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Montana makes comparable sales criminally confidential, and the window is shut until 2027.
An appeal cannot realistically help most owners here. Sale data is confidential by statute with criminal penalties for misuse. The state does give the data free to a property owner who is appealing, which means our version adds little, and the appeal window is closed until 2027 anyway.
So Montana decides these on market value, which means the evidence is recent sales of genuinely comparable homes. What really matters is whether that whole set of sales sits below your assessed value. If they bracket your assessment instead of falling under it, boards usually side with the assessor, because nothing's been clearly disproved.
Now a few things lose almost everywhere. Comparing your assessment to a neighbor's assessment usually doesn't count where the argument's market value. One sale on its own can pretty easily be dismissed as an outlier. And the size of your increase, or the size of your bill, isn't really evidence about what your home's worth.
Deadlines here are set locally rather than by one statewide date, so the one that binds you is printed on your own assessment notice.
And that notice is really the thing to go find today, honestly. It's what starts your clock, it's usually a much shorter window than people expect, and there's no getting it back once it's gone.
First, look up your own record. The state Department of Revenue sets your value and mails a classification and appraisal notice when it changes. Montana keeps sale prices private, but the state will share its sales data with you if you're appealing.
Next, know where to file. You file Form AB-26, a request for informal review, with the Department of Revenue within 30 days of the date on your notice. You can also skip that and appeal straight to your County Tax Appeal Board within the same 30 days. After the county board, there's the state Montana Tax Appeal Board.
Then bring the evidence that wins here. Montana decides these on market value. Honestly, ask the department for the sales it used to value your home, because that's the evidence you'll be arguing against.
Also, check your exemptions. If you're on a fixed income, the Property Tax Assistance Program lowers the tax rate on your home. The state's also been running a homestead rebate and a lower homestead tax rate, so check the Department of Revenue's site for what's open this year.
Honestly, probably nothing. We'd rather tell you that than sell you a packet that can't work. If you want to be certain, pull your own assessment notice and look at whether the value you're taxed on is anywhere close to what your home would actually sell for. Where the two are far apart because of a cap, an appeal on the market value doesn't reach your bill.
But if the rules in Montana change we'll notice, because we re-screen the states we've turned down.
Here's the check you can run yourself in about five minutes, and it works anywhere. Pull your assessment notice and find two numbers on it. One is the market value the assessor believes your home is worth. The other is the value your tax bill is actually calculated on. In a state with a cap, those two drift apart over the years, and that gap is exactly why an appeal against the first number never reaches the second one.
If the two numbers are the same, or close to it, then a cap is not your problem and our answer here may be wrong for your situation. Please write and tell us if so, because we would rather fix a page than keep telling somebody the wrong thing.
We've screened all fifty states and DC on the same two questions. Does winning a lower market value actually lower your bill, or is there a cap sitting in between? And can you even put the evidence together from public records?
This comes from our own fifty-state screen, where we checked each state's cap, whether sale prices are public, whether there's an argument based on assessed values, and how many appeals actually get filed. Where we've quoted an appeal count, it's from the state or county that published it. If you spot an error, please write to hello@propertytaxbuddy.com and we'll correct it and say what changed.