Gov. Greg Gianforte said Thursday that a “technical glitch” has spurred the state to extend an application deadline that thousands of Montana landlords need to meet in order to avoid the state’s new second-home tax.
The deadline, which had been set for March 1, has now been pushed back to midnight on March 20, according to Gianforte and the Montana Department of Revenue.
Officials cited issues with the revenue department’s online application portal amid a slew of last-minute filings as the reason for the extension.
“This extension is a direct response to intermittent technical issues with the department’s online application portal caused by a high volume of last-minute filings,” the agencies wrote in a Thursday release.
The second-home tax was passed by lawmakers last year in an effort to lower taxes on year-round resident housing. The concept, developed by Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, was a major plank in Gianforte’s 2024 re-election campaign.
The policy works by raising default tax rates for residential properties and offering exemptions that provide lower tax rates on owner-occupied homes and long-term rentals. Applications for those exemptions are necessary because the state’s tax code hasn’t previously required the revenue department to differentiate between residential properties being used as owner-occupied residences or long-term rentals versus second homes and Airbnb-style short-term rentals. The legislation’s backers wanted to tax the latter at higher rates in order to offset tax relief for resident housing.
MTFP reported earlier this week that the landlords for more than 100,000 rental units hadn’t applied for the exemption as of Feb. 19. That means they — and potentially their tenants — could be saddled with hefty tax bill increases as the second-home tax law treats their properties like vacation homes.
Most Montana homeowners, in contrast, were automatically qualified for an exemption by the revenue department after successfully applying for a property tax rebate last year. Homeowners who weren’t automatically qualified must also apply by the deadline now amended to March 20.
While the second-home tax legislation explicitly required the application period to run from Dec. 1, 2025 to March 1, the revenue department said in Thursday’s release that a crush of last-minute applications had “created extenuating circumstances.”
“Our priority is to ensure that no Montanan is penalized due to technical difficulties with our filing systems given the magnitude of last-minute applications,” revenue director Brendan Beatty said in a statement.
The governor offered similar comments.
“State government should be customer-friendly and responsive,” Gianforte said. “Because of the overwhelming number of Montanans utilizing the portal to claim the lower tax rates, we are extending the deadline to ensure that no one is penalized by a technical glitch.”
Homeowners who live in their properties for at least seven months a year and landlords who rent to tenants on a long-term basis can apply for exemptions at homestead.mt.gov.
Homeowners, landlords and tenants can also check their home’s application status via a lookup tool on the revenue department website.
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