Register a company in Montana

Yes. The Secretary of State takes formation filings online only, and our package includes a registered agent with a physical Montana address for the first year, a role you cannot fill yourself without a Montana address. The EIN needs no SSN: international applicants can call the IRS on 267-941-1099 (not toll-free) or send Form SS-4 by fax or mail with 'foreign' on line 7b. For banking we prepare remote applications to fintech platforms and use a traditional bank where you have a US footprint.

Formation starts from $2,400 all-in, including the Montana filing fee ($35), the registered agent for the first year, the EIN and the operating agreement. With a fintech or bank account set up, from $4,400. After that, Montana's annual report costs nothing if filed between 1 January and 15 April and $35 after 15 April, and a C-Corp doing business in Montana pays at least the $50 minimum corporate tax. Expedite fees ($20 for 24 hours, $100 for one hour) and $50 per series member named are quoted separately.

Montana's fee sheet and help pages give no standard processing time for formation filings, so we confirm it when we file rather than promise a date. What the state does publish is paid speed: $20 for 24-hour processing and $100 for 1-hour processing. A faxed EIN application generally comes back within 4 business days; by mail, allow about 4 weeks. Bank and fintech applications start once the EIN is issued.

That depends on the entity. A C-Corp pays 21% federal tax; if it does business in Montana it also files Form CIT and pays 6.75% (7% with a water's-edge election), never less than $50, due 15 May for a calendar year. Dividends to a non-resident owner carry 30% federal withholding unless a treaty or the Code lowers it. A single-member LLC is disregarded for federal income tax, though one owned from abroad still files Form 5472 with a pro forma 1120 and faces a $25,000 penalty if it does not. Montana follows the IRS classification, and a disregarded LLC owned by a nonresident individual files Form DE for any Montana source income. On sales tax, MCA 15-68-102 charges 4% on lodging, campground stays and vehicle rentals and sets no general retail rate.

For a trading or service business run from abroad, we usually start from the LLC. A single-member LLC owned from abroad is disregarded for federal income tax and files Form 5472 with a pro forma 1120. A second member makes it a partnership by default, and the partnership withholds federal tax on its foreign partners' share of effectively connected income at 37%, or 21% for corporate partners; Montana's rules for nonresident partners are confirmed for your case. If you plan to issue shares to investors, we start from the C-Corp: Articles of Incorporation also cost $35, and the company pays 21% federal tax plus 6.75% in Montana if it does business there. S-Corp status is closed to you, since non-resident aliens cannot hold S-Corp shares.

Banking sits in the Company + Bank Account pack. Without a US footprint, the route is a fintech platform, and we prepare the application for Mercury- or Relay-class platforms; the traditional-bank route is for founders who have a US presence. ACH, wires and Stripe onboarding are part of the setup. Nothing is submitted before the EIN is issued, and the platform or bank has the final say.

It starts to cost money. The report is due between 1 January and 15 April every year from the year after formation, and the Secretary of State waives the fee only for reports filed in that window; after 15 April it is $35. The office gives no end date for the waiver, so check the fee page before each filing. If the company is dissolved and needs reinstatement, the fee is $35 plus $35 for each year of delinquent annual reports for an LLC, or $30 plus $35 a year for a profit corporation.

If you manage the company, yes. Each annual report gives the managers' names and business mailing addresses, or the members' if the LLC is member-managed, and the formation filing names the registered agent, which is our agent for the first year. There is no BOI report to file with FinCEN: under its final rule, issued on 11 August 2026 and in force from 14 August 2026, companies formed in a US state are exempt from BOI reporting, including those owned from abroad. On the federal Corporate Transparency Act, Montana's Secretary of State says its own filing requirements have not changed.

MCA 35-30-103, enacted in 2023. A foreign adversary may not buy, lease or rent agricultural land, critical infrastructure or real property with a direct line of sight to a military installation from an entity covered by Title 35, Montana's company-law title, or gain control of such land or infrastructure by contract. The term covers foreign governments and persons the US Secretary of Commerce has determined under Executive Order 13873, corporations domiciled or headquartered in those nations, and corporations in which a foreign adversary holds a controlling interest. A violator must divest within one year, or the county sheriff may sell the property at public auction. If your shareholders or plans come near this, we raise it in the pre-formation consultation.

It needs Montana authority to transact business in Montana. An out-of-state LLC gets it as a 'foreign' LLC, which in state law means formed outside Montana, not owned from abroad. The Certificate of Authority costs $70, plus $50 for each series member named, and once authorised the LLC files the same annual report between 1 January and 15 April. Whether your activity in Montana calls for it is confirmed for your case; we file it as a state qualification, from $700.