Salon Booth Rental Laws in Montana (2026)

Booth and suite rental in Montana — the whole program

Who may rent a booth or a suite in Montana

You practise under a licence issued by the Montana Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists, housed in the Business Standards Division of the Department of Labor and Industry. MCA 37-31-304 sets the entry requirements: an applicant must be at least 18 years old and hold a high school diploma or its equivalent, and must complete a course of study at a licensed school of the number of hours fixed for the licence sought — 1,100 hours for barbering, 900 hours for nonchemical barbering, 1,500 hours for cosmetology, 600 hours for electrology, 400 hours for manicuring, and 650 hours for esthetics (a person already licensed as a cosmetologist may instead qualify for the esthetics licence by passing the esthetics examination). Each applicant must then pass the examination the Board requires. MCA 37-31-102(5) removes natural hair braiding from the practice of cosmetology, so a person who only braids natural hair needs no licence from this Board. If you intend to rent a chair, a station or a suite rather than work as an employee, note at the outset that Montana treats that arrangement as a licensed activity in its own right: under MCA 37-31-302(5) a person may not manage or operate a booth without a booth rental licence, and under MCA 37-31-301 it is unlawful to own, manage or operate a salon, shop or booth without the licence this chapter requires.

The individual licences that qualify you

• Barber — individual practitioner licence, 1,100 hours (MCA 37-31-304).
• Nonchemical barber — 900 hours (MCA 37-31-304).
• Cosmetologist — 1,500 hours (MCA 37-31-304).
• Esthetician — 650 hours, or a licensed cosmetologist who passes the esthetics examination (MCA 37-31-304).
• Manicurist — 400 hours (MCA 37-31-304).
• Electrologist — 600 hours (MCA 37-31-304).
• Salon or barber shop licence — the establishment licence held by the owner of the premises (MCA 37-31-301; ARM 24.121.401).
• Booth rental licence — a separate licence held by the individual who rents space inside a licensed salon or shop and operates independently of the owner (MCA 37-31-302(5); MCA 37-31-309; ARM 24.121.301(3)).
• School licence and instructor licence — for teaching establishments and their teachers (MCA 37-31-311 et seq.).

Do you need your own establishment licence?

Montana is one of the states where the answer to 'do I need my own licence?' is yes, but the licence a booth renter needs is not the salon licence. Two different credentials sit on top of your practitioner licence. The owner of the premises holds the salon or barber shop licence and carries the inspection obligation for the physical facility. The person who rents a chair, station, room or suite inside those premises holds a booth rental licence issued in their own name. MCA 37-31-302(5) states that a person may not manage or operate a booth without a booth rental licence, and MCA 37-31-301 makes it unlawful to own, manage or operate a salon, shop or booth without the licence required by the chapter. ARM 24.121.301(3) supplies the substance of the distinction: a booth renter is an independent contractor, and is neither an employee of the salon owner nor the owner of the salon. So the renter is separately licensed, but does not apply for, and does not pay for, a salon or shop licence, and does not order a separate facility inspection — the $150 salon inspection fee in ARM 24.121.401 attaches to the salon or shop licence, not to the booth. If instead you take a lease on your own premises and operate a standalone suite as its own establishment, you are the owner of that establishment and the salon or shop licence applies to you in full.

The licence is issued by Montana Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists, Business Standards Division, Department of Labor and Industry (applications and renewals are filed online through the state licensing portal at ebiz.mt.gov/POL)..

1. Hold a current Montana practitioner licence in the discipline you will perform (barber, nonchemical barber, cosmetologist, esthetician, manicurist or electrologist). The booth rental licence is layered on top of a practitioner licence; it is not a substitute for one.
2. Identify the licensed salon or barber shop you will rent inside. The premises must already hold a salon or shop licence in the owner's name; ARM 24.121.401 sets that licence at $125 and adds a $150 salon inspection fee, both payable by the owner.
3. Apply for the booth rental licence online through the state portal. The Board has accepted only online applications since 28 February 2020; the paper checklist that still circulates is superseded on that point. The fee under ARM 24.121.401, effective 22 November 2025, is $95.
4. Confirm in writing with the salon owner that your arrangement matches the independent-contractor description in ARM 24.121.301(3) and the unemployment-insurance exclusion in MCA 39-51-204(1)(e). The Board's own booth rental page states the applicant is not employed by the owner of the shop as defined in 39-51-204(1)(e).
5. Label your space. ARM 24.121.403 requires the licence to be displayed and requires booth renters to label every area they maintain — including retail displays, roll-abouts, carts and manicure tables — so an inspector can tell your equipment and product from the owner's.
6. Renew every year. Under ARM 24.101.413 the booth rental licence, like the salon and barber shop licence, is on an annual 1 July cycle; the renewal window generally opens 3 May and closes 1 July, with a late period running to about 14 August.

