Does Montana have a real estate transfer tax?
No. Montana is one of the few states where the answer isn’t a rate but a constitutional rule. Article VIII, Section 17 reads in full: “The state or any local government unit may not impose any tax, including a sales tax, on the sale or transfer of real property.”
That wording matters for an apartment seller. Because the ban sits in the constitution, a county commission or a city council can’t add a local deed tax the way Philadelphia, Chicago or Seattle-area cities have. The legislature can’t pass one either without a constitutional amendment going to voters. So there is no state stamp, no county surcharge and no “mansion tax” tier on large sales.
The ban covers the transfer itself. It doesn’t stop the clerk and recorder from charging a fee to record your deed, and it doesn’t touch income tax on any profit you make. Those are the costs a Montana seller actually plans around.
What you file instead: the realty transfer certificate
Montana still wants to know what you were paid. Under the Realty Transfer Act (MCA 15-7-301 and following), the county clerk and recorder must require the parties or their agents to complete a realty transfer certificate declaring the consideration paid. Section 15-7-305 says a deed can’t be accepted for recording until that certificate is received.
The certificate is a Department of Revenue form, and the department uses the sale data in its mass appraisal of property. A water right ownership update form is attached to it when water rights move with the land, which is common outside the cities.
Here is the part sellers like. Under MCA 15-7-308, the certificate and the information in it “are not a public record” and must be held confidential by the clerk and recorder and the department. The form itself warns that unauthorized disclosure is a criminal offense. Montana is a non-disclosure state in practice: your buyer’s price won’t show up on a public deed record the way it does in states that stamp the tax on the deed.
- Who completes it: the parties to the transfer or their agents, usually the title company or closing agent.
- When: before the deed is recorded. No certificate, no recording.
- Penalty: the form cites MCA 15-7-310 and warns of a penalty of up to $500 for failing to file an accurate, complete certificate.
Transfers that don’t have to disclose a price
Every transfer needs a certificate, but MCA 15-7-307 lists transfers where the certificate doesn’t have to state the consideration. Several are relevant to investors who hold buildings in entities or plan around estates.
None of these is a tax exemption, because there’s no tax to exempt. They only change what you report.
- Transfers under mergers, consolidations or reorganizations of corporations, partnerships or other business entities.
- A transfer by a subsidiary corporation to its parent without actual consideration.
- Transfers of decedents’ estates and transfers by gift.
- Transfers between husband and wife or parent and child for only nominal consideration.
- A transfer that moves the property to the same party or parties, such as a deed from you to an LLC you own.
- Sales for delinquent taxes, sheriff’s sales and sales under a bankruptcy court order.
Recording fees went up on October 1, 2025
The one county charge every Montana seller sees is the recording fee, and it rose sharply in 2025. MCA 7-4-2637, as amended by House Bill 192, now sets the fee for a standard document at $20 for the first page and $10 for each additional page. County clerks, including Yellowstone, Liberty and Carbon counties, posted the change as taking effect October 1, 2025, replacing the old flat $8 a page.
A document that doesn’t meet Montana’s formatting standards in MCA 7-4-2636, such as the 3-inch top margin on the first page, costs an extra $10. Starting July 1, 2027, the Department of Revenue will reset the base fee every two years for inflation.
Who pays recording costs is a contract point. Buyers usually record their own deed and any new deed of trust; sellers typically pay to record releases of their existing loans. On a commercial sale it all goes on the settlement statement, and the dollars are small either way.
Worked example: a $2,000,000 and a $5,000,000 Montana apartment sale
Take a 24-unit building in Billings selling for $2,000,000 and a 60-unit property in Missoula selling for $5,000,000. The transfer tax on each is $0. The only government charge tied to the deed itself is the recording fee.
Assume a four-page warranty deed that meets Montana’s document standards. The fee is $20 for page one plus $10 for each of the other three pages, or $50. That $50 is the same whether the price is $2 million or $5 million, because Montana’s recording fee is per page, not per dollar.
