Business licenses and permits in Montana

What applies everywhere in Montana

14 requirements are set by Montana itself and apply whichever city you open in. Local permits sit on top of them.

Sources

Every statewide figure above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.

1. Montana Secretary of State — business services filing fees, effective 1 July 2022Montana Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
2. Montana Secretary of State — press release on the annual report fee waiver for tax years 2024 through 2027Montana Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
3. 35-14-1420, Montana Code Annotated — administrative dissolution 120 days after a missed annual reportMontana Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
4. 61-4-101, Montana Code Annotated — the complete list of motor vehicle dealer license types, with no repair-shop categoryMontana Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
5. Montana DPHHS — certified food protection manager exemption guidanceMontana Department of Public Health and Human Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
6. Montana DPHHS — licensing requirements for child care centres, ARM title 37, chapter 95Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
7. Construction Contractor License (CCL) Program FAQ, rev. 5/19/2026 — 'Fees per 24.227.401 are $70 for application and renewal'; confirms the license also reaches corporations and manager-managed LLCs 'regardless of employee count'Montana Department of Labor and Industry, Business Standards Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
8. ARM 24.35.121 — the $125 independent contractor exemption certificate fee and two-year termMontana Department of Labor and Industry · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
9. Montana Construction Contractor License (CCL) Program — 'Effective January 1, 2026... Construction Contractors that had an active Montana registration as of December 31, 2025, have been converted to the new license,' per House Bill 239 (2025), which 'transitioned the state's construction contractor system from a basic registration framework to an official licensing program'Montana Department of Labor and Industry, Business Standards Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
10. Montana House Bill 239, Chapter 644, Laws of 2025 — enacted the Construction Contractor License program, codified at MCA Title 37, chapter 45, replacing the repealed and renumbered Title 39, chapter 9 registration statuteMontana Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
11. ARM 24.141.405 — Montana State Electrical Board fee scheduleMontana State Electrical Board · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
12. Montana Secretary of State help centre — 'I have registered with the state; do I also need a business license?'Montana Secretary of State · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-08
13. Montana Board of Plumbers — master plumber application, fees and annual 1 September expiryMontana Board of Plumbers · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
14. Montana DPHHS — notice of the new retail food fee structure under House Bill 853Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
15. 50-50-205, Montana Code Annotated — retail food establishment license fees as amended by HB 853Montana Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
16. Montana Department of Revenue — confirming Montana has no general-use sales taxMontana Department of Revenue · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
17. Montana Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists — salon and shop license feesMontana Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
18. Montana Board of Veterinary Medicine — the complete list of individual license types it issuesMontana Board of Veterinary Medicine · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04
19. 37-18-803, Montana Code Annotated — the narrow veterinary retail facility license for dispensing livestock drugsMontana Legislature · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-04

Which Montana city are you opening in?