Fee: Booth rental licence: $95 initial and $95 renewal (ARM 24.121.401, effective 22 November 2025). Salon or barber shop licence, paid by the owner of the premises: $125 initial and $125 renewal, plus a $150 salon inspection fee. Individual practitioner licence: $100. Late renewal carries a penalty equal to 100 percent of the renewal fee (ARM 24.101.403); that rule also fixes $5 for a duplicate licence, $20 for licence verification and $120 to reinstate an administratively suspended licence. A $75 booth figure still appears in older Board checklists and in third-party reproductions; it is superseded.

Renewal: ARM 24.101.413 splits the calendar. Booth rental, salon and barber shop licences renew ANNUALLY with a 1 July renewal date. Individual barber and cosmetologist licences renew BIENNIALLY with a 1 March renewal date. A licence not renewed lapses; under MCA 37-1-141 and ARM 24.101.408 a lapsed licence may generally be reactivated within a set period, but MCA 37-31-309 carves the booth licence out: a booth rental licence terminates if it is not renewed within one year of expiry, and the general reactivation mechanism of 37-1-141 does not apply to it. A terminated booth licence must be applied for again from the beginning.

What the booth and suite rules actually say

Booth rental is expressly lawful in Montana and is expressly licensed. The renter operates inside someone else's licensed salon or shop but holds their own booth rental licence under MCA 37-31-302(5). MCA 37-31-101(7) defines 'booth' by reference to MCA 39-51-204, the unemployment-insurance statute — which is the clearest signal in the whole scheme that the state treats the booth as a worker-classification arrangement first and a physical space second. ARM 24.121.301(3) states the position plainly: a booth renter is an independent contractor and is neither an employee of the salon owner nor the owner of the salon. Practical consequences follow from that. The renter sets and collects their own service prices, buys their own product and retail stock, and must label all areas they maintain — retail space, roll-abouts, carts, manicure tables — under ARM 24.121.403, because the inspector must be able to attribute a violation to the right licensee. The owner keeps the salon or shop licence, pays the $150 inspection fee and answers for the facility itself. Suite rental is handled the same way as chair rental when the suite sits inside a licensed salon or shop; a suite operated on its own premises makes the operator the establishment owner, with the salon or shop licence and its inspection.

What your own space must have

• The physical facility is the salon or shop owner's responsibility under the sanitation subchapter of ARM chapter 24.121. Note that the old sanitation subchapter 24.121.13 was REPEALED in its entirety (2024 MAR p. 2007, effective 10 August 2024); the operative sanitary requirements now sit in the renumbered rules, principally ARM 24.121.1501.
• A sink must be available and, as amended effective 22 November 2025, must not be located in a restroom. The rule's former requirement that a salon provide a restroom was REMOVED by the same amendment (MAR Notice No. 2025-221).
• Linens and garbage must be kept in covered containers; clean linen must be stored in an enclosed cabinet reserved for that purpose (ARM 24.121.1501).
• Where chemicals are stored in a publicly accessible restroom, they must be in a locked cabinet (ARM 24.121.1501).
• Prohibited implements and products may be seized on inspection; the licensee bears disposal costs and must settle them within 30 days (ARM 24.121.410).
• Booth renters must label all areas they maintain — retail displays, roll-abouts, carts and manicure tables — so that equipment and product can be attributed to the correct licensee (ARM 24.121.403).

What you must display

• Display your current licence in the salon or shop where you practise (ARM 24.121.403). Failure to display a licence is an enumerated ground for disciplinary action under MCA 37-31-331.
• Booth renters must display their booth rental licence in addition to their practitioner licence, since both are separate licences held in the renter's name.
• The salon or barber shop licence must be displayed by the owner of the premises.
• Label every area you maintain as a booth renter — retail display, roll-about, cart, manicure table (ARM 24.121.403).
• There is no state-mandated consumer price-list or complaint poster in the Board's rules comparable to those some other states impose; the display obligation is a licence-display and area-labelling obligation.

