How Much Does an LLC Cost in California? (2026 fees)
Forming an LLC in California costs $70 to file. The annual report is $20, biennial. Acting as your own registered agent, five years costs $4,120 — every figure transcribed from the state's own fee schedule and dated.
Filing fee
$70
Annual report
$20 biennial
Year one
$880
Five years
$4,120
⚠️ California charges 11.57× the filing fee, every year. California charges $70 to form an LLC and about $810 every year afterwards — 11.57× the filing fee, annually. The number most comparisons quote is the one that matters least.
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Estimate only — not tax, legal, or accounting advice. This is the published math for California LLC formation and ongoing costs. Confirm final figures with your payroll provider, accountant, or the state agency before acting on them.
California LLC Filing Fee ($70)
Paid once, when you file the Articles of Organization. $70.00 for Articles of Organization (Form LLC-1), the same online through bizfile Online or on paper. Hand-delivering the document to the Sacramento office for over-the-counter processing adds a $15.00 special handling fee.
California Annual Report ($20 biennial)
Due Statement of Information, Form LLC-12 ($20.00, or Form LLC-12NC at $20.00 when nothing has changed). The first one is due within 90 days of filing the Articles of Organization, then biennially. The filing window is the six-month period ending on the last day of the anniversary month of formation. Filing an amended statement between periods to report a change costs nothing.. Missing it is how most administrative dissolutions start, so it is worth a calendar entry rather than a memory.
California Annual LLC Tax (franchise tax) ($800)
A flat annual charge. Owed by every LLC doing business in or organized in California, whether or not it made a dollar, until the LLC is cancelled. Due on the 15th day of the 4th month of the taxable year; for a brand-new LLC, the 15th day of the 4th month from the date it files with the Secretary of State. Paid with LLC Tax Voucher FTB 3522. The first-year exemption people still cite applied only to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2021 and before January 1, 2024 — it does NOT apply in 2026.
California LLC Fee (total California income) (a formula)
A separate, tiered fee stacked on top of the $800 tax, based on total income from all sources derived from or attributable to California. Under $250,000: $0. $250,000–$499,999: $900. $500,000–$999,999: $2,500. $1,000,000–$4,999,999: $6,000. $5,000,000 or more: $11,790. It is a step function on gross-style income, not a percentage of profit, so an LLC can owe $6,000 in a year it lost money. Estimated and paid by the 15th day of the 6th month of the current tax year using Form FTB 3536; underpaying the estimate adds a 10% penalty on the shortfall. Administered by the Franchise Tax Board, not the Secretary of State.
What costs $0 in California
- EIN from the IRS — An Employer Identification Number is issued free by the IRS. Nobody needs to be paid for it.
- Operating agreement — Not filed with the Secretary of State. It costs $0 to write one.
- Amended Statement of Information — The fee schedule prices it at NO FEE: "Submission of a statement between applicable filing periods to report a change of information ... NO FEE". Updating your address between filing periods should never cost you.
- Certificate of Dissolution / Cancellation — Forms LLC-3, LLC-4/7 and the short form LLC-4/8 are all listed as NO FEE. Closing a California LLC costs nothing at the Secretary of State — the expense is the $800 tax that runs until you do.
Listed first on purpose. Knowing what not to pay for is the part of this page most likely to save you money.
19 of 51 jurisdictions verified against their Secretary of State so far. A state we have not read gets no entry rather than a guess.
Pick a different state to price the “form in Wyoming, operate at home” structure honestly — both filings, both annual reports, both agents.
The filing fee is year one; the annual obligations are forever. Comparisons that stop at year one are ranking states by the number that matters least.
Year one
$150 – $350
Every year after
$100 – $300
5-year total
$550 – $1,550
| Articles of Organization filing feeone-off$50.00 total for regular processing of Articles of Organization; $85.00 total if you add expedited processing. Arizona's fee schedule quotes TOTAL fees rather than add-ons, so $85 is the whole bill, not $50 + $85. All fees are non-refundable under A.R.S. §29-3213. | $50 |
| Publication requirementone-offformulaPublication is required by A.R.S. §29-3201 — but whether it costs anything depends on your statutory agent's county. If the statutory agent's street address is in Maricopa or Pima county, the Commission publishes the notice on its own website at no charge and you do nothing. Outside those two counties you must publish in a newspaper, typically three consecutive publications, and pay that newspaper directly (commonly in the $30–$300 range depending on the paper — that range is market context, not a published figure, and the ACC sets no rate). Do not publish until the Commission approves the Articles; the approval letter tells you how. | $0 |
| Annual reportArizona LLCs file no annual report. The Corporation Commission's FAQ states it directly: "No, LLCs are not required to file annual reports. Only corporations are required to file annual reports." The LLC fee schedule carries no annual report line, consistent with that. The ongoing obligation is instead to keep a statutory agent and a valid principal address on file at all times — failing that leads to administrative dissolution under A.R.S. §29-3708. | $0 |
| Registered agent (commercial)Market range, not a statutory fee — this is the one line here you choose. | $100 – $300 |
What costs nothing in Arizona
- EIN from the IRS — An Employer Identification Number is issued free by the IRS. Nobody needs to be paid for it.
- Operating agreement — The Commission's own instructions: "An operating agreement is not required by statute." It is not filed with the ACC — "DO NOT FILE operating agreements with the Arizona Corporation Commission." It costs $0 to write one.
- Annual report — Arizona LLCs do not file one, so there is no annual report fee to pay and no annual report service to buy.
