Montana Homestead Property Tax 2026, Explained

Property tax bills are landing in Gallatin County mailboxes right now, and this year's bill works differently. 2026 is the first year of the new Montana homestead property tax rates. If the house is your primary residence, you likely pay a lower rate on the first chunk of its value. If it's a second home, a short-term rental or a vacant lot, you pay the top rate on all of it. Here's how it works, in plain terms, and what to do before the next deadline.

How a Montana Property Tax Bill Is Figured

Your bill starts with three numbers.

• Market value. The Department of Revenue appraises your property.
• Tax rate. The Legislature sets a percentage by property type. Market value times that rate gives you your taxable value.
• Mills. Each local taxing district (the city, the county, the schools and so on) levies mills against that taxable value. One mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value.

So the new rates don't set your bill by themselves. They set your taxable value. Local mill levies still decide the final number. A lower rate helps, but it doesn't promise a smaller bill if your value or local levies went up.

Montana Homestead Property Tax Tiers for 2026

For a primary residence, Montana now taxes each slice of value at its own rate, a lot like income tax brackets:

• 0.76% on the first $378,000
• 0.90% on $378,001 to $756,000
• 1.10% on $756,001 to $1,511,999
• 1.90% on anything over $1,512,000

Long-term rentals, meaning places rented 28 days or more at a time for at least 7 months of the year, get the same tiered rates.

Everything else in the residential class pays a flat 1.90%. That covers second homes, short-term rentals like Airbnbs and VRBOs, and vacant residential lots.

Here's what that looks like on a $700,000 house. As a homestead, the taxable value works out to about $5,771. As a second home, it's $13,300. Same house, same mill levy, and the second-home bill comes out about 2.3 times bigger.

To qualify, you have to live in the home as your principal residence at least 7 months of the year. It has to be owned by a person or a revocable trust. Homes held in an LLC or a corporation don't qualify, and your property taxes have to be paid up.

The Builder's View: Lots and ADUs

This is where I see people get surprised.

A vacant lot you're holding to build on is taxed at the flat 1.90% rate. That's the top rate, and you pay it for as long as the lot sits empty. If you're buying land now and plan to build in a year or two, put that holding cost in your budget next to interest, insurance and utility hookups. My land page is a good place to start sizing up lots.

ADUs are the other one. If you have a backyard cottage or a basement apartment, the rental part doesn't ride along on your homestead rate automatically. Rent it long term and you need to file a separate long-term rental application to get the lower tiers. Rent it by the night and it's a short-term rental, taxed at 1.90%. That can change the math on an ADU. I wrote more about building them in Modular Homes and ADUs.

Bought This Year? Read This

The reduced rate doesn't simply carry over to a new owner. If you moved into a home that already had the homestead rate, you keep it for the rest of that year. To keep it next year, you have to apply yourself. If you sold one Montana primary residence and bought another, the rate can follow you, but only with a new application.

Check whether your property got the reduced rate this year. If you live in your home full time and it was taxed at 1.90%, look into it. State law offers a refund for an eligible owner who never applied. You file an informal appeal with the Department of Revenue by May 31 of the following year, and you can only claim one year back.

Dates to Put on the Calendar

• November 30, 2026: the first half of your 2026 property taxes is due by 5 p.m. If your notice was postmarked late, you get 30 days from the postmark, whichever is later.
• March 1, 2027: the 2027 homestead application has to be postmarked by this date. The state says it can't accept applications after that. Apply online at homestead.mt.gov or by mail.
• May 31, 2027: the second half of your 2026 taxes is due.

In Gallatin County you can look up and pay your bill online through the county treasurer at itax.gallatin.mt.gov. If your mailing address is wrong or you never got a bill, the Department of Revenue's Bozeman office is the place to call.

Tax rules change, and every property is a little different. Check your own bill against the state's numbers, and call the Department of Revenue if something looks off.

If you're weighing a lot, an ADU or a move and want to talk through what the taxes will look like, reach out. I'm happy to run the numbers with you.