The filing fee is the smallest number on this page. Verified July 8, 2026 against the California Secretary of State and Franchise Tax Board.
Uses the state's own published figures: $70 filing fee, $800 annual minimum franchise tax, $20 Statement of Information filed the first year and every two years after.
Planning figures only. Confirm the current amount with the Franchise Tax Board and Secretary of State before you file or pay.
A California LLC costs $70 to file, according to the California Secretary of State, but that number is almost beside the point. The Franchise Tax Board bills every California LLC an $800 minimum annual tax starting in year one, and the Secretary of State adds a $20 Statement of Information on top. Run the full 50-state comparison in StartAnLLCGuide's LLC cost calculator if you're weighing California against somewhere cheaper.
California temporarily waived the $70 Articles of Organization fee for any LLC-1 submitted between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023, part of a state budget provision aimed at new business formation. That waiver has been over for three years now. Every LLC-1 filed with the California Secretary of State since July 1, 2023 has paid the standard $70, and nothing published by the Secretary of State's office points to a new waiver returning in 2026. If a formation service tells you California LLC filing is currently free, that claim is stale.
Assembly Bill 85 let LLCs formed between 2021 and 2023 skip the $800 minimum franchise tax in their first year. That exemption applied only to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2021 and before January 1, 2024, and it has not been renewed. An LLC formed anywhere in 2026 owes the Franchise Tax Board's $800 minimum tax starting with its first tax year, whether the business earns a dollar or not. The Franchise Tax Board gives new LLCs until the 15th day of the 4th month after the Secretary of State files the Articles of Organization to make that first payment, so a June filing owes its first $800 by September 15.
Say a photographer files Articles of Organization for a California LLC in July 2026. She pays $70 to the Secretary of State at filing. Within 90 days she also owes $20 for her first Statement of Information. By September 15, 2026, she owes the Franchise Tax Board's first $800 minimum tax. Add it up and her year-one bill is $890 before she takes on a single client, not counting anything she spends on a registered agent, an accountant, or a business license from her city.
| Line item | Amount | Frequency | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Articles of Organization | $70 | One-time | CA Secretary of State |
| Minimum franchise tax | $800 | Every year | CA Franchise Tax Board |
| Statement of Information | $20 | Within 90 days, then every 2 years | CA Secretary of State |
| Registered agent (optional) | ~$125/yr | Every year, if hired | Market rate, not a state fee |
Year one runs $890 before any optional registered agent fee: the $70 filing fee, the first $800 franchise tax payment, and the first $20 Statement of Information. Year two, assuming no Statement of Information is due, drops to $800. The Statement of Information comes back around every other year, so a typical later year runs either $800 or $820 depending on the cycle. Over three years the running total lands near $2,510; stretch that to ten years and it's roughly $8,170, all before factoring in a paid registered agent.
These figures cover the state-level costs only. They don't include a local business license, a fictitious business name filing if you operate under a different name, an accountant's fee for the LLC's tax return, or a paid registered agent if you choose one over serving yourself. High-income LLCs and those taxed as partnerships may also owe California's LLC fee, a separate charge on gross receipts above $250,000 that stacks on top of the $800 minimum, which this page does not calculate.
No. California waived the Articles of Organization filing fee for submissions between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023 under a state budget provision. That waiver ended, and the California Secretary of State has charged the standard $70 fee on every LLC-1 filing since July 1, 2023.
No, not anymore. Assembly Bill 85 waived the $800 minimum franchise tax for an LLC's first tax year, but only for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2021 and before January 1, 2024. That window closed, so an LLC formed in 2026 owes the $800 minimum tax for its first year, per the Franchise Tax Board.
The Franchise Tax Board gives a new LLC until the 15th day of the 4th month after the date the Secretary of State files its Articles of Organization to pay the first year's $800 minimum tax.
The first Statement of Information is due within 90 days of filing your Articles of Organization, and after that it's due every two years during the applicable filing period, at $20 per filing, according to the Secretary of State.
Priya covers tax, regulation, and compliance: the rules that decide what you can and cannot do, usually filed in an obscure subsection that most people skip. She reads federal register notices in her spare time and is at peace with that being unusual.