Montana Title 15. Taxation § 15-1-409. Exclusion of certain property subject to property tax protest--guaranteed tax base--tax refund

(1) A school district that has centrally assessed property subject to pending property tax protests shall, prior to February 1 of each year, elect whether to waive the school district's right to receive its portion of protested taxes under 15-1-402(5)(b) for the previous year.

(2) If the school district elects to waive its right to its portion of the protested taxes under subsection (1), the district's guaranteed tax base aid calculated under 20-9-366 must be determined based on the total taxable value of property in the school district less the taxable value of the centrally assessed property for which a school district waived its right to receive its portion of protested taxes. Upon settlement or other resolution of the protest, the department is responsible for refunding protested taxes or paying any other costs due the protesting taxpayer and retaining any portion of protested taxes that would have been distributed to the school district for each year the school district has elected to waive receiving its portion of the protested taxes.

(3) For the purpose of this section, “centrally assessed property” means property that is centrally assessed pursuant to 15-23-101 and industrial property that is assessed annually by the department.