Livestock Reporting and Per Capita Fee Payment

Overview

Livestock owned in Montana must be reported to the Department of Revenue on the Livestock Reporting form (15-24-9, MCA).

Important:

  • Fee amounts for 2025 have been changed by the Board of Livestock.
  • Reporting and payment are both due March 1.

Livestock Per Capita Fees are set annually by the Board of Livestock; the funds are used by the livestock programs to enforce livestock laws.

Livestock Types and Fees

Livestock Type Fee Per Head
Horses, mules, asses, ponies, donkeys, and burros $6.09
Cattle and yaks, including cows, bulls, yearlings, and heifer and steer calves nine months of age and older $2.39
Domestic Bison $4.52
Sheep $0.56
Swine, three months of age and older $0.82
Goats $0.56
Poultry, including chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks and other domestic birds raised for food or feathers $0.06
Honeybees $0.42 per hive
Alternative livestock, including privately owned caribou, mule deer, whitetail deer, elk, moose, antelope, mountain sheep, and mountain goats indigenous to Montana $27.40
Ratites such as ostriches, rheas, and emus $10.12
Llamas and Alpacas $10.12

Reporting and Payment Options

  • Print the Livestock Reporting Form, or contact us and we will send you a copy.
  • Mail to:

    Montana Department of Revenue
    PO Box 6169
    Helena, MT 59604-6169

Important Filing Rules

  • Headcounts will not be accepted by phone or informal methods (notes on checks, sticky notes, postcards, etc.).
  • Incomplete forms cannot be processed (name, address, tax ID, county, and head counts are required).

Due Dates 

Livestock Owner Responsibilities

Livestock owners or the owner’s agent must report to the Department of Revenue by March 1 of each year.

Reports must include:

  • An electronic or written statement, under oath, listing the number of the owner's livestock
  • The county or counties where the livestock was located on February 1 of the same year

  • The owner or the owner’s agent (any person, persons, company, corporation, feedlot operator, or owner of grazing land) who has charge of livestock on the assessment date (February 1)
  • Anyone who brings livestock into Montana during the reporting year (February 1–January 31)

Livestock Brought into Montana

  • If the livestock remain in Montana as of February 1, owners must report and pay fees by March 1 (15-24-906, MCA).

Livestock in Montana Part of the Year

  • Owners that move their livestock into Montana for a portion of a year and move their livestock out of the state must report and pay per capita fees for those livestock as though those livestock were in the state on February 1, regardless of whether the livestock are in Montana on February 1.
  • This includes owners whose livestock graze in Montana during the summer and are moved out of state in the winter, or any other livestock owners whose livestock spent part of the year in Montana.
  • See the Refunds section on this page for information about receiving a pro-rated refund from the Department of Livestock for livestock residing in Montana for only a portion of a year.

New Purchases

  • Owners purchasing or acquiring livestock throughout the year within Montana will report livestock owned as of February 1st. Livestock bought after February 1 will be reported on next year’s report.

First-Time Owners

  • Owners that have not reported Livestock in the past must do so in the next filing season.  

If you no longer own livestock as of February 1, you will need to notify us by one of the following methods, so we do not estimate your livestock owned and bill you.  

When a livestock owner passes away, the rules to report the livestock vary by situation. It is important to notify us of the deceased person. This will prevent us from estimating and billing livestock later.

Owner Deceased Before February 1

  • If the owner passed away prior to February 1, send a Livestock Reporting Form with a zero headcount, and indicate the owner is deceased by including the Date of Death.
  • The new owner must claim the livestock on their Livestock Reporting form. 

Owner Deceased After February 1

  • If the owner passed away after February 1, send a Livestock Reporting Form with a headcount the person owned as of February 1 and remit fees by the payment due date. Indicate the livestock owner is deceased by including the Date of Death so the account will be ceased for the following year.
  • The new owner will claim the livestock on their reporting form in the following year.

Maintaining Your Records  

You must keep a copy of your records in the event you need them for personal or business needs. Such as proof of reporting and paying your livestock per capita fees for other related federal or state programs (i.e., taxes, draught assistance, predator animal control assistance, etc.). 

Penalties 

Penalties and Interest are assessed if you do not pay on time (15-24-921, MCA and 15-1-216, MCA).

  • Late Payment Penalty: If you do not pay your fees when due, the late payment penalty is assessed at 1.5% per month on the unpaid fees, not to exceed 15% of the total Per Capita Fees.  
  • Interest: Interest is assessed at the rate of 6.25% per year. It accrues daily at 0.01712% on the unpaid per capita fees.

Refunds

  • To request a per capita fee refund for an overpayment, contact us at (406) 444-6900, or Montana Relay at 711 for the hearing impaired. 

  • To request a per capita fee refund for livestock located out of state during a portion of the reported tax year, complete the Per Capita Fee Refund Form and send it to the Department of Livestock.
  • The form must be received by the Department of Livestock before March 31st and must be accompanied by proof of transfers such as inspection forms. 

Livestock Per Capita Fee Distribution

The fee is in addition to appropriations and is to help pay the salaries and all expenses connected with the enforcement of the livestock laws of the state and bounties on wild animals as provided in (81-7-104, MCA).

Livestock per capita fees help fund Department of Livestock programs used for: 

  • Monitoring animal health 
  • Monitoring and restricting livestock imports 
  • Tracking animal movements 
  • Preventing and investigating livestock theft 
  • Managing predators 

Predator Animal Control Tax

  • Some counties have an additional livestock tax to fund a predatory animal control (PAC) program for cattle and sheep at the local government level.
  • The cattle and sheep head counts reported to the Department of Revenue for per capita fees are also used by the local county treasurer's office for PAC tax collection on personal property or real property tax bills.