Registering a foreign LLC in Montana: the whole sequence

The portal form asks for the same facts as the statute, so gather them first.

• The LLC's name exactly as its home record shows it.
• The state, tribe or country that formed it.
• When the LLC was organized, and how long it is meant to last.
• The business mailing address of the principal office, wherever it is.
• The Montana registered agent: a commercial agent that is listed with the Secretary of State, or an individual or entity whose name and address you state.
• The managers' names and business mailing addresses, when the LLC is run by managers who are not the members.
• For a series LLC, the name of each series and a copy of each series' operating agreement.

Those are the eight items of the statute.

Montana's Model Registered Agents Act asks the LLC to name a commercial registered agent or, failing that, a noncommercial agent by name and address. The agent's location must be a street or rural route address in Montana, with a separate Montana mailing address if there is one. Naming the agent amounts to the LLC saying that the agent agreed to act. The office tells the agent about filings that name it. The registered agent page covers changes and resignation.

The application carries the LLC's own assurance that it observed its home state's organizational law and remains in existence there. Someone with authority gives that assurance. Check the home record first, because an LLC in default at home would be signing something inaccurate.

The filed documents and receipts appear under the Work Queue in the portal. A certified copy of a filed document or a business certificate can be requested through the Request Information option on the business record, for $10. Keep the approval with the company's records, and note April 15 for the first annual report.

A change of name, duration or the state, tribe or country of organization needs an amended certificate of authority, with the same application requirements as the original. The fee is $15, plus $50 for each series named on the amendment. A new agent or office goes in by a statement of change, which carries no state fee and sits under Filing Actions on the business record in the portal.

A foreign LLC that has finished in Montana applies for a certificate of withdrawal. There is no state fee, but the application must carry a Department of Revenue certificate that taxes under Title 15 have been paid. The withdrawal page lists everything the application states.

A commercial registered agent is listed with the Secretary of State and serves many entities. A noncommercial agent is an individual or entity that serves without being listed. Under the act, a noncommercial agent has to keep the LLC's agent information current in the most recent filing, and a commercial agent keeps its own listing current. The LLC should ask which arrangement it is getting and how papers will be forwarded.

An Idaho LLC opens a retail shop in Missoula and hires two employees. Its managers read the excluded list, decide that running a shop is not on it, and register. They choose a Missoula firm as commercial agent, confirm the Idaho record is current, and sign in to the portal. They enter the Idaho name, Idaho as the jurisdiction, the formation date and duration, the principal office address, and the managers. They pay $70 by card. The office emails when the filing is approved. The next February the LLC files its annual report, with no fee, and confirms its agent.

Check that the name matches the home record, that the jurisdiction is the state, tribe or country that formed the LLC, that the dates and duration are right, that the agent address is a street or rural route address in Montana, that managers are listed if they differ from members, that series are named with agreements attached, and that the person making the compliance statement has authority and a current home record. Then confirm the fee and submit.

Before anything is filed in Montana, confirm that the LLC is active at home. Is its annual filing or tax current? Does the formation record show the same name, date and duration you plan to enter? Are the managers listed in the home record the ones you intend to list in Montana? A mismatch here shows up later as a wrong statement in the application or a name that fails to match.

Three roles are involved, and they can be three people or one. The signer has authority to make the compliance statement for the LLC. The agent is the Montana presence that receives papers. The preparer, whether in-house or us, assembles the form and submits it. Keeping the roles clear avoids the common slip where everyone assumes someone else has confirmed the home record or briefed the agent.

At the end of the first month after approval, the LLC should hold four things: the approved documents from the portal, a written agreement with its Montana agent, a note of the April 15 reporting window, and a record of who is responsible for each of those. Those four records are what the next filing starts from.