How to Form a Corporation in Montana
By Edmond Hui · Facts verified July 29, 2026 against primary state sources
Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC
Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.
What you file in Montana
Incorporation filing
| Document | Articles of Incorporation (no standard form number; filed via biz.sosmt.gov) |
| Fee | $35 |
| Recurring report | Annual Report (no form number) — every year, $0 |
| First report due | April 15 (fee waived if filed by April 15; $35 if filed late) |
This page covers the state filing and the charges that follow it. For the procedural side — name availability, registered agent, bylaws and the federal EIN — see the formation guide and how to get an EIN, both of which apply to corporations as well as LLCs.
What it costs to incorporate and stay filed
State filing charges only. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded — both depend on income or net worth, so no flat figure would be true for every corporation.
| Charge | Amount | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Articles of Incorporation (no standard form number; filed via biz.sosmt.gov) | $35 | One time |
| Annual Report (no form number) | $0 | Every year |
| First-year state filing charges | $35 | — |
| Five-year state filing charges | $35 | — |
Montana has the lowest incorporation filing fee of the 49 states ranked. Nationally the fee runs from $35 in Montana to $300 in Texas, averaging $113.06. It is a one-off charge, so over five years it is usually outweighed by the recurring report fee and any annual franchise or minimum tax.
Montana corporation vs Montana LLC
State filing charges only. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded because both depend on income or net worth, so no flat figure exists for either entity.
| Corporation | LLC | |
|---|---|---|
| Formation filing fee | $35 | $35 |
| Report cadence | Every year | Every year |
| Report fee | $0 | $0 |
Both entities cost $35 to file in Montana, so the filing fee is not a reason to pick one over the other.
Full Montana LLC cost breakdown · LLC vs C-corp explained · LLC vs S-corp explained
State taxes a Montana corporation pays
Corporate income tax
| Applies | Yes |
| Rate | 6.75% standard (7% under water's-edge election; 0.5% alternative rate for qualifying corps with MT gross sales <= $100,000) |
| Minimum tax | $50 |
Franchise or gross-receipts tax
No separate franchise tax. Montana's corporate income tax carries a $50 minimum. LLCs pay no annual franchise/license tax (annual report is free if timely).
The $50 minimum tax is deliberately left out of the filing-charge totals on this page. A minimum tax is owed to the state tax authority on a tax return, not to the business filing office — but unlike an income-based tax it is a floor, so treat it as a recurring cost of keeping the corporation alive here.
What these totals leave out: the filing-charge figures on this page are what you pay the business filing office. They exclude corporate income tax and any franchise or gross-receipts tax, because both depend on income, net worth or receipts. The section above sets out what Montanalevies — or that it levies neither. Where a state's franchise tax carries a flat minimum, that minimum is an unavoidable annual cost these totals do not include, and over five years it can be the larger number.
C-corp return: Montana Corporate Income Tax Return (Form CIT)
Electing S-corporation status in Montana
Montana follows the federal S election. Full Montana S-corporation election guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where these numbers come from
This page covers the state filing required to incorporate in Montana and the charges that follow it. Every figure was checked against Montana's own published sources on July 29, 2026— the state business filing agency's fee schedule, the governing statute, and where a state tax applies, the state Department of Revenue. Commercial formation-service pages were used as leads only and are never cited. Anything the review could not confirm from an official source is left blank on this page rather than filled with an estimate.
Corporate income tax and franchise tax are quoted as the state publishes them, as rate schedules and thresholds, and are excluded from every dollar total here. They depend on income or net worth, so there is no flat figure that would be true for every corporation.