How do I file my Montana LLC annual report and what information is required?

File the annual report with the Montana Secretary of State through the online business filing service at sosmt.gov. The window runs January 1 to April 15 each year, and the report is free inside it and $35 after April 15. Your filing confirms the LLC's legal name and Montana filing number, the registered agent's name and Montana street address (a PO box does not qualify), the principal office address, and at least one member or manager with a mailing address. A new company files nothing in its first calendar year: MCA 35-8-208 puts the first report in the January 1 to April 15 window of the year following the calendar year in which the LLC is organized. Missing April 15 does not dissolve the LLC, it changes the price to $35. What does end the company is prolonged silence: under MCA 35-8-209 the Secretary of State may involuntarily dissolve an LLC whose report is 140 days overdue, and reinstatement then costs $35 plus an additional $35 for each year of delinquent reports.

What happens if I miss the April 15th annual report deadline in Montana?

Nothing is added as a penalty, because Montana has no late fee and charges no interest. What changes is the price of the report itself: free if filed between January 1 and April 15, $35 if filed after April 15. A report filed on April 16 and one filed in November both cost $35. Filing late does not dissolve the LLC on its own. The limit is set by MCA 35-8-209, which allows the Secretary of State to involuntarily dissolve an LLC that has failed for 140 days to file its annual report. Once dissolved, the company has no registered standing to contract or to hold its name, and reinstating it costs $35 plus an additional $35 for each year of delinquent annual reports, so several missed years compound quickly. If you have already missed April 15, the cheapest move is simply to file now at sosmt.gov and pay the $35, well before the 140-day mark.

Do I need to maintain a registered agent for my Montana LLC, and can I serve as my own?

Yes. Montana requires every LLC to maintain a registered agent with a physical Montana address for service of process and official state correspondence. You can serve as your own agent if you have a Montana office or residence where you are reliably available during business hours. Otherwise you appoint a commercial registered agent service; our cost model budgets about $125 a year for one, which for a Montana LLC is several times the state's own annual charge. The agent's name and address are filed on the Articles of Organization and confirmed on each annual report, filed between January 1 and April 15. Letting the appointment lapse is treated like letting the report lapse: the Secretary of State can involuntarily dissolve the LLC, and reinstatement costs $35 plus another $35 for each year of delinquent reports. If you act as your own agent, make sure someone is actually at the listed address, because a missed service of process can turn into a default judgment against your business, and remember that the address you list is public.

Compliance · MT

Montana LLC Annual Compliance Requirements (2026)

Everything your Montana LLC must do to stay in good standing, annual report deadlines, registered agent rules, and state-specific obligations.

First-Year Total$35

Annual Ongoing$0/yr

vs National Avg- $196.53

Last updated: August 22, 2026

Montana is the cheapest state in the country both to open an LLC and to keep one open. The Articles of Organization cost $35, the lowest formation fee nationally, and the annual report is free when it is filed between January 1 and April 15, which puts a realistic first-year state cost at $35, roughly $197 below the national average. Montana imposes no franchise, privilege, or minimum entity tax on LLCs, so an LLC that files on time can genuinely cost nothing to maintain from year two onward. There is no newspaper publication requirement either. The cost advantage suits the sectors driving growth around Bozeman and Missoula, including remote-first technology, precision agriculture, and outdoor gear and adventure businesses.

The simplicity comes with two things worth marking on a calendar. First, the report is priced rather than penalized: file after April 15 and the same document costs $35, and the free window is a Secretary of State policy rather than a statutory rate, so it is worth confirming each January instead of assuming $0 forever. Second, a report left unfiled is not a small problem indefinitely. MCA 35-8-209 allows the Secretary of State to involuntarily dissolve an LLC once its annual report is 140 days overdue, and reinstatement then costs $35 plus an additional $35 for each year of delinquent reports. A new company gets a year's grace before any of this applies: MCA 35-8-208 puts the first annual report in the January 1 to April 15 window of the year following the calendar year in which the LLC is organized.

Stat card for Montana LLC compliance costs: $35 in unavoidable first-year charges and $0 a year after that, −$196.53 against the $231.53 national first-year average. Its annual report costs $0. — First-year total bundles the state filing fee with any report or entity tax due in year one; the recurring figure is what Montana costs every year after that. Source: Montana's published filing requirements and fee schedule, verified July 2026; national average from IncACA's 50-state compliance dataset.

Annual Report Requirements

Due: April 15

Fee: $0 on or before April 15; $35 after

Frequency: annual

How: Online or mail

Full Montana Annual Report Guide →

Registered Agent Requirements

Every Montana LLC must keep a registered agent with a physical Montana street address available during business hours to accept service of process. This section covers who qualifies, what a commercial agent costs against serving yourself, how the appointment is confirmed on each annual report, and what happens to the LLC if the appointment lapses.

Before you compare paid services: in most states the LLC's owner, or another individual who qualifies, may serve as its registered agent themselves, generally subject to that state's rules on keeping a street address in the state and being available there during normal business hours. A paid service is one way to meet the requirement and not the only one. The Montana registered agent requirements set out what Montana itself asks.

Registered agent services for Montana LLCs

Affiliate disclosure: Northwest Registered Agent, Bizee, ZenBusiness and LegalZoom pay us a commission if you sign up through our link, at no extra cost to you. We list only the registered agent services we have an affiliate relationship with, so this is not a survey of the whole market.

This list is not scored. The four are listed cheapest annual renewal first, and every claim below is about the services listed here rather than the whole market.

