Montana CPA License Reinstatement: What a Lapsed License Costs
If your Montana CPA license has already lapsed
What it actually takes to get a lapsed Montana CPA license back — the fee, the catch-up CPE, and exactly what triggers "lapsed" in the first place. Sourced the same way every fact on this site is: a board page, plus the codified rule itself where we could confirm it against primary law, clearly labelled where we could only confirm it against the board's own page, never a guess.
No codified dollar figure exists for a stand-alone reinstatement fee. ARM 24.201.2161 (Reinstatement) requires only that you satisfy the standard CPE requirement in ARM 24.201.2106 for the three years before applying and submit supporting documentation -- no fee amount appears anywhere in the section. The closest confirmed figure is the late-renewal penalty, codified in ARM 24.101.403(2) at 100% of the renewal fee: on the $125 active renewal fee, that's a $125 penalty for a total of roughly $250. That's a late-fee formula, not a flat reinstatement fee.
- No extra CPE beyond the standard requirement -- reinstatement (ARM 24.201.2161) requires only the standard 120-hour/3-year CPE requirement (including its 2-hour ethics subset) already used for ordinary renewal, not an added penalty.
What triggers lapsed status: Permits and firm registrations must be renewed annually by December 31; missing that date adds a 100% late fee and, per general licensing rules, lapses the license. Returning to active status requires filing a License Reactivation Application and documenting the standard CPE requirement for the 3 years preceding the application.
See Montana's CPA license renewal deadline →