Inspection

MCA 37-31-312 gives Board inspectors the right to enter a salon or shop, a booth or a school during business hours, and makes refusal to permit entry a ground for suspension or revocation of the licence. The same section provides for an annual inspection of each licensed salon or shop and allows provisional licences pending inspection. ARM 24.121.410 carries the detail: inspections are conducted annually, the licensee has 10 days to respond to findings, prohibited items may be seized, and disposal costs must be paid within 30 days. ARM 24.121.412 requires 10 days' notice of changes and provides that a change of 50 percent or more in ownership voids the salon or shop licence, so a partial buy-out of a salon is a re-licensing event and not a paperwork amendment. The inspection fee of $150 in ARM 24.121.401 is charged with the salon or shop licence and is the owner's cost; a booth renter does not pay a separate inspection fee, but the inspector may enter and examine the booth, and violations found in the renter's labelled area attach to the renter's own licence.

Tax — on your rent and on your services

Services. Montana has no general sales tax. The Department of Revenue states directly that 'Montana does not have a general-use sales tax.' Your haircuts, colour services, facials and nail services are therefore not subject to a state sales tax, and there is no state sales-tax exemption certificate to collect from a client, because there is no tax to be exempt from. What the Department does issue is the Montana Business Registry Resale Certificate, which a Montana business uses to buy goods for resale free of tax in states that do tax them — useful if you buy retail product from an out-of-state distributor, not something you charge to a client. Rent. Because there is no general sales tax, the rent a booth renter pays the salon owner carries no state sales or gross-receipts tax. Contrast this with the states that tax commercial rent: in Montana the rent cheque is simply a deductible business expense to the renter and business income to the owner, reported through income tax, not through a transaction-tax return. The one genuine local exception is the resort tax under MCA Title 7, chapter 6, part 15: certain resort communities and resort areas may impose a local tax, but MCA 7-6-1503 reaches retail sales of 'luxuries', lodging and prepared food, not salon services as such and not the leasing of a booth. Check your specific resort community's ordinance before assuming a service is outside it. Income and payroll. Montana levies individual income tax and taxes businesses according to how they are registered with the IRS, so a sole-proprietor booth renter reports net profit on the Montana individual return and makes estimated payments. Withholding is the dividing line between a renter and an employee: the Department of Revenue requires a Montana withholding tax account from any business that issues Montana wages, issues Forms W-2 with or without withholding, or issues Forms 1099 with withholding. A salon owner who pays true booth renters issues neither, and needs no withholding account for them; a salon owner who is found to have employees rather than renters must open the account through the TransAction Portal or Form GenReg, remit wage withholding, and file the annual reconciliation Form MW-3 with W-2s. That reversal — backfiling withholding on people you treated as renters — is where a misclassification finding becomes expensive.

Renter or employee: the classification test

Montana does not leave the renter-versus-employee question to general common law; it writes the test into statute and points the cosmetology chapter at it. MCA 37-31-101(7) defines a 'booth' by reference to MCA 39-51-204, and MCA 39-51-204(1)(e) contains the cosmetologist/barber exclusion — the specific five-element test that keeps a chair renter out of the salon owner's unemployment-insurance payroll. The Board's own booth rental materials restate the key element: the applicant is not employed by the owner of the shop as defined in 39-51-204(1)(e). ARM 24.121.301(3) closes the loop on the licensing side by declaring that a booth renter is an independent contractor and is neither an employee of the salon owner nor the owner of the salon. What this means in practice is that the licence itself is part of the evidence. In many states a booth renter argues classification after the fact, on the strength of a lease and a price list. In Montana, holding a booth rental licence issued in your own name under MCA 37-31-302(5) is an affirmative, dated, state-issued fact about how you operate — and, conversely, a person working without one while claiming to be a renter has a licensing violation sitting on top of any classification dispute. Workers' compensation is a second, separate track and is administered by the Employment Relations Division, not the Board. Under MCA 39-71-417 an independent contractor in Montana is a person who renders service in the course of an occupation and (i) has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of the services, both under contract and in fact, and (ii) is engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business. On top of that two-part test, an independent contractor must EITHER obtain an Independent Contractor Exemption Certificate (ICEC) OR elect coverage under a Montana workers' compensation policy. There is no examination for the ICEC; the application is filed online with a non-refundable $125 fee and must be supported by business documentation showing an established business for each occupation listed. The Division warns that an independent contractor may be fined up to $5,000 per violation for performing work without an ICEC or workers' compensation coverage, for working under a revoked or suspended ICEC, for transferring an ICEC to another person, or for misrepresenting independent contractor status. A booth renter who has the Board licence but neither an ICEC nor elected coverage has closed only half the exposure.

