What to know before you file in Montana, plus the fee and the steps.
Montana charges $35 up front and keeps its recurring report fee light after that ($20). None of that changes the basic paperwork Montana requires; it just changes what you pay and when.
The state document you file is called the Articles of Organization in Montana, and it costs $35 to submit, which is one of the cheapest filing fees of any state. Most filers also budget for a registered-agent service if they do not want to list a personal address on the public record for their Montana LLC.
Filing document: Articles of Organization. State filing fee: $35. Recurring report fee: $20, based on what Montana currently publishes for 2026. Confirm the exact figure with the Montana Secretary of State before you file, since these amounts are set by the state and do change.
Between the $35 filing fee and Montana's recurring report fee, most people can estimate their full first-year cost in a couple of minutes. Use the LLC cost calculator to see your projected first-year LLC spend, and the LLC tax calculator to run your profit through the tax calculator once your Montana LLC is generating real profit.
No. By default, a Montana LLC is taxed the same way a sole proprietorship or partnership would be. Any tax savings for a Montana LLC come from electing S-corp status once profit is high enough, which you can check with the LLC tax calculator.
Processing time depends on Montana's current workload and whether you file online or by mail; the Montana Secretary of State's site lists current turnaround times, since they change throughout the year.
Montana does not require you to file an operating agreement with the state, but skipping one leaves your LLC governed by Montana's default LLC statute, which may not match how you actually want to run the business.
Montana charges $35 to file the Articles of Organization, which is one of the cheapest filing fees of any state. After that, Montana keeps its recurring report fee light; use the LLC cost calculator for your full first-year number.
Priya covers tax, regulation, and compliance: the rules that decide what you can and cannot do, usually filed in an obscure subsection that most people skip. She reads federal register notices in her spare time and is at peace with that being unusual.