Is it too good to be true?

Can you really register a vehicle with no inspections, no sales taxes, and no DMV visits without any issues?

The fact is, we’ve helped thousands of people do it for all sorts of vehicles.

An asset-holding LLC is opened in Montana, owned by you (or your business). That means that the LLC doesn’t make any money (and you don’t have to pay taxes), it just holds whatever property you want, like your vehicle.

The reason we open an LLC is to fulfill the residency requirements of a Montana registration.

Dirt Legal is your registered agent, which means we have a Montana address where we forward mail to you in case you get any, and it acts as your Montana address.

Since your LLC will be a “resident” of Montana, you’ll be able to register your vehicles with a Montana plate.

Then, you get your vehicle — or vehicles, as many as you want — titled and registered under that LLC.

Since Montana doesn’t have any state inspections, you can do all that no matter what state you’re in.

Can anyone do this?

Yes, anyone can get registered in Montana as long as you’re not financing your vehicle. 

If your vehicle isn’t paid off yet, take a look at our South Dakota registration options. You’ll get many of the same benefits. (see OHVs options here; all others here)

Want to know how to get insurance? Read our dedicated insurance guide and contact our insurance partners here.

One of the biggest concerns people have with Montana LLCs is insurance.

Will a claim be covered?

It’s a good question. 

How does insurance deal with a vehicle that’s not only registered to an LLC, but isn’t driven in the state it’s registered in?

Well, let me tell you a little story.

One of our customers registered his personal Tesla under a Montana LLC…

He was always a bit worried about what would happen in case I had to file a claim.

It was added under his regular Progressive plan in his home state of Florida, with the LLC added as an interest.

No commercial policy or anything of the sort…

And they didn’t charge him extra either.

Unfortunately, he DID end up having to file a claim.

Guess what Progressive did?

The truth is, getting insurance for a vehicle registered under a Montana LLC is very straightforward.

You don’t have to lie to insurance for coverage, and you won’t have to pay out your ass either.

He just insured his Tesla regularly through their website and to his home address.

Now, some companies like GEICO make it a bit harder to insure, but that’s fine.

We work with a select few insurance partners that can easily get you great rates for your Montana registered vehicle.

And we have them all listed in the insurance guide we send with your order.

Some people think a Montana LLC will affect their tax returns.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here’s how it really works:

Your Montana LLC is an “asset-holding” LLC, which means it doesn’t have expenses and doesn’t make any money.

It’s only there to own the vehicles you register under it.

No tax return gets filed on an LLC without income…

And the IRS can’t do anything about an LLC not making money with no expenses. Frankly, they don’t care.

In addition, you won’t have to file any state tax returns since it’s an out-of-state LLC.

The only purpose of the LLC is to meet the residency requirements of Montana so that you can get a Montana plate.

That simple.

On top of that, you don’t need a business to create a Montana LLC.

For most of our customers, it’s the only company they’ll own.

Besides…

If the cops pull you over, they couldn’t care less about your tax returns.

All they’re worried about is why you were doing 112 in a 65.

Which brings me on to the next point…

Have any states cracked down on Montana registered vehicles?

Cops legally can’t pull you over unless they have probable cause of a traffic violation.

For regular vehicles, they can’t stop you just because you have a Montana plate.

It’s most likely just about a traffic offense.

Now, most states have laws that say you have to transfer an out-of-state plate within a certain period of time.

They’re known as “transfer rules”, but they don’t apply to Montana LLCs.

Why?

Since your vehicle is registered under a company in Montana, it’s technically a resident of Montana, not the state you reside in.

Have there been crackdowns on this?

Florida

Florida’s Department of Revenue once did an audit on a dealership to see paperwork on cars they didn’t collect sales tax on.

Plenty of them were Montana LLC registrations, and after the audit, neither the vehicle owners nor the dealership heard back from the Department of Revenue.

Georgia

Georgia had an attempt to track all the residents using Montana LLCs to register their exotic vehicles and make them register in Georgia instead.

But guess what ended up happening?

The guy who ran the program, Josh Waites, got terminated for misuse of funds, and the program lost funding and doesn’t exist anymore.

California

It’s pretty common to see an exotic with Montana tags in Cali.

While CHP doesn’t have any specific laws on Montana LLCs, they do have a “snitch” website where residents can report any out-of-state plate.

But guess what?

We’ve registered over 1,532 vehicles in the sunny state of California, from off-road vehicles to sports cars to exotics.

Most states have had no issues or explicit rules on Montana LLC registrations.

In fact, it’s extremely rare to find a case where someone used the Montana LLC and had issues with his state’s Department of Revenue.

And that’s where the myths end.

You CAN register your vehicle under a Montana LLC with full insurance protection and no tax issues.

What is the cost to register my vehicle in Montana?

The cost varies depending on your vehicle type and MSRP.

To get the final cost for your specific vehicle, click here to find the right option for you in 30 seconds.

What about upkeep?

An LLC annual report will need to be filed every year for $125 per LLC (NOT per vehicle).

That means if you have multiple vehicles under a single LLC, you only have to pay $125 for all your vehicles.

If you have vehicles that don’t have a permanent plate, their registration must be renewed every year as well.

Again vehicles 11 years old or older that have a GVWR of less than 12,000 lbs, motorcycles, OHVs, vessels, and trailers get a permanent plate/registration that never has to be renewed.

While you can do this yourself (and you’re more than welcome to use our blog and email newsletter to help you out)…

There are a couple reasons why you might not want to.

First of all, the DMV is ruthless.

One minor mistake on your forms and they’ll send ‘em straight back to you — but you won’t see the processing fee you paid ever again.

On top of that…

If a mistake goes through, fixing it will be a very expensive hassle.

We’ve seen a case where a Ferrari was incorrectly registered without permanent plates, so he wasted money renewing tags that he didn’t need to, and he ended up coming to us to fix it.

Or…

You can choose to use Dirt Legal, where we’ll take care of everything for you, even after your plates arrive at your doorstep.

Dirt Legal is your registered agent, which means we have a Montana address where we forward mail to you in case you get any.

Here’s the difference between us and most other services:

Everything is handled in house.

Others will claim to be based in Montana, but they’ll outsource the paperwork to third party companies you don’t know or trust.

We make sure everything is done by us so it’s done right the first time.

After you’ve gotten your registration, we can automatically renew the LLC and registration (if it’s not permanent).

If you think this is right for you, you may still be asking yourself some questions. 

“How much does it cost?”
“Can this be done for my vehicle?”

We have all these questions and more answered on our vehicle-specific pages. 

All you have to do is click a button below, choose your vehicle, and we’ll show you the exact process we use to register vehicles under Montana LLCs all over the country - as well as answers to the most common questions we’ve seen. 

Here’s what you’ll get:

Click a button below to get started:

FAQ