Countywide vs. County-Only Taxes

Property owners are taxed differently depending on where their property is in the county.

• Countywide: all Missoula County property owners, including those who live within Missoula city limits.
• County-only: in addition to countywide taxes, property owners outside the Missoula city limits pay county-only taxes rather than city taxes.

What's the reason for this difference? City residents pay for certain department budgets, such as the road department, health department and animal control, through their City of Missoula taxes. County residents pay for these services through their county taxes, but they don't pay city taxes.

A more accurate, oranges-to-oranges comparison of city resident taxes vs. county resident taxes: for city residents, you would need to take “city taxes + countywide taxes,” and for county residents, take “countywide taxes + county-only taxes."

For the most comprehensive, specific breakdown of your taxes, go to https://itax.missoulacounty.us/itax/(External link) There, you can enter your info (name and address are sufficient) and it will pull up the tax info for your property.