California LLC Filing Fee (2026): $70 to File, $890 First Year

Filing the paperwork runs seventy dollars. Keeping the company standing through year one? Eight hundred ninety. That gap between the sticker price and the real cost is what this page is for. Every amount below is tied to the statute or the Secretary of State’s own fee list, cited in place, so you can check each number before you pay it.

What follows takes the California LLC filing fee in 2026 apart, line by line. You’ll get the $800 franchise tax and the statutes behind it, the income-based LLC fee most guides gloss over, the brand-new $400 first-year rule, and the optional charges worth paying or skipping.

The California LLC Filing Fee Is $70 in 2026 (Form LLC-1)

Formation of a California LLC comes down to a single document. The state’s formal name for it is the Articles of Organization; the label on the form itself is LLC-1; both point at the same short filing, made with the Secretary of State. The fee is $70, unchanged on the SOS fee list as of late July 2026. Most filers submit it online through the state’s bizfile portal; paper filings are also accepted, on a slower track.

Online is the fast lane. The Secretary of State publishes its processing dates daily, and as of July 30, 2026, online LLC formations submitted the previous business day were being processed: roughly one business day of wait. Those dates roll constantly and vary by submission method, so check the page the week you file.

That $70 is the entire California LLC filing fee. It is also, as the rest of this page shows, less than a tenth of what your first year will actually cost.

Every Fee a California LLC Pays: The 2026 Table

Two agencies bill a California LLC. The Secretary of State handles formation and information filings; the Franchise Tax Board (the FTB, California’s tax agency) collects the annual tax and the income-based fee. The table puts the California LLC filing fee next to everything that follows it.

Each row comes straight from the Revenue and Taxation Code, the Corporations Code, or the SOS fee schedule. The sections below take them one at a time, citation included.

How Much Does an LLC Cost in California in Year One?

The bottom line: $890 minimum for an LLC formed in 2026. That is the $70 California LLC filing fee, plus the $20 initial Statement of Information, plus the first $800 of annual franchise tax, which current law no longer waives for new companies. That floor sits before any registered-agent service, expedited processing, or income-based fee; those vary, and the state does not price them for you.

Want a personalized number instead of the floor? Our LLC formation cost calculator turns these figures into a year-one estimate for your state and choices. Either way, the deadlines matter as much as the amounts, because two of the three bills arrive on the tax calendar, not at filing.

Print it and tape it somewhere with foot traffic, or drop it into the task app that already nags you about everything else. Six lines. For most small companies, that is the entire state-fee calendar for year one.

The $800 Annual Franchise Tax, Straight from the Statute

Owning a franchise has nothing to do with it. The name is a leftover. What California charges under it today is a flat amount tied to the privilege of doing business in the state. The statute doing the work is Revenue and Taxation Code Section 17941, which reaches every LLC doing business in California and borrows its dollar amount from Section 23153, a different part of the code entirely. That amount: $800. Want it without the code citations? The Secretary of State’s FAQ says it outright: most businesses must pay a minimum franchise tax of $800 each year.

Mark April 15 if your LLC runs on the calendar year. Section 17941(c) phrases the deadline as the 15th day of the fourth month of the taxable year; run the count and, for a calendar-year company, it comes out to the same day. A brand-new LLC gets no grace period here: its first taxable year begins at formation, so the opening $800 comes due by the 15th day of the fourth month of that year, not the following April.

A loss year changes nothing either. The Franchise Tax Board collects whether you made money or lost it, since the statute taxes the privilege of doing business, not the income from it.

Form Now or Wait Until January? The New $400 Rule

Two first-year rules have come and gone here, and the difference is worth real money. The old AB 85 break, which zeroed out the first-year tax entirely, expired with the class of LLCs organized between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2023. Plenty of older guides never got the memo. But the memo matters if your LLC arrived in 2024, 2025, or 2026: the first taxable year owes the full $800, no discount, no waiver.

