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Montana Workers' Comp Rate Calculator

Estimate a Montana workers' comp premium from payroll, a rate per $100 and your experience mod. Defaults are explained under the rate field.

Regulator
Montana Department of Labor & Industry, Employment Standards Division
Market Type
Private insurers and Montana State Fund
Rating Organization
NCCI
Class System
NCCI class codes
Step 1 — Your Business
About Your Montana Business
Step 2 — Experience & Claims
Your Claims History
Total Incurred ($)
# of Claims
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Step 3 — Compare Options
Coverage Options
Your Results
Premium Estimate
Estimated Annual Premium
$0
Payroll/100 × Rate × EMR
YearEstimate
Illustrative Mod Path (3 Years)
Current Path
PEO Path

An estimate, not a quote. How this calculator works.

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Workers' comp in Montana: what's different

Montana law sorts coverage into three numbered plans: self-insurance (Plan 1), a private insurer (Plan 2), or Montana State Fund (Plan 3), a nonprofit, independent public corporation. Rates fall under the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance (CSI), part of the State Auditor's office, and NCCI files the advisory loss costs. The Department of Labor & Industry (DLI), through its Employment Standards Division, enforces coverage, runs the Uninsured Employers' Fund, and issues independent contractor exemption certificates.

Who must carry coverage

There is no headcount threshold. The Act applies to all employers, and anyone with even one worker hired under a written or oral contract of hire must pick Plan 1, 2, or 3. DLI says that includes part-time, seasonal, and occasional workers.

Unless the employer elects coverage and an insurer agrees, Section 39-71-401(2) leaves out, among others: household and casual work; a dependent relative or spouse the employer can claim under federal tax rules; commission-only real estate, securities, and insurance salespeople; and workers of a business at least 51% owned by enrolled tribal members operating solely within a reservation.

How owners are treated:

  • Corporate officers and managers of manager-managed LLCs are exempt if they own 10% or more of the company (counting certain relatives' shares), or if they do no ordinary worker duties and take no pay for them. The company can cover them by written notice to its board and, under Plan 2 or 3, its insurer.
  • Sole proprietors, working partners, and working members of member-managed LLCs are outside the Act. But if they regularly work away from their own fixed place of business, they must buy coverage on themselves or hold an exemption certificate.

If you contract out work that is a regular part of your business and the contractor has not complied, you owe benefits to the contractor's employees. When DLI finds an uninsured subcontractor on a prime contractor's job, it orders the prime to stop that sub's work. If the prime has not complied after 3 business days, DLI can order all work at the affected sites stopped, and a prime that ignores that order faces up to $1,000 a day.

Out-of-state construction employers must buy Montana coverage for their workers unless a reciprocal agreement expressly includes construction. DLI reports such agreements with seven states and says three of them (Oregon, North Dakota, and Washington) exclude all construction projects.

Independent contractor exemption certificates

Montana's certificate (ICEC) works as a waiver. The holder gives up all workers' comp benefits unless they elect coverage on themselves, and while working in a trade listed on the certificate is conclusively presumed to be an independent contractor. You apply online to DLI with a nonrefundable $125 fee and documents showing an established business for each listed occupation. A certificate lasts 2 years.

DLI warns that hiring a contractor with neither a certificate nor self-elected coverage could lead the state to treat that person as your employee, and that a 1099 does not make someone a contractor. Working without a certificate or coverage, or misrepresenting contractor status, draws fines of up to $1,000 for a first violation, up to $2,500 for a second, up to $5,000 for a third, and $5,000 for each one after that.

Where coverage comes from

  • Plan 1, self-insurance. You must prove solvency to DLI and the Montana self-insurers guaranty fund.
  • Plan 2, private insurance. Any insurer authorized to write workers' comp in Montana.
  • Plan 3, Montana State Fund. DLI describes it as a competitive state fund and a guaranteed market for all Montana employers.

Who sets rates

Every insurer must belong to the advisory organization the commissioner designates and use its uniform classification system and experience rating plan. NCCI is the licensed advisory organization making loss cost filings for Montana insurers. By law those filings cover prospective loss costs only, with no expenses (other than loss adjustment expense) or profit. Each insurer files its own rates and may adopt NCCI's loss costs with or without a deviation.

