35-1-1026. Authority to transact business required. (1) A foreign corporation may not transact business in this state until it obtains a certificate of authority from the secretary of state.
     (2) The following activities, among others, do not constitute transacting business within the meaning of subsection (1):
     (a) maintaining, defending, or settling any proceeding;
     (b) holding meetings of the board of directors or shareholders or carrying on other activities concerning internal corporate affairs;
     (c) maintaining bank accounts;
     (d) maintaining offices or agencies for the transfer, exchange, and registration of the corporation's own securities or maintaining trustees or depositaries with respect to those securities;
     (e) selling through independent contractors;
     (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;
     (g) creating or acquiring indebtedness, mortgages, and security interests in real or personal property;
     (h) securing or collecting debts or enforcing mortgages and security interests in property securing the debts;
     (i) owning real or personal property 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 does not produce income, or is not used in the performance of a corporate function;
     (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
     (k) transacting business in interstate commerce.
     (3) The list of activities in subsection (2) is not exhaustive.
     (4) Except as provided in subsection (2), a foreign corporation is transacting business within the meaning of subsection (1) if it enters into a contract, including a contract entered into pursuant to Title 18, with the state of Montana, an agency of the state, or a political subdivision of the state and shall apply for and must receive a certificate of authority to transact business before entering into the contract. The secretary of state shall provide written notice to the contracting parties regarding the requirement that a foreign corporation obtain a certificate of authority. The foreign corporation must be allowed 30 days from the date of the notice to obtain the certificate of authority, and an existing contract may not be voided prior to the expiration of the 30 days. This subsection does not apply to goods or services prepared out of state for delivery or use in this state.

     History: En. Sec. 160, Ch. 368, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 363, L. 1999.