Best llc service in california [Definitive Guide]



Last updated : Aug 9, 2022
Written by : Sidney Geitner
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Best llc service in california

Which company is best for LLC?

Best for Online Business LegalZoom LegalZoom is a large, recognized name in online legal services and earns our top spot as the best LLC filing company for online businesses. LegalZoom is our winner thanks to its low-cost option for new LLC filings.

Is LLC worth it in California?

Is LLC Worth It in California? Having an LLC in California offers liability protection, which is worth the additional costs. In addition, an LLC protects all of your assets should your business get sued or be unable to pay its debts.

Where is the best place to register my LLC?

  • Delaware is the most popular state to file an LLC in because it has a strong reputation for being business-friendly and offers a fast filing process with increased protection for owners.
  • Wyoming offers low fees and great tax benefits for people looking to start an LLC.

Is LegalZoom worth the money?

It offers versatile legal services, great customer support, and access to ongoing legal advice for a flat monthly fee. Although its one-off services are not the cheapest out there, LegalZoom's lead-in formation packages allow businesses to form their businesses easily, without breaking the bank.

Who is better ZenBusiness or LegalZoom?

ZenBusiness and LegalZoom Reviews Both businesses have received “Excellent” ratings on Trustpilot, but ZenBusiness has an edge over LegalZoom with a rating of 4.6 stars out of 5 from over 10,000 reviews compared to LegalZoom's 4.6 stars from 1,800 reviews.

How do I avoid LLC tax in California?

Can I avoid the California Franchise Tax? There's no way for a registered business to legitimately avoid the California Franchise Tax. Sole proprietors and general partnerships don't have to pay the California Franchise Tax, but they also don't have any personal liability protection.

Why is California LLC fee so high?

Every business pays the $800 annual franchise tax, which is applied to taxes owed, but LLCs are the only ones subject to California Gross Receipts tax. This is one of the biggest reasons why a California LLC is so expensive.

Is CA LLC fee waived first year?

A corporation that incorporates or qualifies to do business in California is exempt from paying the minimum franchise tax in its first taxable year. Business entities such as LLCs, LLPs, and LPs are subject to an $800 annual tax.

How do I pay the $800 franchise tax?

The state requires corporations to pay either $800 or the corporation's net income multiplied by its applicable corporate tax rate, whichever is larger. You may pay the tax online, by mail, or in person at the California Franchise Tax Board Field Offices.

Is the $800 LLC fee deductible for California?

Every year after that, the tax payments are due on the 15th of the fourth month of your tax year — April 15 for most businesses. Plus, California's LLC annual fee is tax deductible for federal taxes. You can deduct the $800 Franchise Tax – and any additional annual fee you pay.

How long does it take for an LLC to be approved in California?

Mail filings: In total, mail filing approvals for California LLCs take 2-3 weeks. This accounts for the 3-5 business day processing time, plus the time your documents are in the mail. Online filings: In total, online filing approvals for California LLCs take 3-5 business days.

How do I start an LLC in California for free?

To form an LLC in California, go to bizfileOnline.sos.ca.gov, log in, select Register a Business under the Business Entities Tile, Articles of Organization - CA LLC and follow the prompts to complete and submit.

Can I be my own registered agent California?

You can be your own registered agent in California, but you'll have to list your name and address in the public record. Many business owners don't want the hassle that comes with this (unsolicited phone calls, junk mail offers, etc.). Hiring a registered agent keeps your information out of the public record.

What are the benefits of an LLC in California?

  • Pass-through taxation.
  • Tax options like S corp.
  • Simplicity.
  • Ownership flexibility.
  • Increased credibility.
  • Name registration.

What are the cons of an LLC?

  • Cost: An LLC usually costs more to form and maintain than a sole proprietorship or general partnership. States charge an initial formation fee.
  • Transferable ownership. Ownership in an LLC is often harder to transfer than with a corporation.

How trustworthy is LegalZoom?

Overall, LegalZoom is well-rated across online review sites. LegalZoom has an average of more than four stars on Trustpilot, ConsumerAffairs, and the Better Business Bureau. LegalZoom is a BBB-accredited business with an A+ rating—however, they do have more than 500 complaints closed in the last three years.

Is Incfile good for LLC?

Incfile is a good option for LLC formation. The company offers free registered agent service for one full year, free basic business formation (with the exception of state fees), email reminders about ongoing compliance requirements for your LLC, and formation documents are saved securely online.

Is ZenBusiness a good way to start an LLC?

ZenBusiness boasts quick turnaround times, excellent customer support, and great prices compared to its competitors. We think ZenBusiness is one of the best choices for most business owners looking to form an LLC or a corporation and we rank them #2 in our LLC services comparison.

Is ZenBusiness reliable?

ZenBusiness tops our best LLC services list for multiple reasons, including its affordability, ease of use and its unique offerings. The company offers three paid plans to help you form your business, whether that's an LLC or corporation. Plans range from $49 to $299 per year, plus state filing fees.

Does ZenBusiness help with taxes?

One way we can help is with ZenBusiness Money, which simplifies your business finances and allows you to easily track expenses and deductions, helping you save money and lessening the aggravation of tax time. Learn more about tax filing and how to get a tax extension.


