated or situated in one county; telegraph, telephone, and electric light lines and similar properties situated in one county; and canals, ditches, and flumes situated in one county must be listed and assessed in the county in which the property is located. The depar…

The roadway, roadbed, rails, rolling stock, and all other operating property of a railroad operated in more than one county or more than one state must be assessed by the department of revenue as provided in Title 15, chapter 23, part 2.

Personal property, other than livestock, subject to taxation or a fee in lieu of tax in the state shall be taxable in the taxing jurisdiction where it is located on January 1, whether or not the same is owned, claimed, or possessed by the person, as defined in 15-1-102, owning, c…

All other taxable property must be assessed in the county, city, or district in which it is situated.

(1) If the owner or claimant of any property not listed by another person is absent or unknown, the department shall make an estimate of the value of the property. (2) If the name of the absent owner is known to the department, the property must be assessed in the owner's name an…

When a person is assessed as agent, trustee, bailee, guardian, executor, or administrator, the person's representative designation must be added to the person's name and the assessment entered on a separate line from the person's individual assessment.

The undistributed or unpartitioned property of deceased persons may be assessed to the heirs, guardians, executors, or administrators, and a payment of taxes made by either binds all the parties in interest for their equal proportions.

Money and property in litigation in possession of a county treasurer or of a court or a clerk thereof or receiver must be assessed to such treasurer, clerk, or receiver and the taxes paid thereon under the direction of the court.

(1) Each unit of a condominium project is considered a parcel of real property subject to separate assessment and taxation. Each unit owner must be assessed for the unit owner's percentage of undivided interest in elements of the condominium project, except parks, owned in common…

(1) Each lot in a residential or commercial development, regardless of whether improved or unimproved, is considered a parcel of real property subject to separate assessment and taxation. The value of common elements must be allocated to each lot owner pursuant to 15-8-111. (2) T…

(1) (a) Except as provided in subsection (1)(b), whenever the department discovers that any taxable property of any person has in any year escaped assessment, been erroneously assessed, or been omitted from taxation, the department may assess the property provided that the proper…

(1) Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the term "property tax record" means the record that is kept in each county by the department and that contains the information described in subsection (2). The term includes records referred to as an "assessment book" or "asses…

Lands described on the property tax record do not need to be described a second time, but any person claiming the land and desiring to be assessed for the land may have the person's name inserted with that of the person to whom the land is assessed.

The department shall make maps showing public and private land for each county and shall designate the person to whom the land is assessed.

(1) At any time after the original assessment is made and prior to a sale for delinquent taxes, omissions, errors, or defects in the property tax record may only be corrected by the department. (2) If the correction involves an assessment of property that is the subject of pendin…

(1) When the omission, error, or defect has been carried into a delinquent list or any publication, the list or publication may be republished as amended or notice of the correction may be given in a supplementary publication. (2) The publication must be made in the same manner a…

The department shall notify each county clerk and recorder of the changes made by the department in the property tax record of the county or any assessment contained in the property tax record, which changes are prima facie evidence of the regularity of all proceedings of the dep…

The property tax record or delinquent list or a copy of either certified by the county treasurer showing unpaid taxes against any person or property is prima facie evidence of the assessment, the property assessed, the delinquency, the amount of taxes due and unpaid, and that all…

(1) The department shall furnish to the county treasurer the names and, if available, the addresses of the owners of each multiple, undivided interest in a parcel of land located within the county. The department shall inform the county treasurer that the list of names may not in…

(1) The department shall adjust and equalize the valuation of taxable property among the several counties, between the different classes of taxable property in any county and in the several counties, and between individual taxpayers and shall do all things necessary to secure a f…

The department shall use the abstract and all other information it may gain from the records of the county clerk and recorder or elsewhere in equalizing the assessment of the property of each county and shall enter in the property tax record any property that has not been assesse…

(Temporary) Tax levy for university system. There is levied upon the taxable value of all real estate and personal property subject to taxation in the state of Montana 6 mills for the continued support, maintenance, and improvement of the Montana university system. The funds rais…

Every board of county commissioners, city or town council or commission, and every other board or commission authorized by law to make or fix tax levies for any purpose shall make and fix every such levy in mills and tenths and hundredths of mills.

(1) Subject to subsection (2), by the first Monday in August, the department shall certify to each taxing authority the total taxable value within the jurisdiction of the taxing authority. The department shall also send to each taxing authority a written statement of its best est…

The department shall notify each taxing authority of any change in the property tax record that results from actions by the state or county tax appeal boards.

(1) (a) The county clerk and recorder shall by the second Monday in September or within 30 calendar days after receiving certified taxable values notify the department of the number of mills needed to be levied for each taxing jurisdiction in the county. Except as provided in sub…