Montana LLC vs South Carolina LLC (2026)
Written for owners based in Montana.
Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based
South Carolina asks $110 once and nothing recurring from an LLC that is not taxed as a corporation, against $35 once in Montana, a $75 formation gap. That exemption is conditional, which is the mechanism here: elect C-corp or S-corp treatment and South Carolina wants the CL-1 with a $25 initial License Fee within 60 days of doing business, then an annual License Fee of 0.1% of capital and paid-in surplus plus $15, minimum $25 a year. An LLC can also be administratively dissolved over an unpaid tax with no report to miss. And a South Carolina LLC trading in Montana needs the $70 Certificate of Authority too.
Based in South Carolina? Read South Carolina LLC vs Montana LLC →
Compare Montana LLC vs South Carolina LLC on filing fees, taxes, privacy laws, and annual costs. Find out which state is actually better for your business.
By Edmond Hui · Last updated: September 23, 2026
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| Factor | Montana | South Carolina |
|---|---|---|
| Filing Fee | $35 | $110 |
| Processing Time | Not published by the state | Not published by the state |
| Annual Report Fee | $0 (waived when filed by April 15; $35 after) | None |
| Annual Report Due | April 15 | None required |
| State Income Tax | Yes | Yes |
| Anonymous LLC | No | No |
| Publication Requirement | No | No |
| Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state) | N/A, you're in your home state | $70 + registered agent ~$150/yr |
Full fee breakdown for either state: Montana LLC cost and South Carolina LLC cost. Owner privacy options for either state: Montana anonymous LLC guide and South Carolina anonymous LLC guide.
Business Climate: Montana vs South Carolina
| Factor | Montana | South Carolina |
|---|---|---|
| 5-year business survival rate | 53% (#16 of 51) | 55.9% (#2 of 51) |
| Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months)) | +13.4% YoY (#40 of 51 by volume) | +14.7% YoY (#19 of 51 by volume) |
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)
Compare LLC Costs: Montana vs South Carolina
Montana
South Carolina
A figure shown as "from" is the least the state can charge, not a price. Tennessee's report is $300 for up to six members and $50 for each member above six, its franchise tax is the greater of $100 or 0.25% of Tennessee net worth, Wyoming's report is the greater of $60 or $.0002 per dollar of in-state assets, Kentucky's entity tax is $175 up to $3 million of gross receipts and graduated above it, and New York's annual filing fee is graduated on New York source gross income. A total that contains one of those is shown as "from" for the same reason. Costs include every mandatory state charge: the filing fee, the report fee (annualised where a state files biennially), any state entity-level tax shown in its own row above, a one-time publication cost where the state publishes a rate for it, and any one-time registration charge a state requires before the LLC may trade. Two exclusions follow from that wording. Arizona and Nebraska require publication and publish no rate, so no newspaper cost is carried for either and their totals are not the whole cost. Alaska's $50 annual state business licence is a separate charge from the Secretary of State fees and is not carried here either. Annualising makes the 1, 3 and 5 year rows a cost of ownership rather than a payment schedule: a biennial state charges its whole report fee in the years it falls due and nothing in between. Entity-level taxes that only apply after a corporate election, or above an owner or income threshold, are excluded and flagged on the state's own cost page. New York's publication cost is carried at a $250 floor, roughly $200 of newspaper cost in a low-cost county plus the $50 Certificate of Publication fee. No county-clerk-designated New York City newspaper publishes a rate card, so the four-figure NYC estimates in wide circulation cannot be traced to a primary source and are not asserted here; budget for materially more than the floor if you file in a NYC county. Every fee was verified against the state's own fee schedule, statute, or revenue authority on 29 July 2026. Excludes registered agent and legal fees. For informational purposes only, not legal or tax advice.
Filing Fees & Formation Costs
Montana charges $35 to form an LLC, while South Carolina charges $110. Montana is $75 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in South Carolina but operate in Montana, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Montana (a $70 filing) and maintain a registered agent in South Carolina (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the South Carolina route at roughly $330, versus $35 for simply forming in Montana. Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither Montana nor South Carolina publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork.
Taxes: Montana vs South Carolina
Both Montana and South Carolina levy a personal income tax on pass-through business income, and your LLC's profits will be taxed where you live and operate. Forming in South Carolina doesn't change what a Montana-based owner pays. Montana levies a two-bracket individual income tax; under a 2025 Montana law the top rate drops from 5.9% to 5.65% effective January 1, 2026, with the 4.7% lower rate applying up to $47,500 single/$95,000 joint (Montana Department of Revenue). No franchise or privilege tax on LLCs; the Secretary of State currently waives the annual report fee for reports filed by April 15 ($35 if filed late).
Privacy & Asset Protection
Neither Montana nor South Carolina offers anonymous LLC formation: both states require owner or manager information on public filings. South Carolina requires managers to be listed on the Articles of Organization when the LLC is manager-managed, a public record. Business owners who prioritize privacy typically form a holding company in a state like Wyoming or New Mexico instead. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and for most small businesses the practical difference in asset protection between the two is minimal.
Annual Maintenance Costs
Montana LLCs file a free annual report (due April 15), and South Carolina LLCs file no annual report at all. If you form in South Carolina while operating in Montana, you maintain filings in both states, South Carolina asks for no report, but Montana still wants its equivalent for your foreign registration, and pay a South Carolina registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the South Carolina route to roughly $150 a year, versus about $0 to keep a domestic Montana LLC in good standing. The tax inside those totals: No franchise or privilege tax on LLCs; the Secretary of State currently waives the annual report fee for reports filed by April 15 ($35 if filed late).
When South Carolina Actually Makes Sense
Forming in South Carolina makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in South Carolina, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to South Carolina in the near future. For a typical small business based in Montana, none of these usually apply. Registering a South Carolina LLC to do business back home means $70 in Montana foreign-registration fees, on top of South Carolina's $110 formation fee, while Montana's own annual report stays free to file and is due April 15. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources
Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so. Where we hold the citation but no stable public link, the citation is printed on its own rather than pointed at a guessed address.
- Montana bill: HB 337 (2025) (income tax rate cut)
- sosmt.gov/business/Montana Secretary of State: business entity filings
- sosmt.gov/business/fees/Montana LLC filing fees
- sos.sc.gov/online-filings/business-entitiesSouth Carolina Secretary of State: business entity filings
- scstatehouse.gov/code/t33c044.phpSouth Carolina LLC filing fees
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.