{"data":{"id":"us-mt/35-2-820","jurisdiction":"us-mt","citation":"35-2-820","heading":"Authority to transact business required.","body":"(1) A foreign corporation may not transact business in this state until it obtains a certificate of authority from the secretary of state.\n(2) The following activities, among others, do not constitute transacting business within the meaning of subsection (1):\n(a) maintaining, defending, or settling any proceeding;\n(b) holding meetings of the board of directors or members or carrying on other activities concerning internal corporate affairs;\n(c) maintaining bank accounts;\n(d) maintaining offices or agencies for the transfer, exchange, and registration of memberships or securities or maintaining trustees or depositaries with respect to those securities;\n(e) selling through independent contractors;\n(f) soliciting or obtaining orders, whether by mail or through employees or agents or otherwise, if the orders require acceptance outside this state before they become contracts;\n(g) creating or acquiring indebtedness, mortgages, and security interests in real or personal property;\n(h) securing or collecting debts or enforcing mortgages and security interests in property securing the debts;\n(i) owning real or personal property:\n(i) that is acquired incident to activities described in subsection (2)(h) if the property is disposed of within 5 years after the date of acquisition; or\n(ii) that does not produce income or is not used in the performance of a corporate function;\n(j) conducting an isolated transaction that is completed within 30 days and that is not a transaction in the course of repeated transactions of a similar nature; or\n(k) transacting business in interstate commerce.\n(3) The list of activities in subsection (2) is not exhaustive.","path":["TITLE 35. CORPORATIONS, PARTNERSHIPS, AND ASSOCIATIONS","CHAPTER 2. NONPROFIT CORPORATIONS","Part 8. Foreign Corporations"],"source_url":"https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0350/chapter_0020/part_0080/section_0200/0350-0020-0080-0200.html","current_through":"Montana Code Annotated 2025","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T04:53:11Z","sha256":"1a50909a55eb4630f468412dafc4fc500d328e3877dd82a66dd8ffcee54c49d9","source_id":"us-mt","stale":false,"prev":"us-mt/35-2-819","next":"us-mt/35-2-821"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}