How Much Does a Montana LLC Cost in 2026?

Montana LLC one-time costs

What Montana charges once, when the LLC is formed, and the optional costs that arrive at the same time. The state fee is the same whether you file yourself or use a service.

State fees verified October 2026 and set by the state, not by us. Online filing prices; a few states charge a different amount on paper.

Montana LLC ongoing costs

What Montana charges to keep the LLC in good standing, when it is due, and what the state does when a report is late or missed.

State fees verified October 2026 and set by the state, not by us. Due rules, penalties and dissolution triggers are read from each state's statute or filing office page; the reinstatement figure is the state's own total at that point.

Montana LLC annual fee

Montana's recurring requirement: No fee for 2026 and 2027 reports filed by April 15 ($35 after), due April 15. Montana calls the filing the Annual Report, and it goes to the Montana Secretary of State at biz.sosmt.gov. The Annual Report is due April 15, every year.

If you file late: $35 added by the state for a late report. After one missed report, Montana administratively dissolves the LLC, and the state's total to reinstate it at that point is $70.

The due date, filing window and portal are covered step by step in Montana LLC annual report.

Other recurring obligations

• Annual Report. January 1 - April 15 of each year after the year of formation. $20 (waived for 2026 and 2027 reports filed by April 15); $35 after April 15.

Montana LLC filing fee: $35

The filing fee is what Montana charges to file your Articles of Organization, the document that creates the company. Montana charges $35. It is the one cost nobody can avoid: it is the same whether you file directly with the state or hire a service, and no legitimate service can waive it. Which form Montana uses, where it is filed and what it asks: how to register an LLC in Montana.

Montana posts its current processing times on its own site; we do not quote one.

Faster review from the state: 24-hour processing $20; 1-hour processing $100.

By filing fee, Montana ranks 1 of 51 jurisdictions, cheapest first; the median state charges $100.

Five-year Montana LLC cost: $35

$35 to form, plus nothing recurring from the state, comes to $35 paid to Montana over five years, assuming every report is filed on time. One late report adds $35. Taxes on the company's income, licenses and a registered agent service are separate.

What the Montana state fee does not include

The filing fee buys the state's approval of the Articles of Organization and nothing else. These are the costs that sit outside it.

• Registered agent. Montana requires one, with a street address in the state. Serving as your own agent is free; the address becomes public record. Our registered agent service can be added in the application. Montana registered agent requirements.
• Operating agreement. Not filed with the state and free if you write it yourself. Our self-help template is available after checkout.
• Business licenses and permits. Set by the city, county or licensing board for your line of business, not by the formation filing. Many Montana LLCs need none; a restaurant, contractor or salon usually needs several.
• Taxes. An LLC's income is taxed through its owners' returns unless it elects otherwise, and sales tax or employer registrations are separate state accounts with no formation fee attached.
• Filing service. Our fee is itemized on the checkout review screen before you pay, with same-day submission as an option. The state fee is identical either way.

How to pay less for a Montana LLC

• File the Articles of Organization yourself. Montana takes it online at biz.sosmt.gov for the $35 state fee alone.
• Be your own registered agent if you have a Montana street address and are there during business hours. The trade-off is privacy: the address goes on the public record.
• Write your own operating agreement. No state charges for it and Montana does not file it.
• File the Annual Report on time. A late one costs $35 more, and a missed one leads to dissolution and a reinstatement bill of $70.
• Skip state expedite unless a date depends on it. The state's standard queue costs nothing extra.
• Form where you do business. An LLC that operates in Montana but is formed elsewhere must register in Montana as a foreign LLC anyway, paying Montana's registration fee and its recurring report on top of the home state's.

How Montana compares

By filing fee, Montana is number 1 of 51 jurisdictions, cheapest first. The filing fee is paid once; the recurring line is what separates states over time.

State fees verified October 2026 and set by the state, not by us.

Every state's fee is in LLC cost by state, and the case for and against forming elsewhere is in cheapest states to form an LLC.

Filing yourself vs. using us

Filing directly with Montana costs only the state's own fee: $35. The state takes formations at biz.sosmt.gov. Through us, you pay our service fee plus the Montana filing & processing, for the name check, the Articles of Organization prepared and submitted, the approved documents emailed to you and Montana's deadlines in writing. Both lines are itemized on the checkout review screen before you pay.

Sources

State fees verified October 2026; page last updated November 1, 2026. The figures above are read from Montana's own fee schedule, forms and statutes:

• mca.legmt.gov (mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0350/chapter_0080/part_0020/section_0020/0350-0080...)
• mca.legmt.gov (mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0350/chapter_0070/part_0010/section_0050/0350-0070...)
• sosmt.gov (sosmt.gov/business/fees/)
• sosmt.gov (sosmt.gov/wp-content/uploads/business_filing_fees.pdf)
• mca.legmt.gov (mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0350/chapter_0080/part_0020/section_0080/0350-0080...)
• biz.sosmt.gov (Montana Secretary of State, Annual Report filing)