- Newspaper publication, in Maricopa or Pima county — If your statutory agent's street address is in Maricopa or Pima county the ACC publishes the notice on its website automatically at no cost. Publication services sold to filers in those two counties are selling something the state already did for free.
- Name reservation — Not free ($10.00), but not required either — the Commission's instructions say plainly "Reserving the name is not required."
Listed because knowing what NOT to pay for is half of what this page is for.
- Arizona requires newspaper publication after formation. Publication is required by A.R.S. §29-3201 — but whether it costs anything depends on your statutory agent's county. If the statutory agent's street address is in Maricopa or Pima county, the Commission publishes the notice on its own website at no charge and you do nothing. Outside those two counties you must publish in a newspaper, typically three consecutive publications, and pay that newspaper directly (commonly in the $30–$300 range depending on the paper — that range is market context, not a published figure, and the ACC sets no rate). Do not publish until the Commission approves the Articles; the approval letter tells you how. It is a real cost and it is not in the totals below, because it depends on where you file.
Every verified state, ranked by the 5-year total
Own-agent figures, so this compares states rather than service purchases. Each state links to its full fee page.
| State | Filing | Per year after | 5-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | $50 | $0 | $50 |
| Ohio | $99 | $0 | $99 |
| Hawaii | $51 | $15+formula | $126 |
| Utah | $59 | $18 | $149 |
| Colorado | $50 | $25 | $175 |
| Michigan | $50 | $25 | $175 |
| New York | $200 | $5 | $223 |
| Texas | $300 | $0+formula | $300 |
| Wyoming | $100 | $60 | $400 |
| Georgia | $110 | $60 | $410 |
| Illinois | $150 | $75 | $525 |
| Florida | $125 | $139 | $819 |
| Kentuckytrap | $40 | $190+formula | $990 |
| North Carolina | $125 | $200 | $1,125 |
| Nevadatrap | $75 | $350 | $1,825 |
| Delawaretrap | $110 | $400 | $2,110 |
| Tennessee | $300 | $400+formula | $2,300 |
| Pennsylvaniatrap | $125 | $707+formula | $3,660 |
| Californiatrap | $70 | $810+formula | $4,120 |
How Much Does an LLC Cost?: computed in your browser from verified fee packs; nothing is transmitted.
Thinking of forming in another state to save money? Price both structures — operating in California means registering here either way, so the second state is added to the bill rather than substituted for it. Compare every verified state →
Verified 2026-08-04 against California Secretary of State, Business Programs Division — Business Entities Fee Schedule (BE FEES, Rev. 06/2018) (effective 2026-01-01)
Source of record
- California Secretary of State, Business Programs Division — Business Entities Fee Schedule (BE FEES, Rev. 06/2018) ↗Secretary of State
Run it against the official tool: California Franchise Tax Board — Limited liability company annual tax and LLC fee ↗
🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
The full price of an LLC in each verified state: the one-off filing fee, the report the state expects every year or two, any franchise or gross-receipts tax on top, and what those add up to over the years you actually intend to be in business.
How it works
Every figure comes from a rule pack transcribed from the Secretary of State or tax agency that sets it, with the source and verification date shown. The projection multiplies the recurring obligations out over your chosen horizon; where a state publishes a formula rather than a flat amount, the tool carries the formula and its floor rather than inventing a number.
Getting the most from it
- Pick the state you would form in — only states we have verified appear, and the count is stated.
- If the business will operate in a DIFFERENT state, say so: the tool then prices both filings, both annual reports, and the registered agent you would have to rent.
- Toggle the registered agent off if you have an address in the state and are willing to be your own — most states allow it at no cost.
- Change the projection length and watch the ranking of states change with it.
- Read the zero-cost list before paying anyone for anything on it.
Reading your result
The year-one figure is what starting costs; the every-year-after figure is what staying costs; and the multi-year total is the honest basis for comparing states. A trap badge means the state charges more every year than it charged to form — the number in most comparison tables is the smallest one that state will ever bill you.
What it can't tell you
It prices state obligations, not your taxes: state income tax, sales tax registration, and local licences depend on what the business does and are not in these figures. It also cannot decide whether an LLC is the right structure — that question involves liability and tax facts this page cannot see.
Frequently asked questions
$70 to file the Articles of Organization. $70.00 for Articles of Organization (Form LLC-1), the same online through bizfile Online or on paper. Hand-delivering the document to the Sacramento office for over-the-counter processing adds a $15.00 special handling fee. That is the only mandatory cost to form — an EIN from the IRS is free and an operating agreement is a document you write yourself, not something the state charges for.
Related calculators
Startup cost
A line-item budget that keeps the two questions separate: what it costs to open, and what it costs every month to stay open. The headline output is the cash needed to launch and survive a chosen runway with no revenue at all — the deliberately pessimistic figure lenders actually ask about.
Break-even
Work out how many units you need to sell before the business covers its costs. Charts the crossing point, counts your own pay as a cost, includes the card fees and refunds most calculators leave out, and separates cash break-even from the accounting one. A planning estimate from your own figures.
Employee cost
What a hire actually costs once employer taxes, benefits and overhead are counted. Social Security to this year’s wage base, Medicare, federal unemployment after the state credit, and your state’s own unemployment tax at its own wage base — every rate cited to the agency that published it, with the math shown.
Change alerts — when a state revises the guideline or deadline behind this page
One email when the numbers change. Double opt-in, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.