Updated August 10, 2026. Quick answer. Forming an LLC in Montana costs $35 (articles of organization); series LLCs add $50 for each series member named to file, and an ongoing report requirement ($0 if filed on or before April 15 (fee shown as WAIVED); $35 if filed after April 15). Five-year total: At least $35 over five years — one or more components (commonly the franchise/minimum tax) is unverified, so treat this as a floor, not a total.
What it actually costs
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Formation filing fee | $35 (articles of organization); series LLCs add $50 for each series member named |
| Annual/biennial report | $0 if filed on or before April 15 (fee shown as WAIVED); $35 if filed after April 15 |
| Franchise / minimum tax | not verified |
| Publication requirement | No newspaper publication requirement was found. |
Five-year cost of ownership: At least $35 over five years — one or more components (commonly the franchise/minimum tax) is unverified, so treat this as a floor, not a total. Publication cost is excluded from this figure — it’s county-driven where it applies, not state-driven, so a single number would be wrong for most filers.
Expedited filing: $20 for 24-hour processing; $100 for 1-hour processing
The trap worth knowing before you file
Access failure, recorded rather than worked around: the live Montana SOS fee page https://sosmt.gov/business/fees/ refused us on 2026-08-06, and https://rules.mt.gov/gateway/RuleNo.asp?RN=44.5.114 served a page containing only the words ‘Montana SOS’. Per the brief’s instruction to try the Wayback Machine for the SAME official URL before recording a block, the cited source is the Internet Archive capture of sosmt.gov’s own fee page dated 2026-07-11 – roughly four weeks before retrieval. No formation-service figure was substituted
Once the LLC exists, an operating agreement is what actually runs it
This is free to browse and there is no obligation to buy anything — LawDepot builds a state-specific LLC operating agreement through a question-and-answer form.
Build an operating agreement at LawDepot
LawDepot pays us a commission if you buy through this link — it costs you nothing extra. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
Source
MCA 35-8-208(3) (annual report window), 35-8-211 (fees delegated to Secretary of State); Montana Secretary of State fee schedule. Read 2026-08-06 from official. Formation-service sites were not used as a source for this figure.
If the LLC already exists somewhere else
Everything above prices forming a new Montana LLC. A company that already exists in another state does not have to be dissolved and re-formed: Montana takes it in as the same legal entity by the route its own code captions domestication, Mont. Code Ann. § 35-8-1402(2), and Montana does not publish that filing as a single fee, so this page gives no number for it — it is in any case separate from the formation costs above. Going the other way, a Montana LLC may leave for another US state under Mont. Code Ann. § 35-8-1402(1). Either way the move needs both ends to allow it — the state being left as well as the state being joined — which is where most published advice goes wrong.
How to Move an LLC to Another State · LLC Domestication by State: All 51 Jurisdictions, With the Statute
What letting it lapse costs in Montana. The catch-up bill is only half the story — in Montana the notice that starts the cure clock can be a newspaper ad in one county, and the five-year bar afterwards is absolute. The figures, and the statute they come from, are on reinstating a Montana LLC.
Moving an LLC you already own is a different question from what it costs to form a new one here: Montana’s statute calls the mechanism domestication, at Mont. Code Ann. § 35-8-1402(2). See how to move an LLC to Montana.
Looking for the annual-report due date and fee instead? See Montana LLC annual report.
Related: Montana’s registered agent requirements, including who can serve and what happens if you don’t have one.
Related: Montana’s LLC Certificate of Good Standing cost, including who issues it and how fast you can get one.
See LLC Cost by State: The Five-Year Number, Not the Filing Fee for more on this.
See LLC Annual Report Requirements by State: All 51 Jurisdictions for more on this.