Montana's trigger for losing your LLC is the annual report: miss it and, after notice, the Secretary of State administratively dissolves the entity. The reinstatement path is straightforward, file the reinstatement application online, catch up the missing reports, pay the reinstatement fee, and because Montana's report fee is low, the arrears rarely run high. This page walks the whole process and the running cost, then gets to the question worth asking first: whether reviving the LLC beats closing it cleanly and starting fresh.
What does administrative dissolution mean in Montana?
Every Montana LLC files an annual report with the Secretary of State by April 15 each year and pays the fee. The report confirms the company's current details, its principal office, its managers or members, and its registered agent, and keeps the state's record current. Miss the filing, and after the Secretary of State sends notice, the office administratively dissolves the LLC for failing to file. Losing a registered agent in Montana can lead to the same result.
A dissolved Montana LLC loses its good standing, can lose the exclusive right to its name, and should not be transacting business under the entity. But the company is not erased, the state keeps it on the record as administratively dissolved and eligible for reinstatement. The fix is administrative: file the overdue reports, pay what is owed, and ask the Secretary of State to restore the entity.
How do you reinstate an LLC in Montana, step by step?
- Confirm the status and dissolution date. Look up the LLC in the Secretary of State's records to confirm it was administratively dissolved and note the date.
- Check your name is still available. Search the Secretary of State's records to confirm no one else registered your name while you were dissolved.
- File the reinstatement application online. Use the Secretary of State's online business services system to submit the application for reinstatement.
- Bring the annual reports current. File and pay each annual report you missed while the LLC was dissolved.
- Pay the fees. The reinstatement fee plus the accumulated annual report fees. Confirm the current amounts before submitting.
- Confirm active status. Verify the record shows the LLC active again before you rely on it for banking, contracts, or licensing.
What does reinstatement cost in Montana, and how long does it take?
The cost has two pieces. First, the reinstatement fee paid to the Secretary of State to restore the entity. Second, the back annual report fees, and because Montana's LLC report is modest, commonly around $20 filed on time, the arrears stay low even across a couple of missed years. There is no franchise-tax arrears to clear. Because the Secretary of State sets and periodically adjusts these amounts, total your own figure from your missed years and confirm the current reinstatement and report fees on the state's online portal before paying.
On timing, online reinstatements are often processed reasonably quickly, frequently within a few business days, though processing times vary with volume and whether the filing is complete. If a deadline is riding on good standing, confirm the realistic window with the Secretary of State rather than assuming same-day approval.
What do you have to clear first in Montana?
- Every missing annual reportreinstatement requires catching up each one.
- The back report feesroughly the annual report fee for each missed year.
- The reinstatement feethe separate charge to restore active status.
- A registered agentyou must confirm a valid Montana registered agent in the filing.
- The eligibility windownot a fee, but a prerequisite: the entity must still be eligible.
Montana's administrative dissolution is a report lapse rather than a tax matter, so there is typically no tax-clearance certificate to obtain from the Department of Revenue for reinstatement, but any Montana tax the LLC genuinely owes remains its own obligation to resolve, separate from the reinstatement.
Should you reinstate, or dissolve and start fresh?
Montana's low fees make reinstatement inexpensive, but cheap is not the same as worthwhile, the question is whether the company is worth reviving at all.
Reinstate when the LLC is a real, ongoing business, contracts, licenses, property, a bank account, or a name and reputation tied to that specific company. Restoring good standing here is about as inexpensive as reinstatement gets.
Dissolve and start fresh when the LLC never really traded and holds nothing worth keeping. A low reinstatement cost is still money spent to revive a shell you will not use. We walk through that decision on reinstate or start a new LLCwith the general mechanics under administrative dissolution.
If closing it deliberately is the right move, that is the job we do, the full dissolution guide covers the voluntary route end to end, including closing the IRS business account behind your EIN, which the state filing never touches on its own.
Not sure which way to go?
A specialist can give you a straight read on whether reviving the Montana LLC or a clean close makes more sense for your situation, even when the honest answer is that you do not need us at all. Reinstatement is filed directly with the Secretary of State; what we handle is the deliberate close.
Reinstate, or close it cleanly?
If reviving a dormant Montana LLC isn't worth even a small fee, closing it properly is the job we do. Ask a specialist first, no obligation.
This page explains Montana reinstatement for information. Filings are made with the Montana Secretary of State directly; our own service is business dissolution, not reinstatement. Fees and windows change, confirm current requirements with the Secretary of State before filing.