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Montana Freemason January 2016 Volume 92 Number 1

filing to the Montana Department of Revenue. After For more information on this Real Property Tax
discussion with the Department of Revenue, we Exemption Application you can call the:
received approval to file all lodges as a group.
Grand Treasurer at 406-788-5030
In order to do that we need the cooperation of the Or you may call the
lodges that own real property. Your lodge will need Montana Department of Revenue at
to prepare Form AB-30R for your lodge, attach a
copy of the deed covering the property, attach a 406-444-5698
picture of the property and a check in the amount of
the application fee. If your Lodge building is rented Lodges are strongly encouraged to send their
to any business enterprise, please advise us of that information to be submitted as part of the Grand
fact. If your lodge owns multiple properties, you Lodge Group filing. Please send your completed
will need to complete those steps for each property. form AB-30R and attachments to:

Some Lodges may not have or be may not be able JCCS
to locate a copy of the deed for their property. If Attn: Bruce Lahti
that is the case for your Lodge, you should be able 501 Park Dr S, Ste 100
to obtain a copy of the most recent deed from your Great Falls, MT 59405
County Recorder. There is usually a fee to do this.

Once received, Grand Lodge will file the various
Lodge exemption applications together with a copy
of the Grand Lodge Articles of incorporation, the
Grand Lodge Federal Internal Revenue Service
Group Tax Exempt Status letter and our cover letter
explaining the specific uses of the property for
Lodge meetings and functions.

We must receive your application and supporting
documents by February 15, 2016 in order for us
to have sufficient time to prepare the group filing
before March 1st.

Grand Lodge is providing this group filing as a
service to the Lodges. If you prefer to file your
own form directly with the Montana Department
of Revenue you may certainly do so. If you chose
to self-file, you will need to provide the State with
a copy of your by-laws, prepare your own letter
regarding the use of your temple building and you
will need to obtain a copy of the Grand Lodge Group
IRS Tax Exemption Letter.

Please don’t or ignore this issue or delay getting
the information into Grand Lodge. If we don’t have
the information from your Lodge by February 15th,
you will be responsible for your own filing. Failure
to complete this filing by March 1st will subject your
Lodge building to property taxes that may otherwise
be avoided.

You can download Form AB-30R Real Property
Tax Exemption Application at the following web
site:

http://revenue.mt.gov/Portals/9/property/forms/
AB30R.pdf

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