Can you really legally register a vehicle with no sales tax, no inspections, and no DMV visits?
The fact is, 1 Dollar Montana helps 10,000+ people across the country register their vehicles every year.
The beauty of registering in a Montana LLC is you can put as many vehicles in the same LLC as you want!
You can drive your vehicle every single day, wherever you are.
Some claim this is somehow illegal, even though it’s been approved by a State Supreme Court.
It’s time to uncover the truth. Let’s start with the basics…
Select an option below to learn more
How can I register in Montana?
Why register in Montana?
Who can do this?
How does insurance work?
How does tax filing work?
Have states cracked down on MT registerations?
What does a Montana registration cost?
How can I register my vehicle in Montana?
First, we help you open an asset-holding LLC 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.
1 Dollar Montana 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.
Why register a vehicle in Montana?
Stop nosy state inspectors from tearing apart your vehicle looking for things to flag you or charge you for
Skip the line at your yearly emissions inspection test and drive year-round with no unnecessary interruptions
Don’t pay a single dime in sales tax, no matter how expensive your vehicle is
Not to mention annual use tax if you’re in a state like Virginia… you won’t be needing to pay that anymore either as the vehicle will belong to a Montana LLC
Get extra protection from “30-day transfer rules” that apply in most states. Since your vehicle is registered under a Montana LLC, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have a Montana plate
Permanent plate for:
vehicles 11 years old or older that have a GVWR of 12,000 lbs or less.
All Motorcycles, Dirt-bikes, ATVs, UTVs and Trailers.
You can register as many vehicles as you want under your LLC — meaning you have all your registrations under one roof
More privacy since your name isn’t on the registration so it won’t show up if someone ran your tags
Can anyone do this?
Insurance
Our insurance partner, 1dollaragent.com insures thousands of Montana LLC vehicles every year. No commercial insurance necessary.
Does the LLC need to file taxes?
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.
You won’t have to mention anything on your personal tax returns.
Straight from the IRS website… you don’t have to file if the LLC doesn’t make income.
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.
Florida knows Montana LLCs are legal.
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 5,532 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, give us a call or email us: +1 (406) 740-6833 or hey@1dollarmontana.com
Or simply start your registration!
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.
