Official fees
Montana car sales tax chart
Montana motor vehicle sales tax
0%
no state or local sales tax on any vehicle
Registration (replaces nothing - always owed)
$28–$217/yr
by vehicle age
County option tax (most counties)
0%–0.7%
of depreciated original MSRP, per year
Title fee
$12.36
Figures verified July 2026 against official sources (listed below). Always confirm the final amount with your county treasurer's motor vehicle office (MT MVD) - counties can add small local fees.
- Sales tax rate
- 0%
- Applies to
- Every vehicle, every price
- You still owe
- Registration + county tax
- Montana LLC trick
- Legal here, risky at home
- Other 0%-tax states
- AK, DE, NH, OR
Overview
What it doesn't mean is a free ride. You'll still owe an age-based registration fee and, in most counties, a local option tax charged annually on the vehicle's depreciated original MSRP - which is a genuinely different bill than a one-time sales tax, not a rebrand of it. This page also covers the search that brought a lot of people here: registering an out-of-state vehicle through a Montana LLC to dodge your home state's sales tax, and why that's riskier than the ads make it sound.
Same state, other costs
More Montana vehicle costs
Common questions
Montana car sales tax FAQ
- Does Montana really charge 0% sales tax on cars?
- Yes. Montana has no statewide or local general sales tax, and vehicles get no special exception the way some 0%-tax states occasionally carve one in. A $200,000 truck and a $2,000 beater both owe exactly $0 in sales tax here.
- If there's no sales tax, why do I still owe money at the county office?
- Registration and the county option tax aren't sales tax - they're separate, ongoing charges that exist whether you bought the vehicle in Montana, inherited it, or moved here with it. Registration is age-based ($28-$217/yr); the county option tax, where a county imposes one, is up to 0.7% of the depreciated original MSRP, billed annually (or once, at 5x, if you go permanent).
- What is the 'Montana LLC' trick people talk about for exotic cars?
- Out-of-state buyers form a Montana LLC, then title and register the vehicle in the LLC's name in Montana, paying $0 sales tax instead of their home state's 6-10%. On a $300,000 car that can look like a $20,000-$30,000 saving. It is legal under Montana law for the LLC itself - Montana doesn't require the vehicle to ever touch the state.
- What's the actual risk of registering my car through a Montana LLC?
- Your home state, not Montana, is the danger. States including California, Colorado, and Washington actively investigate residents who keep and drive a vehicle at home while it's plated to an out-of-state shell LLC, and prosecute it as sales/use tax evasion - a YouTuber was arrested on two felony tax-evasion counts in Tennessee in 2025 over exactly this on a $400,000 Ferrari. Some states have also stiffened penalties for it recently: Georgia doubled its late-payment penalty for vehicles held in passive out-of-state entities starting January 2026.
- Are there other real risks besides getting caught?
- Insurance is the quiet one. Many insurers will deny a claim or void the policy entirely if they discover the vehicle is titled to a Montana LLC but actually garaged and driven in another state - because the policy was written (and priced) as if the car lived in Montana. That's a real car totaled with no payout, not a hypothetical.
- Is there any legitimate reason to use a Montana LLC for a vehicle?
- Yes - if you genuinely operate a Montana-based business (or the vehicle is primarily used there), an LLC is an ordinary way to title a business asset, same as in any state. The legal exposure shows up specifically when the LLC exists only on paper to avoid tax on a car that lives and drives somewhere else.
Receipts
Official sources
Every number on this page comes from these documents - check them yourself.
