Starting residency · MT
Starting residency in Montana
Montana requires residents to hold a training license from the Montana Board of Medical Examiners: the Resident License. Montana has a graduated income tax (top rate 5.65% above $47,500 for 2026).
Training license
- Status
- Training license required
- Called
- Resident License
- Fee
- $75
- Renewal
- Issued for up to 1 year; renewable at the board's discretion for further 1-year periods
Who applies: Resident, online; the residency program sends a letter of good standing directly to the board, and the applicant names a Montana-licensed supervising physician.
Montana law bars practicing medicine before a license is issued and creates a resident license; residents are not among the statutory exemptions. The license covers residents in Montana programs and residents of out-of-state programs on approved Montana rotations, seeing patients under a Montana-licensed physician's supervision. The board's materials do not describe moonlighting on a resident license. The renewal fee was not found on the pages read.
Full license: After completing PGY-1, if the resident stays enrolled and in good standing (2025 statute), or after completing residency. A full license matters if you plan to moonlight.
State income tax
Graduated income tax: top rate 5.65% above $47,500 for 2026.
Source: taxfoundation.org
Match Day to your first loan payment
Assumes you enroll in RAP or IBR when the grace period ends, recertify once a year, and file each tax return by April. Your servicer's dates govern.
Mid-March
Match Day
You learn where you'll train. Your program sends its residency (GME) agreement and onboarding steps.
March–April
Montana training license
Apply for your Montana training license as soon as your program sends instructions. Applications often need school records and background checks that take weeks.
April–June
Credentialing and onboarding
Hospital credentialing, health screening, payroll and benefits forms, and a DEA registration if your program requires one.
Late June–July 1
Move and start
Intern orientation usually starts in the last week of June. When the first paycheck arrives depends on the hospital's payroll schedule, so budget for a few weeks of moving costs without one.
About 6 months after graduation
Federal loan grace period ends
Payments start 6 months after you leave school. Choose a plan before then, or request residency forbearance, during which interest accrues and months don't count toward PSLF.
First year of payments
Payments use last year's income
RAP and IBR use the adjusted gross income on your most recent tax return, which for most new residents is a student year. Payments rise after you recertify with a resident's income.
One board licenses MDs and DOs.
Related
- Compare RAP, IBR and Tiered Standard on a resident's income
- Montana physician non-compete law, for when you sign your first attending contract
- All states
General information, checked on the date above. Board requirements and fees change; confirm with the Montana Board of Medical Examinersand your program before you apply.