How to Fill Out and Submit the Montana Realty Transfer Certificate (Form RTC)

The Montana Realty Transfer Certificate, known as Form RTC, is a Department of Revenue document that must accompany every deed or conveyance instrument presented for recording at a county clerk and recorder’s office. Without a completed certificate, the clerk will refuse to record your deed and the transfer stalls.¹ The Department of Revenue uses the certificate to update property tax records and track market values, and a built-in water rights disclosure feeds into the state’s ownership records for water rights attached to the land.

Where to Get Form RTC

The current version lives on the Department of Revenue’s forms page as a downloadable PDF.² Paper copies are available at any county clerk and recorder’s office, since the Department of Revenue is required by statute to keep each county stocked.¹ If a title company or closing agent is handling your transaction, they will usually prepare the RTC as part of the closing package. If you’re handling the transfer yourself, you fill it out yourself.

Filling Out the Seven Parts

The form moves through seven sections in order, and later parts depend on earlier ones, so work top to bottom.

Part 1: Seller and Buyer Information

Enter the full legal names and current mailing addresses of every grantor and grantee named on the deed. The buyer’s address becomes the mailing address for future property tax notices, so verify it carefully. If the tax notice should go somewhere other than the buyer’s home address, there’s a separate field for an alternate mailing address.³

Part 2: Taxpayer Identification

Each individual named on the certificate provides the last four digits of their Social Security number. Business entities, corporations, and trusts provide the last four digits of their federal employer identification number instead. The Department of Revenue uses these numbers to cross-match certificates against income tax returns and to flag delinquent taxpayers.⁴

Part 3: Property Description

Copy the full legal description straight from the deed. This is the formal survey-based description with sections, townships, ranges, or lot and block numbers, not a street address. If the description runs long, you can attach a separate sheet. Compare what you’ve written against the deed word for word; an incorrect or incomplete legal description is one of the fastest ways to delay recording.³

Part 4: Type of Property and Transfer

Check the boxes describing the property (residential, commercial, agricultural, vacant land) and the type of transfer (sale, gift, exchange, and so on). This categorization feeds the Department of Revenue’s appraisal work.

Part 5: Exceptions from Disclosing Sales Price

If the transfer fits one of the categories in MCA 15-7-307, check the matching exception box, skip Part 6, and you don’t have to disclose what was paid.³ A common misunderstanding: these exceptions do not excuse you from filing the certificate. The certificate is still required for every transfer. The exceptions only relieve you from reporting the sale price.⁵

Part 6: Sale Information

If no exception applies, enter the total purchase price. The form defines purchase price broadly: cash, mortgages, property traded, liabilities the buyer assumed, leases, easements, and any personal property bundled into the deal all count.³ Underreporting or omitting components skews the Department of Revenue’s market data, which eventually feeds into property tax assessments.

Part 7: Water Rights Disclosure

The seller or the seller’s authorized agent completes this section. It asks whether any water rights are associated with the property and, if so, whether they transfer with the land or stay with the seller. Montana law requires the Department of Revenue to coordinate with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation on water right ownership updates, so this disclosure plugs into a larger tracking system.¹

The RTC’s water rights section does not replace the DNRC’s own paperwork. If water rights transfer with the property, the new owner also files DNRC Form 608 with a copy of the recorded deed to update the DNRC’s centralized records.⁶ Skipping that step leaves the DNRC’s records out of date, which creates problems later when the owner tries to prove or exercise those rights.

When You Can Skip the Sale Price

MCA 15-7-307 lists fourteen categories of transfers where you still file the certificate but don’t have to reveal the price.⁵ The ones that come up most often:

Conveyances between spouses or between parent and child where only nominal consideration changes hands.
Gifts, regardless of the relationship between the parties.
Conveyances by or to the United States, the State of Montana, or any of their agencies or subdivisions.
Transfers directed by a court decree, including divorce settlements.
Property passing through probate or as part of an estate administration.
Conveyances made by someone in contemplation of death.
Sales of agricultural land used for farming or timberland used for producing timber.
Transfers resulting from mergers, consolidations, or reorganizations of business entities.
Instruments that confirm, correct, or modify a previously recorded instrument without additional consideration.
Sales for delinquent taxes, sheriff’s sales, and sales under bankruptcy court orders.

When an exception applies, check the box in Part 5 and leave Part 6 blank. Everything else on the certificate still has to be filled in.

Where and When to File

Submit the completed RTC at the county clerk and recorder’s office in the county where the property sits, at the same time you present the deed for recording. The clerk will not accept the deed without it, and the statute requires concurrent filing rather than filing within a set number of days after closing.¹

If the transfer happens by operation of law rather than through a recorded deed, such as certain court orders or statutory transfers, file the completed RTC and supporting documentation with the local Department of Revenue office instead of the clerk and recorder.⁴

Once the clerk and recorder receives the executed certificate, that office transmits it to the Department of Revenue.¹ You don’t send anything to the Department of Revenue separately. The clerk handles that leg.

One special case: if the transaction uses a contract for deed rather than a standard warranty or quitclaim deed, the clerk and recorder’s office prepares the certificate itself. Bring all the transaction details with you when you file the contract.¹

Is the Sale Price Public?

No. Montana law requires both the county clerk and recorder and the Department of Revenue to hold the certificate and its contents confidential. The legislature chose this approach deliberately, finding that individual privacy outweighs public disclosure.⁷

The exceptions are narrow. The Department of Revenue can share compiled summaries, analyses, and evaluations drawn from certificate data, but not individual transaction prices. The department may share sales data used to value residential property in a taxpayer’s market model area, but only after the taxpayer signs a confidentiality agreement. Water right information filed with the RTC is not confidential and can be accessed through the DNRC.⁷

Penalties and the Practical Risk

Violating any provision of the Realty Transfer Act, whether by failing to file, providing false information, or improperly disclosing confidential data, is a misdemeanor. A conviction carries a fine of up to $500, up to six months in county jail, or both.⁸

The more immediate consequence is simpler. The clerk will not record your deed until a properly completed certificate is submitted. The deed is still valid between the parties, but an unrecorded deed gives the buyer no protection against later claims by third parties.¹

1
Montana State Legislature. Montana Code Annotated 15-7-305 – Realty Transfer Certificate Required
2
Montana Department of Revenue. Montana Department of Revenue Forms Repository
3
Montana Department of Revenue. Realty Transfer Certificate Form
4
Montana State Legislature. Realty Transfer Certificate
5
Montana State Legislature. Montana Code Annotated 15-7-307 – Certificate Exceptions
6
Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Water Right Ownership Update Form 608
7
Montana State Legislature. Montana Code Annotated 15-7-308 – Disclosure of Information Restricted Exceptions
8
Montana State Legislature. Montana Code Annotated 15-7-310 – Penalty