For contrast, the same $2,000,000 deed in Nebraska would carry $6,640 in documentary stamp tax at the current $3.32 per $1,000 rate, and in South Dakota $2,000 at 50 cents per $500. At $5,000,000 those figures grow to $16,600 and $5,000, while Montana stays at $0.
| Line item | $2,000,000 sale | $5,000,000 sale |
|---|---|---|
| State transfer tax | $0 | $0 |
| County or city transfer tax | $0 | $0 |
| Recording fee, 4-page standard deed | $50 | $50 |
| Realty transfer certificate | Required, confidential | Required, confidential |
| Total transfer-related government cost | $50 | $50 |
Selling the LLC instead of the building
Many states that tax deeds also tax the sale of a controlling interest in the entity that owns the real estate, so selling 100% of the LLC doesn’t dodge the tax. Montana has nothing to dodge. Whether you convey the building by deed or sell the membership interests in the LLC that owns it, no transfer tax applies.
The choice between an asset sale and an entity sale in Montana comes down to other things: what the buyer’s lender will accept, whether the buyer wants to inherit the LLC’s history and contracts, and how each structure is taxed for income purposes. Note that MCA 15-7-304 requires transfers of real property that aren’t evidenced by a recorded document to be reported to the Department of Revenue on its prescribed form, so ask your title company how the department wants an ownership change handled when no deed is recorded.
Foreclosures, deeds in lieu, gifts and 1031 exchanges
Because the constitutional ban applies to “the sale or transfer” of real property generally, it covers every route a building can change hands. A foreclosure or trustee’s sale, a deed in lieu of foreclosure, a gift to your children, a transfer to a trust or a distribution from an estate: none of them triggers a Montana transfer tax.
A 1031 exchange works the same way. There’s no transfer tax on the relinquished Montana property and none on a Montana replacement property. The savings matter most when you compare Montana with an exchange into a state that charges 1% or more on both legs of the trade.
Montana compared with nearby states
Montana’s neighbors and the rest of the northern Plains and Mountain West charge little or nothing on a deed, but Montana’s constitutional ban is the firmest rule in the region. The table lists rates we confirmed in each state’s statute.
Rates are shown as a share of price on a commercial sale. Local add-ons are not included.
| State | Transfer tax on a deed | Tax on a $2,000,000 sale |
|---|---|---|
| Montana | None (constitutional ban) | $0 |
| Colorado | 1 cent per $100 documentary fee (0.01%) | $200 |
| South Dakota | 50 cents per $500, paid by grantor (0.1%) | $2,000 |
| Nebraska | $3.32 per $1,000, paid by grantor (0.332%) | $6,640 |
Where the real costs are when you sell
With no transfer tax, the big numbers on a Montana apartment sale are income taxes. Federal tax applies to your long-term capital gain, and the depreciation you took over the years is recaptured as unrecaptured Section 1250 gain, taxed at up to 25%. Montana taxes the gain too, through its individual income tax, so the state still takes a share even though the deed is free.
That’s why the transfer tax question is usually the shortest conversation at a Montana closing, and the 1031 exchange question is the longest. Deferring the gain by exchanging into another property, or spreading it out with seller financing on an installment sale, can move far more money than any closing fee. Have your CPA run the federal and Montana figures before you set a price you need to net.
The usual commercial closing costs still apply: title insurance, escrow or closing fees, payoff of the existing loan, prorated property taxes and rents, and any brokerage commission if you list. Montana doesn’t add a transfer tax line on top.
Selling your Montana apartment building to Skyline
Skyline Capital Investments buys apartment buildings with five or more units across Montana as a direct buyer. We can offer seller-carry terms if you want to spread out your gain, and we work inside 1031 exchange timelines when you’re trading up.
Send us the property address and unit count through the form on this page or call (469) 660-2977. We typically respond within 48 hours, and we’ll walk through how the closing costs split on your settlement statement before you sign anything.
