How much does an LLC cost in Montana?
$35 to file, then $20 a year to keep. Below: the exact deadlines, what happens if you miss them, and the costs Montana charges that the comparison tables leave out.
MT Montana state filing fees — US only
Fees compiled August 27, 2026 · state detail verified August 26, 2026
To form
$35
one-off
To keep
$20
per year
First year
$55
5 of 51 cheapest
Compare Montana against any other state →
What you pay, and when
| You file with | Montana Secretary of State, Business Services Division |
|---|---|
| The document | Articles of Organization |
| Filing fee | $35 |
| Processing | Montana files online only; standard processing typically takes several business days, with expedited options available. |
| Recurring filing | Annual Report |
| Recurring fee | $20 · Annual |
| Deadline | April 15 every year. Filing opens January 1. |
| If you are late | Filing after April 15 costs $35 regardless of entity type. Fail to file at all and Montana dissolves the LLC on December 1 of that year. |
| Registered agent | A registered agent with a Montana street address is required. You may act as your own if you have one. |
| State income tax | Montana has a graduated personal income tax and no general sales tax. LLC profit passes through and is taxed as personal income. |
The cost over time
The filing fee is the number everyone compares. It is almost never the number that matters — you pay it once, and then you pay the recurring fee for as long as the company exists.
| If you keep it for | Montana | Cheapest state (Arizona) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | $55 | $50 | +$5 |
| 3 years | $95 | $50 | +$45 |
| 5 years | $135 | $50 | +$85 |
| 10 years | $235 | $50 | +$185 |
State fees only. Excludes registered agent, formation services, publication where required, and local licences.
Where Montana sits nationally
Montana ranks 5 of 51 on first-year cost and 18 of 51 on ongoing cost, against a national median first year of $175. The cheapest state is Arizona at $50; the most expensive is Massachusetts at $1,000.
| State | Filing | Per year | Year 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Mexico | $50 | $0 | $50 |
| Kentucky | $40 | $15 | $55 |
| Montana you are here | $35 | $20 | $55 |
| Hawaii | $50 | $15 | $65 |
| Iowa | $50 | $15 | $65 |
Should you form in Montana?
Montana has the lowest formation fee in the country at $35 and a low annual cost. It is a sensible, inexpensive state if you live there. It is also the state most often chosen dishonestly by out-of-state buyers for vehicle registration purposes — which is a different activity with different risks, and not something we cover.
What the comparison tables miss
The 2026 annual report fee is currently waived for on-time filing
The Montana Secretary of State waived the annual report filing fee for reports filed on time in 2026. The standard fee is $20 and our calculator uses that figure, so treat the calculator as the conservative case. Late filings still cost $35. Waivers are announced year by year — confirm the current position before assuming it applies to you.
Late is a flat $35, and there is a hard dissolution date
Montana does not run escalating interest. It charges $35 for a late report and then, if the report is never filed, dissolves the LLC on December 1. That is a firm cliff rather than a slow accumulation, and a dissolved LLC provides no liability protection for the period it was dissolved.
No sales tax, and no publication requirement
Two costs that catch people out in other states simply do not exist here. Montana is one of a handful of states with no general sales tax, so there is no seller's permit to register for and no filing cadence to maintain if you sell goods. And unlike Arizona, Nebraska or New York, Montana has no newspaper publication requirement — which in New York alone can add more than a thousand dollars to the first year.
Online filing only
Montana moved business filings entirely online through its ePass portal. There is no paper option, so account access and a working email address on file are genuinely part of staying compliant. The annual report window opens on 1 January and closes on 15 April, and because the fee is small and the penalty is a flat $35, the practical advice is to file it in January and stop thinking about it.
Costs this page does not include
- Registered agent — typically $50–$300 a year if you do not act as your own.
- Formation services — $0–$300 one-off. You can file directly with the state yourself.
- Local business licences — many cities and counties require their own, separately from the state.
- An EIN — free from the IRS. Anyone charging for one is charging for a ten-minute form.
- Foreign registration in every other state where you actually do business.
An LLC does not reduce your federal tax
Worth restating on every one of these pages, because so much of the marketing implies otherwise. A single-member LLC is a disregarded entity federally: the same Schedule C, the same self-employment tax, an identical return to being a sole proprietor. What it buys is liability protection, which may well be worth the fees — but that is a different thing from a tax saving.
The election that actually reduces tax is S-corp status, which is separate from being an LLC and generally only pays off above roughly $80,000 of profit. You can model that with the S-corp vs sole proprietor calculator, and see what Montana leaves you with using the take-home pay calculator.
Sources
Fees change, sometimes mid-year. Everything here was verified August 26, 2026, but confirm the current figure with the Montana Secretary of State, Business Services Division before you file. This is a comparison tool, not a quote, and it is not legal or tax advice.