How to Transfer a Car Title in Montana

Montana handles title transfers through county treasurer offices, and the absence of a state sales tax means most transfers skip the calculation that adds hundreds or thousands of dollars elsewhere.

Just moved to Montana? You have 60 days from establishing residency to register, and an out-of-state vehicle needs a VIN inspection. Start with transferring your license to Montana.

The short version

• Notarization is no longer required. HB 165 removed it in October 2025 — and guidance published months later still describes the old rule.
• 40 days to file, then a $10 late fee.
• No sales tax. Montana is one of a handful of states where a private vehicle sale carries no tax at all.

Notarization Ended in October 2025

House Bill 165 amended MCA 61-3-220 effective October 2025, removing the notarization and acknowledgment requirement for title-transfer signatures between individuals.

Before that, a seller’s signature had to be formally acknowledged — by a notary, a county treasurer or deputy, an authorized elected official, or an MVD employee. That requirement is gone. The seller signs the title and that’s sufficient.

This is worth checking your sources on. At least one legal-information site was still describing the acknowledgment requirement as current in May 2026, seven months after it was repealed.

Two narrow exceptions remain, both set out on Form MV24: a notary is still needed when the form accompanies an Application for Bond Title (MV10), or where an electronic records transfer occurs.

Montana Title Transfer Deadlines

Deadline	Applies to
40 days from the transfer date	Buyer, to apply for title and registration
60 days from establishing residency	New Montana residents registering a vehicle

Miss the 40 days and a $10 late fee applies. It’s modest — but there’s a trap attached.

Incomplete or unsigned documents are returned, and if that pushes you past the 40-day mark you’ll pay the penalty anyway. Check the packet line by line before you submit it, because the round trip is what costs you rather than the filing itself.

How to Transfer a Montana Car Title Step by Step

Step 1: What the Seller Does

1. Reassign the certificate of title to the buyer. All owners listed on the title must sign.
2. Complete the odometer disclosure, which is built into the buyer’s title application or done on a standalone Montana odometer form.
3. Remove your license plates before handing over the vehicle. Montana law treats plates as the property of the registered owner, not the vehicle.
4. Release any lien. The lienholder must release it — either a stamp on the title itself or a separate document — before the title can transfer.

Step 2: What the Buyer Brings

• The reassigned Montana title, or the title from the previous state
• Form MV1, Application for Certificate of Title
• A bill of sale showing the purchase price, date and odometer reading
• Proof of Montana liability insurance meeting the 25/50/20 minimums
• A lien release, if applicable
• A VIN Inspection Certificate (Form MV20) if the title is from another state

The VIN inspection is free and can be carried out by a Montana law enforcement officer or an MVD employee.

Step 3: File at Your County Treasurer

All title and registration transactions go through the County Treasurer’s office in the buyer’s county of residence.

MVD headquarters in Helena does not accept walk-in title applications from the public, so don’t go there. Contact your county treasurer in advance — requirements vary slightly and some offices work by appointment. Our guide to Montana MVD and county offices explains the split.

The MV1 is a printable PDF, but there’s no online submission — most counties require it in person, though some accept postal applications. Ask before you drive over.

You’ll select plates and pay all fees at the same visit. If you need to move the vehicle before plates are issued, a temporary permit is the legal route.

Step 4: Choose Your Registration Period

At this point you have a decision most states don’t offer. If the vehicle is 11 model years old or older, you can elect permanent registration and never renew it again while you own it.

Otherwise you’re choosing a 12-month or 24-month cycle. Our guide to Montana registration renewal covers the age-based fee tiers and the county option tax.

Processing takes roughly six to eight weeks by mail; in-person county processing is faster. The new title is posted to the address on file.

Do You Need a Bill of Sale in Montana?

Not required for most private transactions, but worth having — and Montana publishes an official version.

Form MV24 is the MVD’s Bill of Sale. You can also use the reassigned title itself or any document that records the year, make, VIN, both parties’ names and addresses, driver license number, purchase price and date of sale.

No notarization is needed following the 2025 change.

For a gift or family transfer, a bill of sale doesn’t replace the assigned title — but it’s a useful written record showing no money changed hands, which is worth keeping.

Montana Title Transfer Fees

Item	Amount
Title fee	Around $12
Sales or use tax	None
Registration, 0–4 years	$217
Registration, 5–10 years	$87
Registration, 11+ years	$28, or permanent
County option tax	0% – 0.7% of depreciated value
Lien filing fee	Applies where a lien is recorded
Late transfer fee	$10

The absence of sales tax is the headline. On a $30,000 vehicle, a buyer in Washington would pay upward of $2,500 in tax and a buyer in Colorado well over $2,000. In Montana that line doesn’t exist.

The county option tax is the only value-linked charge, and it’s based on depreciated MSRP rather than what you paid — running from nothing to 0.7% depending on what voters in that county approved.

Montana Car Title Transfer FAQs

Two things account for most Montana title problems: paperwork returned as incomplete, which can push you past the 40-day deadline, and sellers still paying for a notary Montana stopped requiring in October 2025.