Montana LLC Costs — What You Actually Pay

There are two costs Montana genuinely requires: the state filing fee to form the LLC, and the annual report each year to keep it in good standing. Everything else on this page is optional or situational. The receipt card on this page reflects the current state amounts as charged, with no markup on the state fee itself.

State filing fee for the Articles of Organization

To create your LLC, you file the Articles of Organization online through the Secretary of State's business portal. The state charges a filing fee for this — Montana's is notably low compared with most states. It is a one-time cost paid at formation. Because Montana is online only, there is no separate mail-processing surcharge.

The annual report

Each year, every Montana LLC files an annual report by April 15 to stay in good standing. It confirms your registered agent, addresses, and management details — it is not a financial disclosure. Here is the wrinkle worth knowing: Montana waived the annual report fee for on-time filers in 2026 and 2027 as part of a small-business relief effort. File on time in those years and the report itself costs nothing. A late penalty still applies if you miss April 15, so timeliness matters even when the fee is waived.

What Montana does not charge

Montana does not currently offer or require a paid expedite option the way some states do, because online processing is already fast. And there is no separate LLC franchise tax for a standard pass-through LLC. The core cost of a Montana LLC is genuinely just the formation filing and the annual report.

Beyond the two required state costs, several expenses are optional or depend on how you run the business. None of these are mandated by the state for forming an LLC, but most owners encounter at least a few.

Registered agent service

Montana requires a registered agent, but it does not require you to pay for one — you can serve as your own if you have a Montana street address and are available during business hours. If you would rather keep your address off the public record and guarantee someone is always available to accept documents, a commercial registered agent service carries an annual fee. When you form through Mainstay Filing, registered agent service is included in what we charge, and the details are shown at checkout.

Assumed Business Name (DBA)

If you want to operate under a name other than your LLC's legal name, Montana requires an Assumed Business Name registration at the state level, which carries its own filing fee. This is optional — you only need it if you trade under a different name.

Name reservation

Reserving a name before you file, to hold it while you prepare, carries a small state fee. It is optional; most owners simply file when ready and skip it.

EIN

An Employer Identification Number from the IRS is free. Any service that charges you for "getting an EIN" is charging for the convenience of filling out a ten-minute federal form on your behalf, not for the number itself.

Certified copies and certificates of good standing

If a bank, lender, or another state asks for a certified copy of your Articles or a certificate of good standing, the Secretary of State charges a fee to issue it. You only pay when you actually need one.

Licenses and permits

Montana has no statewide general business license, but industry-specific state licenses and local city or county registrations may apply to your business. These vary widely by activity and location and are entirely separate from the LLC filing.

It helps to think of an LLC's cost in two buckets: the one-time cost to start, and the recurring cost to keep it alive. Montana is friendly on both.

Year one

Year one includes the one-time formation filing plus whatever optional items you choose — registered agent service, possibly an Assumed Business Name if you are branding under a different name, and any licenses your industry requires. The EIN is free. Because Montana's formation fee is low and processing is fast with no expedite surcharge, the state-side cost of getting started is modest.

Every year after

The recurring cost is the annual report. With the 2026 and 2027 fee waiver for on-time filers, that cost is currently zero for the report itself in those years — you just have to file by April 15. If you use a commercial registered agent, its annual renewal is the other recurring line item. That is genuinely the whole recurring picture for a standard Montana LLC: no franchise tax, no separate publication requirement, no annual license from the Secretary of State.

The cost of getting it wrong

The most avoidable cost is a late or missed annual report. Miss April 15 and a late penalty applies. Ignore it long enough and the state involuntarily dissolves the LLC — at which point reinstating costs more, takes more effort, and can create a gap in your liability protection. The cheapest way to run a Montana LLC is simply to file the annual report on time every year.

Where Mainstay Filing fits

We roll formation and registered agent service into a clear, upfront price shown at checkout, prepare and file your Articles of Organization, and track your April 15 annual report so a missed deadline never turns into a penalty or a dissolution. What the receipt card displays for state fees is exactly what the state charges — we do not mark up the government fee.