Then came SB 122. Tucked into the June 2026 budget package and codified at Section 17941(g)(2), it charges $400 instead of $800 for the first year of any LLC whose first taxable year begins on or after January 1, 2027 and before January 1, 2030. The standard $800 returns in year two and never leaves.

That creates a genuine timing decision for late-2026 founders. A November or December filing puts your first taxable year in 2026, and the full $800 comes with it. Picture a founder at a laptop in late December, cursor parked on the bizfile submit button, weighing exactly that: file tonight, or hold off until January and cut the first-year bill to $400. The $70 California LLC filing fee is identical either way; what changes is the first tax bill.

Generally, the $400 saving matters most when the business is not yet operating. If you are already signing contracts or taking customers, the liability protection an LLC exists to provide usually outweighs a one-time $400, and that trade-off is yours to weigh, not a rule.

The LLC Fee: A Second Bill Once Income Hits $250,000

On top of the flat $800, California charges a separate “LLC fee” that scales with size. The California LLC filing fee was a one-time charge; this bill repeats every year your income crosses the line. Fair warning: this is the part of the bill readers argue with. Revenue and Taxation Code Section 17942 builds it from four tiers, each keyed to total income from all sources attributable to California:

• $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

The word “income” is doing quiet work in that list. The statute means total income, a figure closer to gross receipts than to profit; expenses have not come out of it yet. Bill $300,000 while spending $290,000 to earn it, a year most owners would call a wash, and the $900 tier catches you all the same.

Margins never enter the formula.

The second trap is timing. Section 17942(d) wants the fee estimated and paid by the 15th day of the sixth month of the current taxable year, which for calendar-year LLCs means June 15. That means guessing at income you have not finished earning and sending the FTB’s estimated-fee payment months before the return, with the final amount settled later. If you expect to clear $250,000, calendar June 15 right next to April 15.

The Statement of Information: $20 Now, Then Every Two Years

The Statement of Information is California’s version of an annual report. It’s the filing that keeps your LLC’s addresses, management, and agent details current with the state. Corporations Code Section 17702.09 sets the schedule: the first one within 90 days of filing your Articles of Organization, then a new one every two years. Each filing costs $20, separate from the California LLC filing fee you paid at formation.

The biennial deadline is a window, not a date. Your filing period is the calendar month you originally formed in plus the five months before it: a six-month stretch ending with your anniversary month, and you can file any time inside it. This is also why the recurring cost of a California LLC is $800 a year plus $20 every two years, not one combined annual number.

Skipping it is expensive relative to the ask. Once the Secretary of State certifies the delinquency, Revenue and Taxation Code Section 19141 directs the Franchise Tax Board to assess a $250 penalty: twelve and a half times the $20 filing it replaces.

Optional Costs: Expedite Fees, Name Holds, and the Free EIN

Nothing in this section is required, and none of it changes the California LLC filing fee itself; these charges stack on top when you opt in.

Expedited processing. The SOS sells speed in three classes: 24-hour service for $350, same-day service for $750, and 4-hour service for $500. The 4-hour class is drop-off only in Sacramento and requires a separate 24-hour preclearance service that costs another $500, and any paper filing dropped off in person carries a $15 special handling charge. With online formations processing in about one business day as of late July 2026, most filers have little reason to pay for speed.

Name reservation. You can reserve an LLC name with the SOS for 60 days before filing. If your name is distinctive and you are ready to file now, the hold buys you little you do not already have.

The EIN, which should cost $0. Most LLCs need a federal tax ID for banking, hiring, and taxes. Get it directly from the IRS at no charge; the IRS itself warns, “You never have to pay a fee for an EIN.” Third-party sites that charge for one are reselling a free government service.

How California Compares with Other States

Here is the twist most guides bury: the California LLC filing fee is cheap. Across all 50 states, the average LLC filing fee is about $122 and the median is $100; California’s $70 sits below both. The cheapest state is Montana at $35, followed by Kentucky ($40) and Arkansas ($45), and the most expensive is Massachusetts at $500 to form and $500 every year.