• Missoula, MTMissoula runs a threshold-based general Business License (required only once a business grosses more than $6,000/year, unlike Billings' no-floor mandate), split into four distinct license types administered by Development Services' Permit & Business Licensing Coordinators rather than a Finance Department or City Clerk: General, Contractor, Itinerant/Mobile Vendor, and Rental. The fee schedule effective October 1, 2026 (Resolution 8970) charges a per-FTE (full-time-equivalent employee) rate that varies by location type — $63/FTE commercial, $42/FTE home-based, $35/FTE outside city limits, $53/FTE for an Itinerant/Mobile Vendor — floored at 4 FTE and capped at 85 FTE, with a flat $28/FTE renewal rate shared across General, Contractor, Itinerant, and Cannabis licenses. A separate $499 Daycare endorsement (new) or $79 (renewal) applies on top for any childcare business. Missoula Public Health (MPH), which its own About page describes as the city-county health department, is the food- and childcare-inspection authority: it prices a flat $285 Basic Plan Review Fee for either a permanent or mobile retail food establishment (no small/large split, unlike Billings' RiverStone Health), collects Montana's own statewide $150-$275 HB853 Retail Food Establishment License fee (listed on this site's Montana state page) at the pre-opening inspection for new licenses, while renewals are paid directly to DPHHS at the state level, and separately conducts childcare sanitation inspections and an optional local Drop-In Childcare certification, neither with a published fee. The Fire Department, unlike Billings', charges its own construction-related plan review and inspection fees directly (from its FY2027 Fire Fee Schedule, Resolution 8971, effective October 1, 2026, scaled by square footage), plus flat $88 Vendor Review and $85 Café Review fees tied to mobile vending and sidewalk cafés; its Business Fire Inspection page publishes no separate fee for the routine five-year business-occupancy inspection cycle. Missoula adopted an entirely new Title 22 Unified Development Code in February 2026 (effective March 2026), replacing the prior Title 20 zoning code, whose Board of Adjustment variance authority sat at Section 20.90.010; the City's Board of Adjustment page does not name the Title 22 section carrying that authority forward. Building permit valuation is computed from a City-adopted 1998 cost-per-square-foot table applied to a current 2026 fee table, with a plan-review fee of 65% of the building permit fee for commercial projects and 30% for residential 1-2 unit projects under the schedule effective October 1, 2026; the City's Certificate of Occupancy page states no fee for a standard certificate, while a $154 Temporary Certificate of Occupancy fee appears on the building fee schedule. Missoula Municipal Code Title 5's chapter index lists chapters for poolhalls, hotels, junk dealers, pawnbrokers, secondhand dealers, self-service gas stations, liquor, street vendors, cannabis and similar trades, and names no chapter for retail, auto repair, veterinary practices, fitness studios, or hair/nail salons beyond the general Business License layer.23 published records
• Billings, MTBillings runs a genuinely broad general municipal Business License — not a narrow, enumerated City-Clerk license list like Bangor, Maine's or Nampa, Idaho's — as the City's own Business License Information page states, administered by the Finance Department: 'Any person who conducts business in the City or is based in the City must obtain a business license.' The City's own current Business Tax Determination form prices a $50.00 flat Health Fee, $6.00 per full-time employee over 5, a $12.00 optional Delivery Permit fee, and $200.00-$500.00 optional liquor endorsement fees, and leaves its own primary 'Basic Tax' line blank on the form for staff to fill in; the underlying codified table is Code of Ordinances Chapter 13, Article 13-400, Sec. 13-424: $55.00/$90.00/$140.00/$215.00 by four gross-revenue categories, or a flat $20.00 for a home-based Home Occupation. RiverStone Health — the Yellowstone City-County Health Department, confirmed as a genuine local government entity via its own SAM.gov registration and the City's own cross-references — is the real food-permitting authority: its own current fixed-establishment Plan Review Application (11/20/2025) correctly states the state's current $150.00-$275.00 Retail Food Establishment License tiers, while its own still-posted mobile-establishment application (2023.01.01) has not been updated and still quotes the old $85.00/$115.00 figures, now superseded by that current three-tier structure. RiverStone Health separately charges its own local Plan Review Fee ($250.00/$350.00 small/large, $150.00 for a minor remodel or change of ownership, for both fixed and mobile establishments), a Temporary Food Service Plan Review ($50.00) and per-event Permit ($25.00), and a $150.00 HACCP Plan Review fee ($125.00 more for a Variance) for specialized processes. The Fire Department outsources fire protection system plan review to a private consultant (Fire Safety Consultants Incorporated), paid directly by the contractor, and no fee is published for a routine business fire-code inspection — but a separate, newly-confirmed Fire System Permit Fee (Resolution 26-11315, February 23, 2026) charges the City directly for installing, repairing, or replacing a fire protection or alarm system, from $45.00 up to $2,000.00 by project cost. That same Resolution 26-11315 is the superseding