How much does it cost to start an LLC in Montana?

Filing Articles of Organization with the Montana Secretary of State costs $35, and that is the only mandatory formation charge. A series LLC adds $50 for each series member named in the Articles. If you want it processed faster, 24-hour priority handling is $20 and 1-hour expedite is $100.

Does Montana charge an annual fee for an LLC?

Filing the annual report is mandatory every year, but the Secretary of State currently waives the fee for reports filed between January 1 and April 15, so an on-time filer pays $0. File after April 15 and the fee is $35. Montana has no franchise or privilege tax on LLCs, so an on-time Montana LLC can genuinely cost nothing to maintain.

When is the Montana LLC annual report due?

MCA 35-8-208 sets the window at January 1 through April 15 each year. Your first report is due in that window in the year after the year you organized, so an LLC formed in 2026 files its first report between January 1 and April 15, 2027.

What happens if I do not file my Montana annual report?

After April 15 the fee becomes $35, and MCA 35-8-209 lets the Secretary of State involuntarily dissolve the LLC once the report is 140 days overdue. Getting reinstated costs $35 plus another $35 for each year of delinquent annual reports, so a long lapse compounds quickly.

LLC Costs · MT

How Much Does an LLC Cost in Montana?

By Edmond Hui · Fees verified July 29, 2026 against the Montana Secretary of State fee schedule

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.

Forming an LLC in Montana costs $35 to file the Articles of Organization for Domestic Limited Liability Company with the state, the Annual Report costs $0 every year. That puts the first-year state cost at $35, before any registered-agent service.

Articles of Organization for Domestic Limited Liability Company$35

Annual Report$0

First-year state cost$35

Five-year state cost$35

What you actually pay in Montana

Montana is the cheapest of these five states both to open and to keep open: $35 to file Articles of Organization and, at present, $0 for the annual report when it is filed between January 1 and April 15. The Secretary of State's published fee schedule (effective 7-1-2022) still prints $20 for an on-time annual report and $35 for one filed after April 15, but the live fee page now shows the pre-April 15 amount as "WAIVED" and the help center confirms the office waives the fee for every report filed between January 1 and April 15. A series LLC pays an extra $50 for each series member named in the Articles. Optional add-ons are $20 for 24-hour priority handling, $100 for 1-hour expedite, $10 for a name reservation, $5 for a Certificate of Existence, and $10 for a certified copy.

Montana LLC fee breakdown

Cost	Amount	How often	Charged by
Articles of Organization for Domestic Limited Liability Company	$35	One time	Montana Secretary of State
Annual Report	$0	Every year	Montana Secretary of State
Required state cost, first year	$35	—	—
Registered agent service (optional)	$50–$300	Every year	Commercial provider
Expedited processing (optional) — 24-hour priority handling $20, 1-hour expedite $100	$20+	One time	Montana Secretary of State
Name reservation (optional)	$10	One time	Montana Secretary of State
Certificate of good standing (optional)	$5	Per copy	Montana Secretary of State

$35 flat whether filed on paper or through the biz.sosmt.gov portal, plus $50 for each series member named in a series LLC.

: Montana imposes no franchise, privilege, or minimum entity tax on LLCs. A default-classified LLC is a pass-through and its income is reported by the members; only an LLC that elects federal corporate treatment falls under the Montana corporate income tax.

Neither the Montana Limited Liability Company Act (MCA Title 35, chapter 8) nor the Secretary of State's filing requirements impose any newspaper publication requirement on LLC formation.

Registered agent is listed separately because it is a commercial service, not a state charge. Commercial registered-agent services, not a state charge. Range and $125 midpoint match the assumption used by /tools/llc-true-cost. Most states let you serve as your own registered agent at no cost if you have a physical in-state address. Run your own numbers in the true-cost calculator.

Montana LLC cost over five years

State charges only in the first column; the second adds a registered-agent service at the $125/yr market midpoint.

Period	State cost only	With registered agent
Year 1 (formation + first filing)	$35	$160
Each year after	$0	$125
Five-year total	$35	$660

First filing timing: MCA 35-8-208 requires the first annual report between January 1 and April 15 of the year following the calendar year in which the LLC is organized, so an LLC organized in 2026 files its first report in the January 1 - April 15, 2027 window.

Is Montana expensive compared with other states?

Montana ranks 1st cheapest of 50 states on first-year cost — $199.53 below the $234.53 national average. On ongoing annual cost it ranks 7th.

Montana filing deadline and late penalties

Annual Report

Frequency	every year
Due	Between January 1 and April 15 of each year
Fee	$0
Late penalty	$35

The report is free when filed on or before April 15 because the Secretary of State waives the fee for reports filed between January 1 and April 15; a report filed after April 15 costs $35.

Under MCA 35-8-209 the Secretary of State may involuntarily dissolve an LLC that has failed for 140 days to file its annual report. Reinstatement of an involuntarily dissolved LLC costs $35 plus an additional $35 for each year of delinquent annual reports.

Full Montana annual report filing guide · Deadline calculator

Cost traps specific to Montana

The report fee jumps from $0 to $35 on April 16

Montana's annual report fee is entirely deadline-conditional: waived if filed January 1 through April 15, $35 if filed after April 15. Missing the deadline by a single day is the whole cost.

The waiver is administrative, not statutory

The $20 on-time annual report fee is still printed on the Secretary of State's own fee schedule and is waived at the Secretary's discretion (a 2020s-era policy announced year by year), so budgeting $0 forever is not safe.

140 days late means involuntary dissolution and stacked back fees

MCA 35-8-209 allows involuntary dissolution once an annual report is 140 days overdue, and reinstatement then costs $35 plus $35 for every year of missed reports.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Filing Articles of Organization with the Montana Secretary of State costs $35, and that is the only mandatory formation charge. A series LLC adds $50 for each series member named in the Articles. If you want it processed faster, 24-hour priority handling is $20 and 1-hour expedite is $100.
: Filing the annual report is mandatory every year, but the Secretary of State currently waives the fee for reports filed between January 1 and April 15, so an on-time filer pays $0. File after April 15 and the fee is $35. Montana has no franchise or privilege tax on LLCs, so an on-time Montana LLC can genuinely cost nothing to maintain.
: MCA 35-8-208 sets the window at January 1 through April 15 each year. Your first report is due in that window in the year after the year you organized, so an LLC formed in 2026 files its first report between January 1 and April 15, 2027.
: After April 15 the fee becomes $35, and MCA 35-8-209 lets the Secretary of State involuntarily dissolve the LLC once the report is 140 days overdue. Getting reinstated costs $35 plus another $35 for each year of delinquent annual reports, so a long lapse compounds quickly.

Where these numbers come from

Every fee above was checked against Montana's own published sources on July 29, 2026 — the Montana Secretary of State fee schedule, the governing statute, and where a state-level tax applies, the state tax authority. Commercial formation-service pages were not used.

The first-year total is the Articles of Organization for Domestic Limited Liability Company fee plus the first year of any recurring state charge. Where a state's first report is not due until the following year, that is noted above. The five-year total is the filing fee plus five years of recurring charges, which avoids the timing question entirely. Registered-agent service is excluded from all state figures.

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