15-6-219. Personal and other property exemptions. (1) The following categories of property are exempt from taxation:

(a) harness, saddlery, and other tack equipment;

(b) the first $15,000 or less of market value of tools owned by the taxpayer that are customarily hand-held and that are used to:

(i) construct, repair, and maintain improvements to real property; or

(ii) repair and maintain machinery, equipment, appliances, or other personal property;

(c) all household goods and furniture, including but not limited to clocks, musical instruments, sewing machines, and wearing apparel of members of the family, used by the owner for personal and domestic purposes or for furnishing or equipping the family residence;

(d) a bicycle or a moped, as defined in 61-8-102, used by the owner for personal transportation purposes;

(e) items of personal property intended for rent or lease in the ordinary course of business if each item of personal property satisfies all of the following:

(i) the acquired cost of the personal property is less than $15,000;

(ii) the personal property is owned by a business whose primary business income is from rental or lease of personal property to individuals and no one customer of the business accounts for more than 10% of the total rentals or leases during a calendar year; and

(iii) the lease of the personal property is generally on an hourly, daily, weekly, semimonthly, or monthly basis;

(f) space vehicles and all machinery, fixtures, equipment, and tools used in the design, manufacture, launch, repair, and maintenance of space vehicles that are owned by businesses engaged in manufacturing and launching space vehicles in the state or that are owned by a contractor or subcontractor of that business and that are directly used for space vehicle design, manufacture, launch, repair, and maintenance;

(g) a title plant owned by a title insurer or a title insurance producer, as those terms are defined in 33-25-105;

(h) air and water pollution control and carbon capture equipment, as defined in 15-6-135, placed in service after January 1, 2014;

(i) a housetrailer, manufactured home, or mobile home that receives an exemption from the department based on abandonment, as provided in 15-6-242;

(j) fiber optic or coaxial cable, as defined in 15-6-156, installed and placed in service on or after July 1, 2021, for a period of 5 years starting from the date placed in service as provided in 15-6-156, if the owner of fiber optic or coaxial cable reinvests the tax savings from the exemption by installing and placing in service new fiber optic or coaxial cable in Montana within 2 years from the date the owner first claimed the exemption provided for in this subsection (1)(j) without charging those costs to the consumer. The cost of installing or placing into service fiber optic or coaxial cable with the reinvested tax savings without charging those costs to the consumer must be equal to or greater than the value of the tax savings received from the tax incentive. An entity that claims a tax exemption under this subsection (1)(j) shall maintain adequate books and records demonstrating the investment the owner made when installing and placing in service fiber optic or coaxial cable in Montana. The property owners shall make those records available to the department for inspection upon request.

(k) personal property used in the manufacture of ammunition components as provided in 30-20-204.

(2) (a) The property taxes exempted from taxation by subsection (1)(j) are subject to termination or recapture if the department determines that the owner failed to install and place in service new coaxial or fiber cable in Montana as provided for in subsection (1)(j) or otherwise violates the provisions of this section.

(b) Upon notice from the department that the owner's exemption has terminated, any local governing body may recapture taxes previously exempted in that jurisdiction, plus interest and penalties for nonpayment of property taxes as provided in 15-16-102, during any tax year in which an exemption under the provisions of this section was improper. Any recapture must occur within 10 years after the end of the calendar year in which the exemption was first claimed.

(c) The recapture of abated taxes may be cancelled, in whole or in part, if the local governing body determines that the taxpayer's failure to meet the requirements is a result of circumstances beyond the control of the taxpayer. (Subsection (1)(k) terminates December 31, 2024--sec. 16, Ch. 440, L. 2015.)