Montana Homestead Exemption: Amount, Filing & Savings
Montana’s property-tax homestead benefit is a reduced tax rate, not a dollar exemption. Starting with tax year 2026, an enrolled principal residence is taxed at 0.76% of market value up to the statewide median ($378,000 for 2026). The standard residential rate is 1.9% (MCA 15-6-134, 15-6-405). You enroll with the Department of Revenue. The statute’s window runs from December 1 of the prior year to March 1, and the department opened enrollment for tax year 2027 on May 4, 2026; it closes March 1, 2027.
Montana uses the word “homestead” for two unrelated laws. The reduced rate is a tax classification under Title 15. The homestead declaration under Title 70, chapter 32 protects equity from judgment creditors and does nothing to your tax bill. The Department of Revenue says so directly: “A homestead declaration does not qualify you for the Homestead Reduced Rate.” Both are covered below, each under its own statute.
The 2026 tiered rate on an owner-occupied home
The 2025 Legislature rewrote the class four rates (Ch. 767, Laws of 2025). Under MCA 15-6-134(3), residential property that does not qualify for a reduced rate “is taxed at 1.9% of market value.” A home that qualifies for the homestead reduced tax rate is taxed in slices, and each slice of value is taxed at its own rate. The department publishes these dollar breakpoints for tax year 2026:
| Slice of market value (tax year 2026) | Rate in the statute | Statutory breakpoint |
|---|---|---|
| First $378,000 | 0.76% | up to the median residential value |
| $378,001 to $756,000 | 0.9% | above the median, below 2 times the median |
| $756,001 to $1,511,999 | 1.1% | 2 times the median or more, below 4 times |
| $1,512,000 and above | 1.9% | 4 times the median or more |
The median is recalculated “every 2 years as part of the periodic reappraisal” (15-6-134(4)), so the dollar breakpoints move with each reappraisal. The statutory rates stay put. According to the department, second homes, short-term rentals and vacant residential lots stay on the flat 1.9% rate. A long-term rental as defined in 15-6-402(2) can get the same tiers through a separate enrollment under 15-6-411. The exception is a qualifying rental multifamily dwelling unit, which is taxed at a flat 1.1% (15-6-134(3)(b)(ii)).
What counts as a principal residence under 15-6-402
The statute defines “principal residence” as class four residential property that meets all four of these tests:
- it “is a single-family dwelling unit, unit of a multiple-unit dwelling, trailer, manufactured home, or mobile home and the parcel on which the principal residence improvements are located but not including any contiguous or adjacent parcels”;
- the owner “owned and lived for at least 7 months of the year” for which the rate is claimed;
- it “is the only residence for which the owner claims the homestead reduced tax rate for that year”; and
- the owner “made payment of the assessed Montana property taxes.”
Moving during the year does not automatically disqualify you. An owner whose principal residence changed can still qualify “if the owner paid the Montana property taxes while residing in each principal residence for a total of at least 7 consecutive months” (15-6-402(4)(b)). “Owner” includes a buyer under a contract for deed, the grantor of a trust indenture, and the trustee of a revocable grantor trust. Property “owned by an entity is not eligible,” except that the trustee of a grantor revocable trust may apply when the home is the grantor’s principal residence (15-6-405(3)). An LLC-held house does not qualify.
Enrollment window, renewal and the May 31 refund route
MCA 15-6-405(2)(b) sets the window statewide. You apply “electronically through the department’s website or by mail on a form prescribed by the department between December 1 of the immediately preceding year and March 1.” The statute continues: “Applications submitted by mail must be postmarked by March 1. Approved applications received electronically or postmarked after March 1 apply to the following tax year.” For the first year, the department’s homestead FAQ says “Enrollment for the 2026 tax year closed March 20, 2026.” It also says the 2027 period “closes on March 1, 2027,” and the department’s enrollment page lists the 2027 application period as “May 4, 2026 – March 1, 2027.” Enrollment runs through Homestead.mt.gov, where you sign the application under penalty of perjury.
Some owners never had to apply. An owner who “applied for and received the rebate provided for in 15-1-2305 through 15-1-2307 for tax year 2024 automatically qualifies.” That stops applying once a sale, a move-out or a claim on another home ends eligibility.
After approval there is no annual renewal. The rate “remains effective until the end of the tax year in which any of the following events occur”: a change in ownership, the owner no longer using the dwelling as a principal residence, or the owner applying for the rate on a different principal residence (15-6-405(2)(c)).
An eligible owner who missed the window can still recover the difference under 15-6-407. You “file an informal appeal with the department of revenue by May 31 of the year after” the year you did not receive the rate. The refund “may only be claimed for 1 year.”
False claims carry penalties. A false or fraudulent application is subject to prosecution under 45-7-202 and a penalty of “three times the base penalty amount” plus interest (15-6-415(2)–(3)). The department can revise an assessment “within 10 years after the end of the calendar year in which the original application was made.”
