Tax Attorney in Montana

Yes. Montana imposes a personal income tax under Mont. Code Ann. Title 15, Chapter 30. SB 121 of 2021 consolidated the prior seven-bracket structure into two brackets effective for tax year 2024 forward: 4.7% on the first portion of taxable income and 5.9% above the threshold (the threshold is indexed annually and lands at roughly $20,500 for single filers in 2024 and twice that for joint filers). Federal income tax on Form 1040 with the IRS applies separately and in addition. Montana does not impose a local-option city or county income tax.

No. Montana is one of only five U.S. states with no general state sales tax — the others are Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Oregon. The state instead funds itself through personal and corporate income tax, severance taxes on coal and oil and gas, motor-fuel tax, and ad valorem property tax. Local-option resort taxes of up to 3% apply only in specifically qualifying resort communities under Mont. Code Ann. Title 7, Chapter 6, Part 15 — including Big Sky, Whitefish, West Yellowstone, Red Lodge, Cooke City, Virginia City, and St. Regis. The absence of a general sales tax also means Montana taxpayers do not face the parallel sales-tax personal-liability exposure that drives a lot of small-business cases in other states.

The U.S. Tax Court designates Helena as a Montana place of trial, with additional sessions historically calendared in Billings depending on petition volume. Neither has a permanent courtroom; the specific session address is published with each notice of trial. A petitioner designates the preferred place of trial under Tax Court Rule 140; cases from Missoula, Great Falls, Bozeman, Butte, Kalispell, Havre, Anaconda, and Belgrade route to Helena or Billings depending on geographic proximity and the Court's calendar. Montana petitioners should plan for travel within state for in-person trial dates, and many small-tax-case (S-case) matters are handled by remote ZoomGov procedure under the Tax Court's standing orders.

Under Mont. Code Ann. §15-30-2605, the Department of Revenue generally has five years from the date the return was filed to issue a notice of deficiency for personal income tax. Substantial omissions extend the period, and fraud or an unfiled return leaves the assessment period open indefinitely. Once a final assessment is entered, the Department generally has ten years to collect under Mont. Code Ann. §15-30-2629, paralleling but running independently of the federal IRC §6502 Collection Statute Expiration Date. Corporate Income Tax follows a parallel structure under Title 15, Chapter 31.

Yes. The IRS examines federal income, employment, and excise tax. The Montana Department of Revenue examines state personal income tax, the 6.75% flat Corporate Income Tax, withholding, and severance taxes on coal and oil-and-gas production. A Montana resident or business can simultaneously face a federal IRS exam and a state audit. The two agencies share information through the federal-state information-exchange program, and a federal adjustment must be reported to Montana within 90 days of the federal determination becoming final under Mont. Code Ann. §15-30-2619. Resort-tax-collecting communities such as Big Sky, Whitefish, and West Yellowstone can also pull data once a federal exam closes.

Yes. The Montana Department of Revenue accepts Offers in Compromise under Mont. Code Ann. §15-1-219, with implementing rules at ARM 42.2.510. The state OIC is available where doubt as to liability exists, doubt as to collectibility exists, or where collection in full would create economic hardship — tracking the three IRC §7122 grounds. Application requires a written offer with supporting financial disclosure on Department forms. Acceptance is discretionary with the Department. The federal IRS OIC remains the principal mechanism for resolving a federal balance, and the state OIC is most often used to clean up the parallel Montana liability after a federal acceptance.

Your CSED is calculated from the date of assessment, which appears on your IRS Account Transcript as Transaction Code 150 (return filed) or Transaction Code 290 (additional assessment). Add ten years, then add the days for any tolling events: pending OICs, CDP hearings, bankruptcy stays, military deployment for active-duty Malmstrom Air Force Base personnel, and so on. The IRS publishes the CSED internally on its CC ACTRA transcript; we pull this for clients as part of every engagement. A debt assessed in 2016 may be approaching expiration in 2026, and aggressive collection enforcement near the CSED is common.

Probably yes for the federal trust-fund portion. IRC §6672 assesses a Trust Fund Recovery Penalty against any "responsible person" who "willfully" failed to pay over withheld taxes — the FICA and federal income-tax withholding portion of Form 941, not the employer's share. The IRS conducts a Form 4180 interview to identify responsible persons. Anyone with check-signing authority, payroll-decision authority, or knowledge of the unpaid taxes can be assessed. On the Montana side, unpaid state withholding under Mont. Code Ann. §15-30-2503 carries personal-responsibility exposure for officers, members, and managers who control the entity's finances. Oilfield-service-company closures around Sidney and Glendive, plus restaurant and outfitter failures in the Yellowstone and Glacier corridors, produce a recurring stream of TFRP cases.

