Have You Received Your Livestock Per Capita Fee Reporting Form?

The Montana Department of Revenue’s Property Assessment Division mailed out property reporting forms earlier this month, and livestock owners should already have received their forms.

“If you own livestock in Montana, you’re responsible for reporting the number owned and should receive a reporting form,” said Christian Mackay, executive officer for the Montana Board of Livestock.

Livestock owners simply fill the form out by reporting the number of livestock owned on February 1 and return it to the local Department of Revenue office in the county where the livestock are located on or before March 1. Per capita fee statements are then mailed out in late October, with a due date of November 30.

If you own livestock but did not receive a reporting form, contact your local Department of Revenue office, or download the form you prefer to use (click here for the farm/ranch/livestock reporting form, or here for livestock-only form).

Mackay pointed out that all livestock as defined by Montana Code Annotated 15-24-921 – which includes “all poultry and bees, all swine three months of age or older, and all other livestock nine months of age or older” – is subject to per capita fees regardless of what the livestock is used for. Livestock, as defined by the same statute, specifically includes “cattle, sheep, swine, poultry, bees, goats, horses, mules, asses, llamas, alpacas, domestic bison, ostriches/ rheas/emus, and domestic ungulates.”

“We get questions about backyard chickens and from equine owners who aren’t involved in production agriculture, that sort of thing,” Mackay said, “but it doesn’t matter, per capita fees are still applicable.”

Per capita fees are arguably the single most important component of the department’s annual budget; the fees generated $4.4 million in FY2013, or about 40 percent of the department’s legislatively authorized budget. The fees help fund the department’s animal health programs, brands enforcement, theft investigation and recovery, and predator control.

Failure to report and pay per capita fees can result in deductions from tax returns and collection efforts.

For additional questions about per capita fees, contact the Department of Livestock at 406/444-9431.