State fees
Forming an LLC in California
California charges $70 to form an LLC and $800 a year to keep, for a company with no revenue in the state.
Cheap to file and expensive to keep. An $800 annual tax is owed by any LLC organised in the state, whether or not it does business there.
- To form
- $70
- Each year after
- $800
- Every two years
- $20
The fees
Each fee links to the California page it was read on.
To form
- California form LLC-1 (rev. November 2023)
Articles of Organization (LLC-1)
$70
Every year
Annual LLC tax
$800
Owed by every LLC doing business or organised in California, and it stays due even if the LLC is not conducting business, until the LLC is cancelled. The first payment falls due on the 15th day of the fourth month after the Articles are filed. The first-year exemption applied only to LLCs formed in 2021 to 2023.
California Franchise Tax Board: limited liability companies
Every two years
Statement of Information
$20 every two years
Within 90 days of formation and every two years after. Missing it carries a $250 penalty.
California form LLC-12 (rev. December 2022)
Only if it applies
Charged in some situations. Not in the totals above.
LLC fee on California income
$900 to $11,790
Only above $250,000 of income from California: $900 from $250,000, $2,500 from $500,000, $6,000 from $1,000,000 and $11,790 from $5,000,000.
California Franchise Tax Board: limited liability companies
Optional
Name reservation and faster processing. Not in the totals above.
Name reservation
$10
From the Secretary of State's fee schedule dated June 2018.
California Secretary of State fee schedule (June 2018)- California Secretary of State: service options
Expedited filing
$350 in 24 hours; $500 in 4 hours; $750 same day
The rules that decide the cost
- Registered agent
Required, at a California street address
A California-resident individual or a registered corporate agent.
California Secretary of State: service of process- Newspaper notice
None listed
The Articles form and the Secretary of State's pages we read do not mention publication.
California form LLC-1- Member names on the public record
Not on the Articles; yes on the Statement of Information
Manager or member names and addresses on the Statement of Information become public record.
California form LLC-12- When it is due
Tax: 15th day of the fourth month of the tax year
California Franchise Tax Board: business due dates
Worth knowing
Because the $800 falls due about three and a half months after formation, the first payment comes before the company has earned anything.
California Franchise Tax Board: limited liability companies
What we could not confirm
Not published on a California page we could read, so left out rather than estimated.
- A Secretary of State fee schedule newer than June 2018. The $70 filing fee is confirmed on a form revised November 2023.
For a domestic single-member LLC with no employees, no revenue and no office in California. Read on California’s own websites in September 2026. State fees change, so confirm on the state’s page before you file. The IRS side is the same in every state: see the filing deadlines. Not tax or legal advice.