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How to Form an LLC in Montana

Montana charges $35 to form an LLC, and then, if you file the annual report between January 1 and April 15, the state charges nothing for it: the live Secretary of State fee page lists the on time report as WAIVED and the after April 15 report at $35. The traps are elsewhere. Registered agent law does not live in the LLC Act at all, it lives in Title 35, chapter 7, the Model Registered Agents Act. A foreign LLC needs no home state certificate under current law, whatever older guides say. And the closing filing is Articles of Termination at no fee, not articles of dissolution at a fee.

By the LLCForming research teamFees checked Nov 8, 2026

The Montana filing steps

1. Check your name on the state's own search

   Search the Secretary of State's records before you file. Under Section 35-8-103(1)(a) MCA, a Montana LLC name must contain the words "limited liability company" or "limited company" or the abbreviations "l.l.c.", "l.c.", "llc", or "lc", with "limited" shortened to "ltd." and "company" to "co." if you choose, and it may not contain business name identifiers or other language that states or implies the company is a business other than a limited liability company. Under Section 35-8-103(2), the name must be distinguishable on the records of the Secretary of State from the names of business corporations, nonprofit corporations, limited partnerships, and LLCs organized, reserved, registered, or qualified in Montana, from assumed business names, limited partnership names, trademarks, service marks, and other names registered or reserved with the Secretary of State, and, for 120 days after its dissolution, from the corporate name of a dissolved domestic corporation. A search does not reserve the name. To hold one, file a name reservation for $10; under Section 35-8-104(2), the Secretary of State reserves the name for the exclusive use of the applicant for a nonrenewable period of 120 days from the date the application is filed, and a transfer or cancellation of a reserved name carries no fee.

2. Choose your registered agent

   Montana uses the registered agent wording, but the governing law is not in the LLC Act itself. It is Title 35, chapter 7, the Model Registered Agents Act, which Section 35-8-202(1)(d) incorporates by requiring the articles to include the information required by Section 35-7-105(1). That filing must state the name of the company's commercial registered agent, or, if it does not have one, the name and address of its noncommercial registered agent, and the appointment is an affirmation that the agent has consented to serve. A commercial registered agent, under Sections 35-7-102 and 35-7-106, is an individual or a domestic or foreign entity listed with the Secretary of State as being in the business of serving as a commercial registered agent in Montana, with an address of a place of business in this state; a noncommercial registered agent is a person not so listed who serves as agent for service of process. The Secretary of State help center states the practical rule: a registered agent receives legal documents and state notices on behalf of your business, Montana law requires all corporations and LLCs to have one, and the agent must have a physical address in Montana, not a P.O. Box, and be available during business hours to accept documents. Changing the agent costs nothing: the fee page lists a Statement of Change of registered office, agent, or both at NO FEE. Keep the record current, because failing for 60 days to appoint and maintain a registered agent is a ground for involuntary dissolution under Section 35-8-209(1)(a).

3. File the Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State

   File the Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State, online through the business portal at biz.sosmt.gov: sign in, choose the applicable form under Forms, complete the required fields, and submit with the fee payable by credit or debit card or by e-check. The fee is $35, plus $50 for each series member named in a series LLC. Under Section 35-8-201, one or more persons may form an LLC consisting of one or more members, and the organizers need not be members at formation or after, so a single member LLC is authorized; unless a delayed effective date is specified, existence begins when the articles are filed. Under Section 35-8-202(1), the articles must set forth the name satisfying Section 35-8-103; whether the company is a term company and, if so, the term; the complete business mailing address of its principal office, wherever located; the registered agent information required by Section 35-7-105(1); a statement whether it is manager-managed or member-managed, with the names and business mailing addresses of the initial managers or members as the statement requires; whether one or more members are to be liable for the company's debts and obligations under Section 35-8-304(3); a professional LLC statement and the services it will render, if it is one; the series provisions in subsections (h) to (j), if the company has series of members; and any other provision not inconsistent with law that the members elect to set out. No business purpose statement is required by Section 35-8-202. Optional expedited handling on the fee page is $20 for 24 hour processing and $100 for 1 hour processing.

4. Get an EIN from the IRS

   Free, online, and takes minutes once your Montana filing is approved. Never pay a service for this. See EIN for an LLC for the walkthrough and the one IRS rule (a real person as responsible party) that surprises people.

