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What Does an LLC Cost in California?

California's filing fee is a decoy. The real number is $890 in state charges in year one, driven by the $800 annual tax, and at least $800 every year after. One scheduled change matters if you are timing a formation: for first tax years beginning in 2027 through 2029, the first-year tax is $400, not $800. Here is every line, from the Secretary of State and the Franchise Tax Board.

By the LLCForming research teamFees checked Nov 8, 2026

Year one: what you pay to exist

Year-one cost in California	Amount
Articles of Organization (Form LLC-1), Secretary of State	$70
Statement of Information (Form LLC-12), due within 90 days	$20
Annual LLC tax, Franchise Tax Board (due by 15th day of the 4th month)	$800
EIN from the IRS	$0
Operating agreement (you write it, not filed)	$0
Total state cost, year one	$890

That $890 is the honest year-one number for California, and almost none of it is the filing fee people shop on. A registered agent service, if you hire one instead of naming an individual, adds roughly $125 to $249 a year depending on the provider. Local business licenses are extra and vary by city. The timing exception: if your LLC's first tax year begins in 2027, 2028, or 2029, a 2026 budget law (SB 122) cuts the first-year annual tax to $400, so the year-one total is $490 instead. The $800 applies in full from year two onward either way.

Every year after: the cost of staying alive

Recurring cost in California	Amount
Annual LLC tax, every year until the LLC is cancelled	$800
Statement of Information, every two years	$20 in filing years
Additional LLC fee, only if California income reaches $250,000	$0 for most small LLCs
Typical recurring total	$800 to $820/yr

California is a pay-to-exist state. The $800 is not tied to profit: a loss-making LLC owes it, and an inactive LLC owes it until it is cancelled with the state. Budget for it as rent on the liability shield. If the business is done, cancel promptly, because the meter runs until you do.

What drives the California total, year one vs. later

One line does almost all the work: the $800 annual tax is about 90 percent of the $890 year-one total. The formation paperwork people comparison-shop, the $70 Articles and the $20 Statement of Information, is a rounding error next to it. That is why California's year one and its later years look so similar. Take out the one-time $70 filing and the first $20 statement, and the recurring bill is $800 to $820 a year, every year, until the LLC is cancelled. In most states, year one is the expensive year and later years are the cheap ones. California inverts that: the first year is only slightly worse than every year that follows, and the meter never stops on its own. The only way the total grows is success, when California income reaches $250,000 and the income-based LLC fee in the section below switches on.

Over the first five years, the state total for a typical California LLC comes to about $4,130: the $890 first year, then four years at $800, plus the $20 Statement of Information in the two filing years that fall inside that window. No other state in this guide comes close, which is why the cancel-when-done advice on this page is not a formality.

The additional LLC fee nobody mentions at checkout

On top of the $800 tax, California charges an LLC fee scaled to the LLC's total California income, once that income reaches $250,000. Estimated and paid by the 15th day of the sixth month of the tax year, using Form FTB 3536. Underestimate the estimate and the FTB adds a penalty of 10% of the underpaid amount, so estimate honestly if your income is anywhere near a tier line. The Franchise Tax Board publishes the tiers:

Total California income	LLC fee
Under $250,000	$0
$250,000 to $499,999	$900
$500,000 to $999,999	$2,500
$1,000,000 to $4,999,999	$6,000
$5,000,000 or more	$11,790

This fee is in addition to, not instead of, the $800 annual tax and the LLC's regular California income tax on its owners. It is also the reason high-revenue businesses sometimes model an S corporation election with a tax professional. The fee alone does not settle that question.

Run your own version, with an optional registered agent added, in the LLC cost calculator. Every state's year-one and recurring totals sit in one table on the national cost hub, and if a service would act as your agent, the registered agent price tracker follows what that costs at each tracked provider. If you would rather a service handled the filing, the services comparison prices that honestly, renewals included.