What your city or county may add

MCA 37-31-323(3) is unusually protective of the practitioner: a municipality or other political subdivision may not charge an additional licence fee for the privilege of practising the occupations this chapter licenses. That removes the layer of city cosmetology permits that exists in several other states. It does not remove ordinary local business regulation: a general business registration, zoning and change-of-use approval, signage permits and building or plumbing permits for a build-out remain local matters, and a landlord's lease may impose more than the ordinance does. The resort tax under MCA Title 7, chapter 6, part 15 is the other genuinely local item — it applies only in designated resort communities and resort areas and reaches retail 'luxuries' under MCA 7-6-1503, so read the specific ordinance rather than assuming salon services are in or out.

What operating unlicensed costs

Operating without the required licence is a licensing offence and an enforcement matter. MCA 37-31-301 makes it unlawful to own, manage or operate a salon, shop or booth without the licence the chapter requires, and MCA 37-31-302(5) makes managing or operating a booth without a booth rental licence unlawful in terms. Under MCA 37-1-109 the department may issue a cease and desist order against unlicensed practice, may seek an injunction, and may impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per day of violation; the section also provides for felony treatment in the circumstances it specifies. For licensees, MCA 37-1-312 allows a fine of up to $5,000 per violation as a disciplinary sanction, and MCA 37-31-331 lists grounds for revocation or suspension including failure to display a licence. MCA 37-31-312 makes refusal to permit an inspector to enter during business hours a ground for revocation. On lapse, MCA 37-1-141 and ARM 24.101.408 provide the general sequence — a licence lapses at expiry, moves to expired status, and terminates after the period the rule fixes — but MCA 37-31-309 overrides it for booth licences: a booth rental licence terminates if not renewed within one year, and 37-1-141 does not apply. Late renewal within the grace period costs a penalty equal to 100 percent of the renewal fee (ARM 24.101.403). Separately, on the workers' compensation side, the Employment Relations Division may fine an independent contractor up to $5,000 per violation for working without an ICEC or coverage.

Program sources: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0310/part_0010/section_0010/0370-0310-0010-0010.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0310/part_0010/section_0020/0370-0310-0010-0020.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0310/part_0030/section_0010/0370-0310-0030-0010.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0310/part_0030/section_0020/0370-0310-0030-0020.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0310/part_0030/section_0040/0370-0310-0030-0040.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0310/part_0030/section_0090/0370-0310-0030-0090.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0310/part_0030/section_0120/0370-0310-0030-0120.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0310/part_0030/section_0230/0370-0310-0030-0230.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0310/part_0030/section_0310/0370-0310-0030-0310.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0010/part_0010/section_0090/0370-0010-0010-0090.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0010/part_0010/section_0410/0370-0010-0010-0410.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0010/part_0030/section_0120/0370-0010-0030-0120.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0390/chapter_0510/part_0020/section_0040/0390-0510-0020-0040.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0390/chapter_0710/part_0040/section_0170/0390-0710-0040-0170.html · https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0070/chapter_0060/part_0150/section_0030/0070-0060-0150-0030.html · https://rules.mt.gov/api/policy-library-public (Administrative Rules of Montana, Esper public policy library API — current adopted text of ARM 24.121.301, 24.121.401, 24.121.403, 24.121.407, 24.121.410, 24.121.412, 24.121.1501, 24.121.2310, 24.101.403, 24.101.408, 24.101.413, including the amendments stamped AMD 2025-221 effective 2025-11-22 and the repeal of subchapter 24.121.13 at 2024 MAR p. 2007 effective 2024-08-10) · https://boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov/barbers-cosmetologists/ · https://ebiz.mt.gov/POL/ · https://erd.dli.mt.gov/work-comp-regulations/montana-contractor/independent-contractor/ · https://revenue.mt.gov/taxes/general-sales-tax · https://revenue.mt.gov/taxes/withholding-tax/accounts · https://revenue.mt.gov/taxes/index · https://dli.mt.gov/media/pdf/2025-221pro-arm.pdf