California’s problem is never the front door; it is the rent. The $800 annual franchise tax makes the state’s ongoing costs the nation’s highest even though the California LLC filing fee sits below the national average. So compare lifetime costs, not the California LLC filing fee alone, before you pick a formation state, and remember that an LLC generally owes California’s annual tax whenever it is doing business in the state, wherever it originally filed.

The Cheapest Way to Form a California LLC

The DIY path costs exactly the state minimum, and no step requires special expertise:

1. Search your name in the SOS business database, and reserve it for 60 days only if you cannot file yet.
2. File Form LLC-1 online and pay the $70. As of late July 2026, online filings were processing in about one business day.
3. Get your EIN free from the IRS, never through a paid reseller.
4. File the initial Statement of Information within 90 days and pay $20.
5. Calendar two dates: the $800 franchise tax by the 15th day of your fourth month, and June 15 for the estimated LLC fee if income will reach $250,000.
6. Put an operating agreement in writing. That’s the internal document recording who owns what and who calls the shots. Banks will ask for it. So will co-owners, and so will anyone who buys the company down the road. A solid template keeps it from becoming a blank-page problem.

So the California LLC filing fee, seen in full: $70 at the door; $890 through year one once you count the franchise tax and the Statement of Information; then a steady $800 a year plus the $20 filing every two years. One scheduled break sits ahead: a first taxable year that begins in 2027 through 2029 runs $400 instead. The amounts are fixed; the only expensive mistakes left are missed dates.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does an LLC cost in California?

Plan on $890 as the realistic first-year floor. Most of that is tax: the Articles of Organization cost $70 and the initial Statement of Information $20, while the first year’s $800 annual franchise tax accounts for everything else. From year two the floor runs $800 a year, plus $20 every two years for the biennial Statement of Information. Hit $250,000 in California total income and a separate LLC fee of $900 to $11,790 lands on top. Optional extras, like expedited filing or a hired registered-agent service, add more.

Is the California LLC filing fee really only $70?

Yes, for the state filing itself. Form LLC-1, the Articles of Organization, carries a California LLC filing fee of $70, and the Secretary of State’s fee list showed no increase as of late July 2026. What follows is the expensive part. Within 90 days a $20 Statement of Information falls due, and year one brings the $800 annual franchise tax on top. Measured against that total, the $70 that created the company is less than a tenth of the real cost.

Does California still waive the first-year $800 franchise tax for new LLCs?

No. That break, AB 85, came with a sunset built in: it covered LLCs organized from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2023, and nothing after. An LLC formed in 2024, 2025, or 2026 owes the full $800 for its first taxable year. The next relief is already on the books, though. SB 122, codified at Revenue and Taxation Code Section 17941(g)(2), sets a $400 first-year tax for an LLC whose first taxable year begins in 2027, 2028, or 2029.

What happens if I do not file the Statement of Information?

Miss it and California reprices the paperwork: a $20 filing turns into a $250 penalty. Revenue and Taxation Code Section 19141 spells out how, with the Secretary of State certifying the delinquency and the Franchise Tax Board issuing the assessment. And the first clock is short: 90 days from the Articles of Organization to the initial Statement of Information. Updated ones follow every two years, inside a six-month window tied to your formation month. A calendar reminder is the cheapest insurance on this page.

When is the California LLC $800 franchise tax due?

By the 15th day of the fourth month of your taxable year, which for calendar-year LLCs works out to April 15. A new LLC runs on its own clock, meaning the first $800 payment falls due by the 15th day of the fourth month of its first taxable year, counted from formation. And if California total income will reach $250,000, put June 15 on the calendar too, since that is when the estimated LLC fee comes due for calendar-year filers. Send both payments to the Franchise Tax Board, not the Secretary of State.

ClearLegalTips

ClearLegalTips is an independent publisher of plain-English legal guides, free document templates, and cost calculators for common U.S. legal tasks. Every article is reviewed by founder and editor Fatih Öztürk and fact-checked against official sources: statutes, court fee schedules, and government filing pages. Not a law firm; nothing here is legal advice.