Title & Escrow Companies Bookkeeping in Montana

Escrow and trust account requirements in Montana are set by state law and by the underwriters you are appointed with, and they typically cover how funds are held, how frequently the account is reconciled, and what records must exist for each file. The reconciliation that satisfies all of them is the three-way: escrow bank balance, escrow book balance, and the sum of the individual file ledgers, agreeing at one point in time. Two of the three will frequently agree while the third does not, which is precisely why the third exists. The entity is registered with the Montana Secretary of State, and because Montana levies no statewide general sales tax there is no revenue account to maintain alongside it — one fewer Montana registration to let lapse. We keep that reconciliation current and documented; whether it meets your specific Montana obligation is a determination for you, your counsel, and your underwriter.

Montana is one of thirteen states with no real estate transfer or deed tax, so a closing here moves fewer separate collections through escrow than in most states. Recording fees, underwriter premium splits, and payoffs still pass through and are still not income — the principle is unchanged, there are simply fewer lines to get wrong. The retained premium, after the underwriter's share, is where the actual revenue sits.

Registering to do business in Montana runs through the Montana Secretary of State and employer accounts through the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. Because Montana has no sales tax account to maintain, there is one less registration to let lapse than in most states.

Beyond sales tax, Montana imposes the Local resort taxes and the lodging taxes below. No general sales tax and no gross receipts tax, but resort communities levy their own local tax, and accommodations are taxed statewide. That sits alongside registration with the Montana Secretary of State, and it is the obligation most often missed by businesses who concluded from the absence of a sales tax that Montana asks nothing of them. It is accrued as it builds rather than discovered at year end.