LLC STATES

A state filing ledger · 50 states + DC

record 26 of 51 · /llc/montana/

Montana LLC

oldest record on this page verified 2026-08-04

sources: linked on each field, listed in full below

Montana waives its report fee when filed on time

Montana's annual report falls due each April, and the state waives its fee when the filing arrives on time. No franchise tax appears on the record, a verified absence. Expedited handling is sold at priced tiers even though the office states no standard timeline, and the sheet keeps those two facts apart.

the rest of this note

The assumed business name is a state register with screening teeth: the statute bars the office from registering a name that is not distinguishable from names already on its records, entity names included. A name reservation here cannot be renewed once its window lapses. The agent seat admits an individual, and every filed address must be an actual street address or rural route box inside the state.

every claim above is a line below

Should you form your LLC in Montana?

If the answer is yes, the home-state rule points to Montana.

Office or storefront in Montana?

Yes, it will

A business with a real footprint in Montana files in Montana. Forming anywhere else adds a foreign registration back home: two filings, two annual bills, two registered agents. The out-of-state discount does not survive that arithmetic.

No, it will not

This one answer cannot choose a state. Use the full four-question wizard with the place where the business will actually operate. Open the full wizard .

Annual report

$0

Due Apr 15 (Fee waived timely), printed as the state writes it.

last verified 2026-08-22

sosmt.gov

Franchise tax

none

No recurring state-level tax on an LLC here. The absence is verified against the state, not missing data.

verified absent 2026-08-07

mca.legmt.gov

Anonymous LLC

no

Member or organizer names reach the public formation record here.

last verified 2026-08-10

archive.legmt.gov

Processing time

none published

This state publishes no standard processing time, which is not the same as filing instantly. It sells expedited service, and whether that covers a formation filing has not been read.

verified absent 2026-08-09

no source in the snapshot

Name designators

Must contain the words "limited liability company" or "limited company," or the abbreviations "l.l.c.," "l.c.," "llc," or "lc." The word "limited" may be abbreviated "ltd." and "company" may be abbreviated "co."

Statute: Mont. Code Ann. § 35-8-103(1).

last verified 2026-08-04

mca.legmt.gov

Name reservation

$10

Optional filing that holds the name for 120 days (non-renewable) before you form.

last verified 2026-08-04

sosmt.gov

DBA

assumed business name

One statewide register; the filing costs $20.

last verified 2026-08-04

biz.sosmt.gov

Late filing penalty

$35

Montana charges this as a flat penalty on a late report. What follows a missed filing is in section 09.

last verified 2026-08-10

sosmt.gov

field 05 carries the date it was observed, not a promise: of the two halves beside it, only the expedited tiers are prices the state commits to

What are the Montana DBA rules?

Montana calls it the assumed business name, and keeps one statewide register for it. The state filing costs $20.

Where an LLC files

biz.sosmt.gov

How long it lasts

5 years

A registration is effective for five years from the date of registration and may be renewed for another five-year term (§ 30-13-206(1)). The Secretary of State notifies the registrant at least 90 days before expiry, and if no renewal application is filed within that 90-day window the registration is cancelled.

Newspaper publication

not required

What the filing protects

no exclusive right

Section 30-13-202(1) bars the Secretary of State from registering an assumed business name that is the same as, or not distinguishable on the record from, an assumed business name already registered or any corporate, limited partnership, limited liability company, or limited liability partnership name, trademark, or service mark registered or reserved with the Secretary of State. Registering one therefore blocks a later indistinguishable filing, but the registration is disclosure rather than a trademark and grants no exclusive right beyond that screen. A person doing business in Montana may contest a registration through the procedure in § 35-14-401.

Where to search existing names

biz.sosmt.gov

Registered assumed business names appear in the Secretary of State's online business search.

one record, verified 2026-08-04 · Mont. Code Ann. § 30-13-202

mca.legmt.gov

What does it take to register a foreign LLC in Montana?

Registering an LLC formed elsewhere is its own filing in Montana. The registration costs $70. That price belongs to a separate filing event, so it enters no cost total on this site.

Registration fee

$70

Flat $70.00 filing fee for a Certificate of Authority for a foreign LLC; a series LLC adds $50.00 per named series member.

sosmt.gov

The official form

Application for Certificate of Authority

mca.legmt.gov

Filed with

Montana Secretary of State

mca.legmt.gov

After registration

File an annual report each year between January 1 and April 15 (fee waived before April 15, $35.00 after) with the Secretary of State.

mca.legmt.gov

one record, verified 2026-08-08

The same fee for every other jurisdiction sits on one page: foreign qualification fees for every jurisdiction.

Who can be the registered agent in Montana?

Who may serve as an LLC's registered agent is its own rule in Montana. Montana lets a natural person serve, so no commercial agent is required.

An individual as the agent

Allowed

in the state's words an individual or a domestic or foreign entity that serves in this state as the agent for service of process of an entity

archive.legmt.gov

The LLC as its own agent

not read at this pin

A mailbox service as the address

not read at this pin

Address rule

Whenever a provision of this chapter other than 35-7-111 (1)(d) requires that a filing state an address, the filing must state: (1) an actual street address or rural route box number in this state; and (2) a mailing address in this state, if different from the address under subsection (1).

archive.legmt.gov

one record, verified 2026-08-09

The same four answers for every other jurisdiction sit on one page: registered agent rules for every jurisdiction.

What happens if you don't file the Montana annual report?

A missed report has its own record in Montana: the penalty, the dissolution clock, and the way back. The penalty is a single flat figure.

  1. Late filing penalty

    $35

    sosmt.gov

  2. Administrative dissolution

    after 140 days of delinquency

    The first stage the state publishes, in its own unit: after this interval the state may dissolve the LLC by administrative action.

    archive.legmt.gov

  3. Reinstatement

    $35

    as the record reads A $35 reinstatement filing plus an additional $35 for each year of delinquent annual reports, available for five years after the effective date of dissolution and requiring a Department of Revenue tax certificate and every unfiled annual report.

    sosmt.gov

one record, verified 2026-08-10

The same three answers for every other jurisdiction sit on one page: late fees and reinstatement for every jurisdiction.

Where do these figures come from?

Every figure on this sheet renders from the pinned dataset snapshot, and each card links the page its own figure came from. This list collects those pages in one place, with the duplicates removed and the agency named.

The rule behind every figure here, and what a card does when one cannot be verified, sits on how a figure gets verified.

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