resolution for the Building Permit valuation table — it repeals Resolution 11-19068 (2011), which had itself superseded the original Resolution 06-18413 (2006); the City's own live Permit Fees webpage still prints the pre-2026 figures, and the dated, signed resolution is the controlling source. The Electrical Permit fee schedule remains identical to the original 2006 resolution's figures, and the Building Division's Getting a Certificate page states that 'Inspections and plan reviews are funded through the purchase of a building permit by the builder or applicant,' so no separate Certificate of Occupancy fee is published. The City's own current Planning Application Fee Schedule (Exhibit A, FY26 rates effective July 1, 2025) prices Signs at $2.50/sq ft (application) plus $1.50/sq ft (permit), a Zone Change at $1,719.00, a Special Review (Billings' functional conditional-use-permit equivalent, decided by the City Council on the City Zoning Commission's recommendation under BMCC Sec. 27-1623) at $1,299.00 (residential)/$1,776.00 (commercial), a Variance at $678.00 (residential)/$966.00 (commercial) decided by the quasi-judicial City Board of Adjustment, and a Zoning Clarification at $92.00 (written) or $171.00 (on-site). Montana's own 76-2-412 MCA statewide preemption, not a Billings-specific ordinance, keeps a licensed family or group day-care home a permitted use in every residential zone, with no conditional use permit or Special Review required. The City's Business License Information page describes the general license as evidence that the annual business tax has been paid and notes that 'Other permits may be required to open your business'; for ordinary retail, auto repair, veterinary practices, fitness studios, hair/nail salons and general contractors, the City-level records here are that general license plus the building, zoning, sign and fire permits that apply to any commercial use.19 published records
• Great Falls, MTGreat Falls runs a genuine general municipal Business License administered by the Fire Department (not Finance or Planning), per Title 5 of the Official Code of the City of Great Falls (OCCGF) and confirmed directly on the City's own Business Licensing and Home Occupations page and on Great Falls Fire Rescue's own current fee schedule (Resolution 10569, adopted April 15, 2025). The fee is tiered by the square footage of the business premises — $300.00 to $895.00 new issuance across six tiers, $80.00 to $640.00 renewal — with a much smaller flat fee ($100.00 new/$35.00 renewal) for a Mobile Food Vendor. The same resolution prices a $150.00/hour Fire Life Safety Plan Review (plus a $75.00 inspection fee) and a tiered fire re-inspection schedule. Resolution 10374 (2020, carrying forward 2018 Resolution 10252's rate tables) prices Building, Mechanical, Medical Gas, Plumbing, Electrical, Sign, and House Moving permits, including a valuation-based Building Permit fee plus a 50% (residential) or 65% (commercial) Plan Review surcharge; it prices no separate Certificate of Occupancy fee. A current Land Development Fee Schedule (effective October 5, 2023) prices Conditional Use Permits ($3,000.00), Variances ($2,500.00), commercial Zoning Permits ($1,000.00), and Zoning Determinations ($500.00). The Cascade City-County Health Department (CCHD), hosted on the genuine .gov domain cascadecountymt.gov, is the confirmed food-permitting authority, pricing a Risk-Category Plan Review fee for fixed establishments ($240.00-$510.00) and a lower one for mobile establishments ($180.00-$450.00), on top of the state's own $150.00-$275.00 Retail Food Establishment License fee. The City's own current Contractor License Verification Form prices a $45.00-per-license-type annual verification fee, layered on top of Montana's own state contractor registration. A headless-browser render of Title 5's Municode chapter index (a client-side-rendered table of contents a plain fetch cannot reach) confirms directly, per the header comment, that no dedicated municipal ordinance exists for retail, auto repair, veterinary, fitness, or salon trades beyond the general Business License. Montana's own 76-2-412 MCA statewide preemption keeps a licensed family or group day-care home a permitted use in every residential zone, with no Conditional Use Permit required.15 published records

Is there a single Montana business license?

Who issues permits in Montana?

• Montana Secretary of State, Business Services DivisionEntity formation · Annual reports4 permits
• Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Environmental Health and Food Safety SectionRetail food establishment licensing2 permits
• Montana Board of Barbers and CosmetologistsSalon and shop licensing1 permit
• Montana Board of PlumbersPlumber licensing1 permit
• Montana Board of Veterinary MedicineVeterinarian licensing1 permit
• Montana Department of Labor and Industry, Business Standards Division, Construction Contractor License ProgramConstruction contractor licensing1 permit
• Montana Department of Labor and Industry, Employment Relations DivisionIndependent contractor exemption certificates1 permit
• Montana Department of Revenue, Business Tax UnitGeneral sales tax status · Narrow industry taxes1 permit
• Montana DPHHS, Early Childhood and Family Support Division, Child Care Licensing ProgramChild care centre licensing · Family and group child care home registration1 permit
• Montana State Electrical BoardElectrical contractor and journeyman licensing1 permit

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