Is it cheaper to form an LLC in Montana than Delaware?

Montana's filing fee is lower ($35 vs $110), but that's not the full picture: operating in Delaware means also registering as a foreign LLC there ($200) and paying a Montana registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $385 for the Montana route versus $110 for forming in Delaware.

Can I form my Delaware business in Montana?

Yes. Any Delaware business can form its LLC in Montana. But if the business operates in Delaware, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($200 filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Montana, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.

Does Montana have better asset protection than Delaware?

Not meaningfully. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and neither offers a decisive asset-protection edge for a typical small business. Sound insurance and clean separation of business and personal finances matter more in practice.

State Comparison

Delaware LLC vs Montana LLC (2026)

Written for owners based in Delaware.

Based in Montana? Read Montana LLC vs Delaware LLC →

Compare Delaware LLC vs Montana LLC on filing fees, taxes, privacy laws, and annual costs. Find out which state is actually better for your business.

Last updated: September 23, 2026

If your business is based in Delaware, a Delaware LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Montana LLC run from Delaware generally must also register in Delaware as a foreign LLC (Delaware's $200 filing fee). If your business is based in Montana, a Montana LLC needs no foreign registration there; a Delaware LLC run from Montana generally must also register in Montana as a foreign LLC (Montana's $70 filing fee). An LLC formed in one of these states and run from the other owes whatever filings, fees and taxes each state requires. A Delaware LLC runs $510 in year one and $400/yr after; a Montana LLC runs $35 and $0/yr. See the full breakdown below.

Verdict: for most owners, form where the business is based

No state opens cheaper: Montana's Articles of Organization are $35 and the annual report is currently waived when filed between January 1 and April 15. Read that word literally. The $20 on-time fee is still printed on the fee schedule and the waiver is an administrative decision renewed year by year, so budgeting $0 forever is not safe. Delaware's $400 is statutory and moves only when the legislature moves it. Either way, running a Montana LLC from Delaware means $200 to register it and the $400 on top.

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Factor	Delaware	Montana
Filing Fee	$110	$35
Processing Time	Not published by the state	Not published by the state
Annual Report Fee	None ($400/yr entity tax instead)	$0
Annual Report Due	None required	April 15
State Income Tax	Yes	Yes
Anonymous LLC	Yes	No
Publication Requirement	No	No
Foreign LLC Cost (if forming out-of-state)	N/A, you're in your home state	$200 + registered agent ~$150/yr

Full fee breakdown for either state: Delaware LLC cost and Montana LLC cost.

Business Climate: Delaware vs Montana

Factor	Delaware	Montana
5-year business survival rate	48.1% (#37 of 51)	53% (#16 of 51)
Business application growth (2026 YTD (Jan to Jul) vs 2025 YTD (same months))	+2.5% YoY (#33 of 51 by volume)	+13.4% YoY (#40 of 51 by volume)

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics · U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (BFS)

See the full 50-state survival ranking.

Compare LLC Costs: Delaware vs Montana

State A

State B

Delaware

Formation fee$110

Annual report feeNo report required

State entity tax$400/yr, Annual LLC Tax (alternative entity tax)

Report dueNone required

Processing timeNot published by the state

Late penaltyNo report to file late. The annual tax carries its own penalty

Montana

✓ Cheaper Upfront✓ Cheaper Long-Term

Formation fee$35

Annual report fee$0

State entity taxNone

Report dueApril 15

Processing timeNot published by the state

Late penalty$35

Total Cost

Delaware

Montana

1 Year

$510

$35

3 Years

$1,310

$35

5 Years

$2,110

$35

Will you operate outside your home state?

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

Delaware charges $110 to form an LLC, while Montana charges $35. Montana is $75 cheaper upfront. The cost that usually gets overlooked: if you form in Montana but operate in Delaware, you must also register as a foreign LLC in Delaware (a $200 filing) and maintain a registered agent in Montana (typically around $150 per year). That puts the realistic first-year cost of the Montana route at roughly $385, versus $110 for simply forming in Delaware. Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither Delaware nor Montana publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork.

Taxes: Delaware vs Montana

Both Delaware and Montana 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 Montana doesn't change what a Delaware-based owner pays. Montana levies a two-bracket individual income tax; per HB 337 (2025) 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). Delaware LLCs owe a flat $400 annual LLC tax (no report required). 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

Delaware, your home state, actually offers more formation privacy than Montana: Delaware allows anonymous LLC formation, while Montana requires owner or manager information on public filings. MCA 35-8-208 requires the LLC's annual report to state the names and business mailing addresses of the managers (if manager-managed) or of the members (if member-managed), and these reports are public. 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. From a privacy standpoint there's no reason for a Delaware-based business to form in Montana.

Annual Maintenance Costs

Delaware LLCs file no annual report at all, and Montana LLCs file a free annual report (due April 15). If you form in Montana while operating in Delaware, you maintain filings in both states, Montana's report, though Delaware asks for nothing on the foreign-registration side, and pay a Montana registered agent roughly $150 per year. Counting report fees, the agent and any entity-level tax, that brings the Montana route to roughly $150 a year, versus about $400 to keep a domestic Delaware LLC in good standing. The taxes inside those totals: Delaware LLCs owe a flat $400 annual LLC tax (no report required). 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 Montana Actually Makes Sense

Forming in Montana makes sense in a few specific situations: your business genuinely operates in Montana, with a real office, employees, or property there, or you're relocating to Montana in the near future. For a typical small business based in Delaware, none of these usually apply. Registering a Montana LLC to do business back home means $200 in Delaware foreign-registration fees, on top of Montana's $35 formation fee, while Delaware itself never asks for an annual report at all. Delaware already allows anonymous formation, so the privacy argument for Montana doesn't apply to a Delaware-based owner. Trading Delaware's no-annual-report status for Montana's filing calendar is a step backwards for most owners. When in doubt, form where you actually do business.

Frequently Asked Questions

: Montana's filing fee is lower ($35 vs $110), but that's not the full picture: operating in Delaware means also registering as a foreign LLC there ($200) and paying a Montana registered agent. Realistic first-year cost is roughly $385 for the Montana route versus $110 for forming in Delaware.
: Yes. Any Delaware business can form its LLC in Montana. But if the business operates in Delaware, it must also register there as a foreign LLC ($200 filing fee) and maintain a registered agent in Montana, so you take on two states' fees and filings instead of one.
: Not meaningfully. Both states provide charging-order protection for LLC members, and neither offers a decisive asset-protection edge for a typical small business. Sound insurance and clean separation of business and personal finances matter more in practice.
: It depends on where the business is based. For a Delaware-based business, Delaware: forming where the business is based keeps costs and compliance simple, and Montana is worth considering only if you actually do business there. For a Montana-based business, the same reasoning points to Montana.
: Speed isn't a basis for choosing between them: neither Delaware nor Montana publishes a standard processing time, so any figure comparing the two is guesswork. Whichever you pick, remember that forming in Montana while operating in Delaware means you're not fully set up until the Delaware foreign registration is also processed, so the out-of-state route is rarely the faster path end to end. If your timing is genuinely fixed, buy the state's expedite tier rather than relying on a standard turnaround.

Comparison chart of forming an LLC in Delaware versus Montana, contrasting filing fees, annual report cost and ongoing obligations across 8 factors. — Delaware and Montana side by side on the factors that decide where to form. Source: IncACA 50-state cost dataset, verified against each Secretary of State's published fee schedule, July 2026.

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