Montana Department of Revenue

A United States Supreme Court ruling issued Thursday means Montana businesses may have to start collecting a sales tax when they sell their products online.

The order from the Supreme Court strikes down previous rules that said states could not collect sales tax from a business if that business did not have a physical presence in the state.

The Montana Department of Revenue is in the process of closing half of the agency’s offices across the state that evaluate property taxes and, on occasion, informally help people with their income tax questions.

Revenue Director Mike Kadas updated lawmakers in the Revenue and Transportation Interim Committee Wednesday on how his department is handling budget cuts passed in the 2017 legislative session.

The first collections from Montana’s new medical marijuana tax are substantially greater than projections.

New numbers show that marijuana providers paid a total of $380,000 in taxes in the first quarter of the fiscal year alone.