5. Write your operating agreement

   Montana's operating agreement rule surprises people who assume a signed document is mandatory. Under Section 35-8-102(23), an operating agreement is an agreement, including amendments, as to the conduct of the business and affairs of the company and the relations among the members, managers, and the company that is binding on all members, and under Section 35-8-109(1) all members may enter into one, which need not be in writing, to regulate the affairs of the company; to the extent the agreement does not otherwise provide, the Montana Limited Liability Company Act governs. Section 35-8-109(3) keeps three written only exceptions: an agreement need not be in writing except as otherwise provided in the chapter to vary the recordkeeping requirements under Section 35-8-405, to vary the rights of members to share in distributions under Section 35-8-601 or 35-8-903, or to vary the process for admission of members under Section 35-8-707. One series specific writing rule sits in the articles themselves: the operating agreement of each series of members must be in writing under Section 35-8-202(1)(h). Section 35-8-109(4) also lists provisions an agreement may not make, including eliminating the duty of loyalty or the obligation of good faith and fair dealing. The agreement is not a formation document: formation is by articles of organization alone under Section 35-8-201. Write one anyway if you have more than one member, because every matter it leaves blank is decided by the statute instead, and put the three written only subjects in writing if you intend to vary them.

6. Open the business bank account and handle licenses

   Bring your approved formation document and EIN letter. Then check your city and county for a general business license and your industry for state permits. The Articles of Organization filing does not itself cover industry permits or local licenses. Check your industry regulator and your city or county before you operate, and handle tax registration with the Montana Department of Revenue separately, because those offices, not the Secretary of State formation filing, govern those steps and any charges that come with them.

Filing details that trip people up

• The annual report fee is waived on time. There is no standalone $15 late fee. The Secretary of State fee page lists "Annual Report Prior To April 15th" as WAIVED and "Annual Report After April 15th" at $35.00, and the help center states the same rule: the fee is waived for all annual reports filed between January 1st and April 15th, and after April 15th the fee is $35. The older printed fee schedule effective July 1, 2022 lists a $20 standard fee before April 15 and $35 after, so the waiver is a waiver of that $20 standard fee, not a repeal of it. The $15 figure in secondary sources is only the arithmetic difference between $20 and $35; no official page states a standalone $15 late fee, and this site does not print one. The report page carries the full treatment.
• Foreign LLCs pay $70, and no home state certificate is required under current law. A foreign LLC files a Certificate of Authority for $70, plus $50 for each series member named. Section 35-8-1003, as amended through 2015, contains no certificate delivery requirement at all: item (7) of the application is a statement inside the application that the company has complied with the organizational laws of its home jurisdiction and exists there. The certificate of existence delivery rule in the 1999 and 2009 texts, and the freshness window older guides built on it, are gone. Do not budget for a home state certificate on the strength of an older guide.
• Foreign withdrawal is free at the Secretary of State, but a Department of Revenue tax certificate must be attached. The Certificate of Withdrawal carries NO FEE on the fee page. Under Section 35-8-1010(2)(f), the application must state that all taxes imposed on the company by Title 15 have been paid, supported by a certificate by the Department of Revenue to be attached to the application. The Department charges nothing to request a tax certificate; the domestic voluntary termination rule is different, and the report page states both precisely.
• An assumed business name costs $20 and lasts five years. Montana's DBA is an assumed business name registered with the Secretary of State under Title 30, chapter 13, part 2, not with a county. Under Section 30-13-203, a person transacting business in Montana under an assumed business name shall register it, and an LLC trading under a name different from its legal name registers that name here. The fee is $20, renewal is $20, amendment is $20, cancellation carries no fee, and under Section 30-13-206 registration is effective for a term of 5 years, renewable for another 5 year term, with the Secretary of State notifying the applicant not less than 90 days before expiration. Our DBA guide covers the details.
• Closing a Montana LLC is Articles of Termination at no fee, and no tax clearance certificate is a statutory prerequisite. The fee page lists Articles of Termination at NO FEE. Section 35-8-906 lists seven required statements and no tax item, while the statutes that do require a Department of Revenue certificate name their filings expressly: reinstatement under Section 35-8-912(2)(a) and foreign withdrawal under Section 35-8-1010(2)(f). The Department's own guidance treats the voluntary dissolving selection in its Transaction Portal as generally sufficient, while reserving that some situations require a clearance certificate supported by a marked final return. The report page states the full position.

After your Montana LLC is approved

Get the EIN, open the business bank account, and handle Montana tax registration and returns with the Department of Revenue for the taxes your activity triggers. A pass-through LLC files the Montana Pass-Through Entity Tax Return, Form PTE, at the same time as the federal return, March 15 for a calendar year filer, with an automatic six month extension, and the Department's pages cover the elective pass-through entity tax, composite filing, and withholding summarized on the cost page. Then set the one recurring reminder Montana has: the annual report, delivered between January 1 and April 15 each year, with the fee waived in that window and $35 after April 15. Keep the registered agent record current as well, and file the free statement of change whenever the agent or office changes. If the business will trade under a different name, budget the $20 assumed business name registration and its five year renewal.

The full recurring picture for Montana, with fees and due dates, is on the Montana annual report and compliance page, and the money view is on the Montana LLC cost page.

Montana LLC questions