Northwest Registered Agent$125/yr renewal
Best for: Privacy-focused owners and anyone who just needs an agent, not a formation bundle
Bizee$149/yr renewal
Best for: A free first year on every plan, renewing at $149/yr, if you're comfortable with the BBB caveat
ZenBusiness$199/yr renewal
Best for: First-time founders forming a new LLC who want phone, email and chat support
LegalZoom$249/yr renewal
Best for: Complex structures that want attorney consultations, which come with LegalZoom's Pro and Premium formation plans rather than this renewal price

Note: Bizee holds a C rating from the BBB and is not accredited. BBB's profile carries a live alert describing a pattern of complaints about unexpected charges, difficulty canceling and filing delays, and Bizee has posted a response to it. We flag this so you can make an informed choice.

Annual renewal is each provider's own standard published rate. Check the current terms at each provider before you buy. The scored ranking, and the formula behind it, is in our full formation services review →

Montana Registered Agent Requirements →

Late Filing Penalties

Penalty: $35 (the report's price after April 15; it is free on or before April 15)

Montana Late Fee Guide →

Montana-Specific Compliance Considerations

No Publication Requirement

Montana imposes no newspaper publication requirement on LLC formation. Neither the Montana Limited Liability Company Act nor the Secretary of State's filing requirements ask you to publish a formation notice, so there is no publisher's invoice and no affidavit to file, unlike the states that still require one.

Simple Annual Report Process

The annual report asks only for current information: principal office and mailing addresses, registered agent name and address, and the members or managers on record. It is filed through the Secretary of State's online service at sosmt.gov, with no financial disclosures and no supporting documentation.

The Fee Is the Deadline: $0 Before April 15, $35 After

Montana charges no late penalty and no interest. It charges a different price for the same report: nothing between January 1 and April 15, and $35 after April 15. Missing the deadline by a single day is the entire cost. The harder limit is MCA 35-8-209, which allows involuntary dissolution once the report is 140 days overdue, after which reinstatement costs $35 plus another $35 for each year of delinquent reports.

No Franchise Tax and No Publication Costs

Montana imposes no franchise, privilege, or minimum entity tax on LLCs. A default-classified LLC is a pass-through whose income is reported by its members, and only an LLC that elects federal corporate treatment falls under the Montana corporate income tax. With no publication cost either, the Secretary of State filing fees are the only recurring state charge.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state publishes about filing deadlines, fees, and the consequences of missing them, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you what your own company owes: the date turns on when and where you formed, states change these rules between our reviews, and in several states an entity-level tax falls due in a year when no report does. Confirm your own dates with the filing office named on this page before you rely on one here, because the penalty for missing a deadline can be administrative dissolution of the company.

Frequently Asked Questions

: File the annual report with the Montana Secretary of State through the online business filing service at sosmt.gov. The window runs January 1 to April 15 each year, and the report is free inside it and $35 after April 15. Your filing confirms the LLC's legal name and Montana filing number, the registered agent's name and Montana street address (a PO box does not qualify), the principal office address, and at least one member or manager with a mailing address. A new company files nothing in its first calendar year: MCA 35-8-208 puts the first report in the January 1 to April 15 window of the year following the calendar year in which the LLC is organized. Missing April 15 does not dissolve the LLC, it changes the price to $35. What does end the company is prolonged silence: under MCA 35-8-209 the Secretary of State may involuntarily dissolve an LLC whose report is 140 days overdue, and reinstatement then costs $35 plus an additional $35 for each year of delinquent reports.
: Nothing is added as a penalty, because Montana has no late fee and charges no interest. What changes is the price of the report itself: free if filed between January 1 and April 15, $35 if filed after April 15. A report filed on April 16 and one filed in November both cost $35. Filing late does not dissolve the LLC on its own. The limit is set by MCA 35-8-209, which allows the Secretary of State to involuntarily dissolve an LLC that has failed for 140 days to file its annual report. Once dissolved, the company has no registered standing to contract or to hold its name, and reinstating it costs $35 plus an additional $35 for each year of delinquent annual reports, so several missed years compound quickly. If you have already missed April 15, the cheapest move is simply to file now at sosmt.gov and pay the $35, well before the 140-day mark.
: Yes. Montana requires every LLC to maintain a registered agent with a physical Montana address for service of process and official state correspondence. You can serve as your own agent if you have a Montana office or residence where you are reliably available during business hours. Otherwise you appoint a commercial registered agent service; our cost model budgets about $125 a year for one, which for a Montana LLC is several times the state's own annual charge. The agent's name and address are filed on the Articles of Organization and confirmed on each annual report, filed between January 1 and April 15. Letting the appointment lapse is treated like letting the report lapse: the Secretary of State can involuntarily dissolve the LLC, and reinstatement costs $35 plus another $35 for each year of delinquent reports. If you act as your own agent, make sure someone is actually at the listed address, because a missed service of process can turn into a default judgment against your business, and remember that the address you list is public.
: Yes, though Montana's list is short. The annual report goes to the Secretary of State between January 1 and April 15 and is free inside that window, $35 after. Beyond it, keep your own business records in order, including financial documentation and whatever the operating agreement requires, and keep the registered agent details on the register accurate by filing a change with the Secretary of State whenever the agent or the agent's address changes. Montana imposes no franchise, privilege, or minimum entity tax and no publication requirement, so there is no separate state entity filing to remember. What does still apply is industry licensing: regulated trades and professional services need their own credentials from the relevant Montana licensing body, and those renew on their own schedule rather than with the annual report. Your next step is to check the registered agent details on your record and put April 15 in a compliance calendar so the filing stays free.

Sources

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Montana sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so.

sosmt.gov/business/Montana Secretary of State: business entity filings
archive.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0350/chapter_0080/part_0020/section_0080/0350-0080-0020-0080.htmlMontana statute: Annual Report
sos.mt.gov/business/fees/Montana agency guidance: Annual Report