Property Tax Appeal · Yellowstone County, MT
Appeal your property taxes
in Yellowstone County, MT.
Home to Billings, Yellowstone County homeowners appeal through Montana’s system: the Montana Department of Revenue (state-run appraisal) sets the value, and the county tax appeal board (then Montana Tax Appeal Board) hears the case. Boards act on evidence of market value as of the assessment date — a licensed, USPAP-compliant appraisal is that evidence. Start with the $5 check to see what you’d save.
You have 30 days from the date on your classification and appraisal notice to request the Department of Revenue’s informal review (Form AB-26) — notices go out in reappraisal years. Your assessment notice states the exact date — and the appraiser prepares your report and filing guidance for Yellowstone County’s procedure.
If taxes come due mid-appeal, pay under protest — it preserves your refund. Land and improvements are valued separately on the notice; check which one drove the jump before you argue.
Yellowstone County questions
You have 30 days from the date on your classification and appraisal notice to request the Department of Revenue’s informal review (Form AB-26) — notices go out in reappraisal years. Your assessment notice states the exact date for Yellowstone County.
Montana is unusual: a state agency — the Department of Revenue — appraises all property, not county assessors. In reappraisal years (residential runs on a two-year cycle) the DOR mails a classification and appraisal notice, and your first move is Form AB-26, a request for informal review, within 30 days. If the DOR’s answer doesn’t match the market, you appeal to your county tax appeal board, a local citizen panel, and from there to the Montana Tax Appeal Board. The DOR values by mass-appraisal model; the counterweight the boards respect is a property-specific licensed appraisal with comparable sales as of the valuation date.
Comparable sales as of the assessment date, adjusted for the differences between those homes and yours — the substance of a licensed appraisal. county tax appeal board (then Montana Tax Appeal Board) panels see hundreds of cases; a signed, USPAP-compliant report is the document they can act on.
We’re not an AVM, a computer model, or a real-estate agent estimate. Every report is prepared under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and signed by a licensed appraiser in your state — the same qualification required for mortgage appraisals.