Income-tested programs that stack on top
Property Tax Assistance Program (MCA 15-6-305)
PTAP multiplies the rate on the first slice of the home’s market value by a percentage that depends on income. The 2023 Legislature set that slice at $350,000 beginning in tax year 2024, and 15-6-305(3) requires it to be “adjusted after each reappraisal cycle.” The department’s PTAP page does not print the adjusted figure. The department describes the result as a reduction of “80%, 50%, or 30% of the normal tax rate.” For tax year 2027, the department lists 2025 federal adjusted gross income limits of $29,943 for a single filer and $40,131 for married filers or heads of household. The application deadline is set by statute: “An application must be filed by April 15 of the year for which assistance is first claimed” (15-6-302(5)(a)). Once you are approved, you stay in the program “without the need to reapply,” but “shall inform the department of any change in eligibility.”
Disabled veterans (MCA 15-6-311)
This program covers a veteran who was honorably discharged and is “currently rated 100% disabled or is paid at the 100% disabled rate” by the VA for a service-connected disability. It also covers an unmarried surviving spouse who holds the required VA letter. The department’s tax year 2027 income ceilings are $64,551 (single), $74,482 (married or head of household) and $56,276 (unmarried surviving spouse). The reduction runs from 100% down to 50% as income rises. The April 15 first-year deadline in 15-6-302 applies here too.
Elderly Homeowner/Renter Credit (MCA 15-30-2338)
This one is an income-tax credit, not a rate change. A claimant “must have reached age 62 or older during the claim period,” lived in Montana at least 9 months, occupied a Montana dwelling at least 6 months, and “must have less than $45,000 of gross household income.” The department caps the refundable credit at $1,150 and takes the claim on Form 2 with Schedule 2EC. Owners who are not required to file an income tax return can still claim it.
Montana’s creditor homestead: a recorded declaration
The Title 70 homestead does not arise on its own. Under MCA 70-32-105, the person selecting it “must execute and acknowledge … a declaration of homestead and file the same for record.” Section 70-32-107 requires recording “in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the land is situated.” The declaration must state that you reside on the premises and claim them as a homestead, and it must describe them (70-32-106).
The cap is written as a formula in 70-32-104(3): “In 2021, the homestead value limit is $350,000,” and “The homestead value limit must increase by 4% every calendar year after 2021.” The Department of Revenue is directed to set the limit by rule. A co-owner of an undivided interest is limited “to an exemption amount proportional to the claimant’s undivided interest.” Land placed in a revocable trust can still be selected, with the settlor treated as the claimant (70-32-103(2)).
A declared homestead “is exempt from execution or forced sale, except as in this chapter provided” (70-32-201). Section 70-32-202 allows execution or forced sale for judgments obtained:
- “on debts secured by construction or vendors’ liens upon the premises;”
- “on debts secured by mortgages on the premises, executed and acknowledged by the husband and wife or by an unmarried claimant; or”
- “on debts secured by mortgages on the premises, executed and recorded before the declaration of homestead was filed for record.”
For any other judgment, the creditor must ask the district court to appoint appraisers (70-32-203). If the land can be divided, the claimant keeps land worth the exemption and the creditor takes the rest (70-32-209). If it cannot be divided and is worth more than the exemption, the judge orders a sale. No bid is accepted unless it exceeds the exemption, and the claimant is paid the exemption amount out of the proceeds first (70-32-210 to 70-32-212). That money keeps the same protection “for the period of 18 months thereafter” (70-32-213). If property that could have been claimed as an exempt homestead is sold, taken by condemnation, or lost, damaged or destroyed and the owner is indemnified, the owner “is entitled for 18 months to exemption of the proceeds that are traceable” (70-32-216).
Montana reduced-rate and homestead FAQ
My purchase closed mid-2026. Is this year’s bill at the reduced rate?
That depends on the seller’s enrollment. The department’s FAQ says a home “already enrolled for a reduced tax rate (homestead or long-term rental) before your purchase” keeps that rate for 2026. If it was not enrolled, it is taxed at the flat 1.9%. You can then request a refund of the difference between January 1, 2027, and May 31, 2027. To qualify, the home must have been your principal residence for at least seven months of 2026. If you moved there from another principal residence during the year, it is enough that you paid the Montana property taxes while living in the two homes for a total of at least 7 consecutive months (15-6-402(4)(b)). You must also pay your 2026 property taxes in full. In either case you enroll in your own name for 2027.
Do I have to re-enroll every December?
No. An approved rate carries forward until the tax year in which the home changes hands, stops being your principal residence, or you claim the rate on another home (15-6-405(2)(c)).
Does recording a homestead declaration lower my property tax?
No. The declaration under 70-32-105 is a creditor-protection filing with the county clerk and recorder. The reduced rate is claimed from the Department of Revenue.
If I lose a lawsuit, can the winner take my Montana house?
Only for value above the exemption limit, unless the judgment falls into one of the three classes in 70-32-202: debts secured by construction or vendors’ liens upon the premises; debts secured by mortgages on the premises executed and acknowledged by the husband and wife or by an unmarried claimant; and debts secured by mortgages on the premises executed and recorded before the declaration of homestead was filed for record. For any other judgment, the court either sets off land worth the exemption to you or orders a sale in which you are paid the exemption amount first (70-32-209 to 70-32-212). The protection comes from a declaration executed, acknowledged and recorded with the county clerk (70-32-105, 70-32-107). The one exception is 70-32-216, which protects traceable proceeds of property that could have been claimed as a homestead for 18 months.