Yes. IRC §7345 authorizes the IRS to certify "seriously delinquent" tax debt — $62,000 for 2026, indexed for inflation — to the State Department, which may then deny passport renewal or revoke an active passport. The certification reverses when the debt is paid, an IA is in place, an accepted OIC is in force, an active CDP hearing is pending, or Innocent Spouse Relief is in process. Montana residents with cross-border ranching interests near the Canadian boundary, Yellowstone and Glacier outfitters with international clientele and off-season foreign contracting, Malmstrom Air Force Base support contractors with overseas travel, and university faculty with international research grants all face material exposure. Decertification can be processed in 30 days or less in many cases.

Generally yes, with specific exemptions. Enrolled members of federally recognized tribes pay federal income tax on income earned off-reservation. Income earned on-reservation by an enrolled member from a tribal source can be exempt under the foundational rule in Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, 411 U.S. 145 (1973), and certain trust-land allotment income is exempt under the General Allotment Act of 1887, 25 U.S.C. §349. Montana has seven federally recognized tribes — Blackfeet, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Confederated Salish and Kootenai (Flathead), Fort Belknap (Gros Ventre and Assiniboine), Fort Peck (Assiniboine and Sioux), and the Chippewa Cree (Rocky Boy's). The tax treatment of any specific income stream depends on its source, the taxpayer's enrollment status, and whether the activity occurred on or off reservation. Each tribal nation also has its own tax authority and intergovernmental tax-compact framework with the Montana Department of Revenue under Mont. Code Ann. §18-11-101 and related sections. This area of practice requires careful coordination — we work with tribal-tax counsel where the matter requires it.

The Montana Tax Appeal Board (MTAB) is the independent state body that hears appeals from final Department of Revenue assessments and from County Tax Appeal Board property-tax decisions. It has statewide jurisdiction under Mont. Code Ann. Title 15, Chapter 2, Part 2, and covers personal income tax, the 6.75% Corporate Income Tax, withholding tax, and ad valorem property-tax appeals routed up from the county boards. Appeals from MTAB go to the Montana District Court of the county where the taxpayer resides or the assessment was made, with further review at the Montana Supreme Court. MTAB does not hear federal IRS matters — those go to the U.S. Tax Court. Most VTL Montana cases never reach MTAB because the federal IRS posture is the principal driver and the state matter resolves at the administrative-review stage after the federal case lands.

Federal tax-resolution fees vary by matter complexity. A straightforward Installment Agreement typically falls between $1,500 and $3,500. A full Offer in Compromise with Form 433 financial analysis runs $4,000 to $7,500. Audit defense depends on the audit type and the number of issues. A U.S. Tax Court petition with case workup and trial preparation generally starts at $6,000 and rises with complexity. VTL provides a written fee quote after the free consultation. Cal Bar Rule 7.1 prohibits comparisons claiming we are cheaper or faster than competitors without verifiable substantiation, so we do not market on price.

Yes. Communications between you and a licensed attorney for the purpose of seeking legal advice are protected by federal common-law attorney-client privilege, subject to the usual exceptions (crime-fraud, waiver, etc.). The narrower federally-authorized tax practitioner privilege under IRC §7525 applies to non-attorney CPAs and EAs but does not extend to criminal-tax matters. An attorney handling your tax case retains the broader privilege that survives criminal investigation.

A Tax Court trial is a bench trial — no jury — before a Judge or Special Trial Judge of the U.S. Tax Court. In Helena and Billings, sessions use rented federal facilities; the specific room is published with the notice of trial. The session opens with calendar call, where the Court hears scheduling matters. Most cases on the calendar settle before trial; the IRS Office of Chief Counsel attorney meets with petitioner's counsel during the days before trial. If trial proceeds, the petitioner bears the burden of proof on most issues, presents evidence and witness testimony, and the Court issues a written opinion within several months. Small-tax-case procedure under IRC §7463 applies to deficiencies of $50,000 or less per year and uses a simplified evidentiary standard.

Yes, generally. IRC §6331(k)(1) suspends levy action while an offer is pending and for 30 days after a rejection, and during any timely-filed Appeals review of a rejection. The IRS will not levy on you while a processable OIC is being evaluated. However, the IRS may still file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien during the OIC pendency to protect its position. CSED is also tolled during the pendency. A poorly-prepared OIC that gets returned (not rejected) does not provide the same protection — processability matters.

Three tax layers typically apply. First, federal income tax on the net rental income, reported on Schedule E (or Schedule C if you provide substantial services, which can push it into self-employment-tax territory under IRC §1401). Second, Montana state income tax on the same net income under Mont. Code Ann. Title 15, Chapter 30, with conformity to the federal characterization. Third, the local-option resort tax of up to 3% on the gross rental receipts, collected and remitted to the resort-tax district — Big Sky Resort Area District, the Town of Whitefish, West Yellowstone, Red Lodge, and several others operate their own collections under Mont. Code Ann. Title 7, Chapter 6, Part 15. Many Bozeman-area and Flathead-Valley operators discover unpaid resort-tax exposure when the district issues a delinquency notice, and the IRS now receives 1099-K data from Airbnb and VRBO at the $600 threshold, which has triggered a wave of CP2000 underreporter notices on the federal side.