An office of the Montana Department of Revenue in downtown Helena. Credit: Lauren MIller / MTFP/CatchLight/RFA

Montana homeowners have until Oct. 1 to apply for rebates of up to $400 on their 2024 property tax bills, relief that is one component of a bipartisan push by lawmakers and Gov. Greg Gianforte to address rising residential property taxes.

According to the Montana Department of Revenue, the rebates are available for single-family homes, apartments, condos and mobile homes owned and occupied by Montana taxpayers for at least seven months in 2024.

Properties owned by limited liability corporations and some types of trusts are ineligible. The Legislature also did not provide for rebates for renters, who typically pay their landlords’ property taxes via their rent.

Taxpayers can apply for the rebate via the revenue department website at getmyrebate.mt.gov. The application requires the property owner’s name and Social Security number as well as the property’s Montana Cadastral system geocode. Taxpayers who paid less than $400 in 2024 property taxes will also need to provide the amount of taxes billed on tax notice sent to them by their county treasurer last fall.

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Questions and answers about Montana’s new second-home tax

In an effort to lower property tax bills for homeowners and landlords who provide long-term rental housing, the state Legislature and Gov. Gianforte passed major tax relief legislation that will scale back taxes on most homes being used as primary residences while offsetting those cuts with higher taxes on most other residential properties starting in 2026. The MTFP newsroom is fielding many, many questions about new tax law from readers. Here are the most common ones — and the best answers we currently have.

Most larger Montana counties also offer an “iTax” service or other web system that lets the public look up tax bills by address or owner name. That list includes Yellowstone, Missoula, Cascade, Gallatin, Flathead and Lewis and Clark counties.

The rebates were part of the second-home tax and homestead tax relief package passed by the Legislature and signed by Gianforte, a Republican, earlier this year. Other provisions of the package rework tax calculations to reduce bills for owner-occupied and long-term rental residences. Those provisions will take effect starting with the 2025 tax bills that will be mailed this fall.

The state previously provided larger rebates of up to $675 on homeowner taxes billed in 2023 and 2022.

More information about the rebates and application process is available on the revenue department website. The application period will be open from Aug. 15 to Oct. 1.

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Eric Dietrich is a deputy editor at Montana Free Press, where he contributes to reporting and data visualizations and oversees award-winning digital interactive projects, including Capitol Trackers and Election Guides. Eric previously worked for the Great Falls Tribune, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, and Solutions Journalism Network. He was the founding president of the Capitol Press Association and currently serves on the professional advisory board for the MSU Exponent. He holds a civil engineering degree from Montana State University. Contact Eric at [email protected].