Important Information Regarding Payment Files
- The modify date of the Unpaid Taxes file indicates the status of the unpaid taxes as of the end of business on that day.
- Be aware that this file changes daily and can change significantly in the month of October.
- If a payment file is created before the first week in November, it may be returned for corrections, as the data may change daily prior to that time.
- Always download the very latest Unpaid Taxes file before creating your payment file.
Format of the Unpaid Tax Roll File
The file All_current contains the assessor numbers that were billed in the most recent tax year. The file prior.dat contains assessor numbers that are still outstanding in prior years.
Each record is a single fixed-width line. The line below shows the field order. Hovering or focusing on a field highlights its matching explanation below, and each explanation names its field so the meaning is clear without using the highlight.
Data Format: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabbbbcccccccccccdddddddddddeeeeeeeeeeefffffffffffgh
The following are examples from the All_current file:
Example 1: 0000004 202200000068497000000684920000006849700000000000
Example 2: 0000005 202200000001345000000013420000000134500000001342
- Characters 1–16 — Assessor number
- The first 16 characters hold the assessor number. In the records above, that is 0000004 and 0000005.
- Characters 17–20 — Tax year
- The next 4 characters indicate the year for the data displayed. Above, the data is for tax year 2022.
- Characters 21–31 — Amount billed, 1st installment
- The next 11 characters show the amount billed* for the 1st installment.
- Characters 32–42 — Amount billed, 2nd installment
- The next 11 characters show the amount billed* for the 2nd installment.
- Characters 43–53 — Amount paid, 1st installment
- The next 11 characters show the amount of the 1st installment that has been paid.*
- Characters 54–64 — Amount paid, 2nd installment
- The next 11 characters show the amount of the 2nd installment that has been paid.*
- Character 65 — Assignment flag
- Indicates assignment status. Possible values:
- Blank — no assignment exists
- 1 — only the 1st half was paid on assignment (not the 2nd half)
- 2 — only the 2nd half was paid on assignment (not the 1st half)
- 3 — both halves were paid on assignment
- Character 66 — Bankruptcy flag
- Indicates bankruptcy status for that year. Possible values:
- Y — the parcel is marked as bankrupt for that year
- Blank — not bankrupt for that year
View the file layout explanation (FileLayout.pdf)Opens in a new tab.
*Note: In the amounts billed and paid, there are 2 implied decimal places. For example, 00000068497 is $684.97. Please take this into account when working with this file.
How to Submit a Payment File
Submit your payment file as a formatted text file, space-delimited, saved with a .prn extension. Format each line as shown below.
0000802 1275.59 0004312 2394.30 0005220 1926.97
aaaaaaabcccccccccccc
Where:
- aaaaaaa — 7-digit assessor number
- b — 1 space filler (blank)
- cccccccccccc — 12-digit amount field (2 decimal positions)
The following format is also acceptable. There must be at least 1 space between the assessor number and the amount.
0000020 1656.97 0000092 2623.97 0000120 1452.58
Please make sure the following is in place:
- Column 1 (assessor number) is left aligned.
- Column 3 (amount) is right aligned.
- Decimals are present.
- Any ending zeros in the amount are present.
Submit separate files for Real Estate (RE), Mobile Home (MH), and Personal Property (PP). Only one installment is allowed per file (either 1st or 2nd installment only).
Submit files to taxdata(at)flatheadcounty.gov. In your email, include your contact information, the number of records to expect, and the total amount being paid for each file submitted.
Location
Kalispell, MT 59901
290 A North Main
Kalispell, MT 59901