On January 29, 2026, NCCI filed for a 5.0% decrease in voluntary loss costs effective July 1, 2026. We did not find the commissioner's decision: CSI's rates page and site search showed no NCCI order on October 17, 2026, and CSI points the public to SERFF Filing Access, which we could not search.

The State Fund's board sets its own rates with an independent actuary, files them with the commissioner, and may sort employers into rating tiers based on losses, premium size, and other factors. It may also charge an expense constant and a minimum premium.

Experience rating

All insurers, the State Fund included, use the uniform experience rating plan that the advisory organization files and the commissioner approves. The law lets the advisory organization calculate mods and share them only with a licensed producer or insurer, or with DLI for regulatory use. The State Fund's board may set its own mod thresholds.

If no insurer will write you

The State Fund is the backstop. It must insure any Montana employer that requests coverage, unless the employer or its principals have an unsatisfied default on a State Fund obligation.

Penalties for going uninsured

  • Stop-work order. DLI must order an uninsured employer to cease operations until it elects a plan. Each day of ignoring the order is a separate misdemeanor.
  • Money penalty. Up to double the Plan 3 premium you would have paid on Montana payroll for uninsured periods in the past 3 years, or $200, whichever is greater. You also repay every dollar the Uninsured Employers' Fund pays your injured worker, plus $200 more if you don't get coverage within 30 days of notice. Unpaid balances accrue 12% a year.
  • Lawsuits. The usual bar on injury lawsuits does not protect uninsured employers. If an injured worker sues, the employer cannot blame the worker's own negligence (unless willful), a co-worker, or an assumed risk.

Your ongoing obligations

  • Post the notice. Put up DLI's workers' comp sign where employee notices normally go. Purposely or knowingly skipping it brings a $50 fine per citation.
  • Report injuries within 6 days. Plan 2 and 3 employers must report every accident, injury, or occupational disease to their insurer. Under ARM 24.29.801, the first report of occupational injury/occupational disease goes to the insurer, or to DLI, within six days of notice. Failing to file required reports costs $200 to $500 per offense.

Worked example: how the calculator estimates premium

Premium = (payroll / 100) x rate per $100 x experience mod

This example uses one insurer's filed rate, not a statewide rate. Montana State Fund publishes rates by class and tier, and its July 1, 2026 edition (policy year 2027) puts class 5551, Roofing-All Kinds & Drivers, at $9.436 per $100 of payroll in Tier 1 up to $21.042 in Tier 5. These are not NCCI loss costs. Tier 3 is $14.512, down from $15.88 in the July 1, 2025 edition. We picked Tier 3 only as an illustration, since the fund assigns your tier. Payroll and mod are hypothetical, and the example leaves out any expense constant or minimum premium.

  • Hypothetical annual roofing payroll: $250,000
  • State Fund Tier 3 rate for 5551 (July 1, 2026 edition): $14.512 per $100
  • Hypothetical experience mod: 0.95

Step by step

  1. Divide payroll by 100: $250,000 / 100 = 2,500 units
  2. Multiply by the rate: 2,500 x $14.512 = $36,280.00
  3. Multiply by the mod: $36,280.00 x 0.95 = $34,466.00

Your real premium depends on the tier the fund assigns you or on a private carrier's own rates.

Frequently asked questions

I have one part-time employee. Do I need workers' comp in Montana?

Yes, unless the job falls in an exempt category such as casual or household work. DLI says part-time workers must be covered.

I'm a self-employed roofer with no employees. What do I need?

If you regularly work away from your own fixed place of business, you need a policy on yourself or a DLI exemption certificate. The certificate costs $125, lasts 2 years, and waives your own right to benefits.

Can Montana State Fund refuse to cover me?

Only if you or your principals still owe it on a defaulted obligation. Otherwise it must insure any Montana employer that asks.

What happens if I'm caught without coverage?

DLI orders you to stop operating until you're covered. It can assess up to double the State Fund premium you avoided over as many as 3 years (minimum $200), and you repay any benefits the Uninsured Employers' Fund pays your injured worker.

Official sources

Sources accessed 2026-10-17.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm details with the Montana Department of Labor & Industry, Employment Standards Division.

Reviewer: Sam Newland, CFP, Founder of Benefitra. Last updated October 17, 2026. How the calculator works. Editorial policy.