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Best llc service in california


Comment by Henry Wardlaw

in this video i'm gonna go over the top five incorporation services so you can confidently set up your business today and save money while you do it let's dive in hey guys it's ben here from finance pond where we help you form your business and keep it compliant if you find value in this video please make sure that you smash that like button and subscribe down below all the links that i mentioned are going to be in the description including the deals to the top 5 incorporation services so make sure you check that out throughout this video i'm going to sprinkle tips to help make sure that you choose the top and best formation service for you so make sure you stay until the end let's dive right into the best formation services and coming in at number one we have ink file as the best incorporation service the easiest way to set up and manage your business we think so you let us know down in the comments why do we liking files so much first off they have a wonderful reputation they have the experience to go behind and they have the clients that back them up with over half a million businesses um i mean they really have the experience here and they've been doing this since 2004. so without further ado let's look at their formation packages and see what they offer for the rest of this video we're going to decide to form an llc and we're also going to form the llc in alabama so ink file offers three formation packages it's broken down into the package fee and the state fee each state has a different fee down below we're going to link to an article to give you an understanding of the cost to form an llc based on the state now you see that right zero dollars to form an llc with ink file for the silver package now what do they offer essentially they're going to file your articles of organization you're going to be able to do unlimited name searches to ensure that your name is validated in that state and you get a free registered agent service for an entire year which is a cost of anywhere between 100 to 150 with other competitors now this is an unbelievable package i will note that there is a bit of work that you're going to have to do so if you really just you know want to give the experts you know the the driving wheel then this wouldn't be the best package for you taking a look at the gold package the gold package covers everything that you need in order to form your llc and really make sure that you're up to par within that first year for 149 it is one of the best prices that you can get in the market they offer everything and more so this is actually the package that we recommend for the majority of the entrepreneurs that basically request and ask us for information um ink file the gold package is definitely the way to go last but not least we have the platinum package which costs two hundred and ninety nine dollars this is a great package as well the main edition that they offer here is a domain name and business email as well as expedited filing if those things really aren't so important we do not recommend going with this package we do not recommend going with the platinum package because there is a very large price jump from the 159 with the gold package to the 299 dollars with the platinum package so if you're really looking for a top incorporation service to take care of everything you need ink file is definitely the way to go you guessed it coming in at number two we have zen business zen business is a very professional formation service with the experience behind them they've helped over 200 000 businesses form their entities they have wonderful customer reviews and we definitely recommend these guys now let's take a look at their formation packages they offer three formation packages and right off the bat it's important to note that each package is annually you have to pay annually in order to keep up now the starter package costs 49 a year and it's important to note that that amount changes if you go a bit lower oh went a bit too far if you go a bit lower the starter plan is for 49 but it's essentially for the first year at the end of the year it will be renewed and it'll be 119 so please keep that in mind it takes just about two weeks to get that done to get your business formed and there will be filing that you're going to have to do yourself so if you don't mind getting that done this is a great package and it's a very very good starting price looking at the pro package it costs 199 dollars a year it takes a little over a week to form your business and they take care of everything you need okay so this is a wonderful package for somebody who really doesn't want anything to do with the headache of filing and paperwork this package would be great for you last but not least we have the premium package which costs 299 a year this package takes care of everything you need for llc formation in addition they also get it done very very quickly as you can see between one to three days they'll help you form your business and they also offer domain name privacy business email address and a couple more nice things like a business website as you can see for each one of these packages they offer custom invoices and payments which is a really nice addition and if you haven't set that up yet it really will help you out so that's zen business and coming in at number three we have northwest registered agent when it comes down to customer support these guys are some of the best in the industry so if that's something that's important to you as it is important to us definitely keep that in mind when choosing the best formation service a nice feature that northwest offers is that you can pay monthly or you can pay in full this is a really nice perk and if you're a little bit tight on cash really take advantage of it so their lc formation is basically broken down into the filing service and the registered agent and then you can really add on anything that you would like so it really is very unique for you based on what you need there is a filing cost but each state is slightly different for example we're right now in hawaii you can choose either or let's jump over to alabama because that has been the example moving forward and you can just choose any additional item that you would like for example if i'm looking for my tax id that's just an added cost and you're all set if you want them to help you out each year you can add that as well and these guys really offer wonderful support and the package is essentially exactly what you want to be so we really like that and we have legalzoom coming in at number four legalzoom is one of the most reputable formation services and they're actually a publicly traded company they opened shop back in 2001 providing a bunch of different legal services there is a difference in price in between the llc formation and the incorporation so for that we're going to take a look at their incorporation packages now the main differentiation point with their packages is down to the processing time as you can see the economy package takes 30 days the standard 15 and the express gold 10. so if you're in a rush you can definit


Thanks for your comment Henry Wardlaw, have a nice day.
- Sidney Geitner, Staff Member


Comment by Jesse

starting an llc by yourself is easy but maybe you don't want to go through the process on your own llc formation services can help you get your llc formed and the best filing service can also provide you with affordable features such as an employer identification number and registered agent services before we get to reviewing the services let me just say this in addition to reviewing these services the affiliate links in our description are deals we personally negotiated with these companies so we're able to offer an exclusive tourig discount to get you the best price anywhere using our links also provides you with a much easier and streamlined process so if you decide to use one of these services for your business formation make sure to use our links instead of going directly to their website in this video we'll briefly go over our top five llc formation services and the advantages of each as well as touch on the number one mistake people make when forming a business for a more detailed breakdown of each of these formation services check out our llc formation services page below to start the biggest mistake people make when forming a business is not checking the availability of their business name by not checking ahead of time you might start the formation process only to find out the names not available so check out truex business name generator it's a free name generator that you can use to check the availability of your business's name it also automatically checks to see if that name is available as a website domain which may change your decision on whether or not that's the name you want to use now onto the formation services there are dozens of online formation services that will start your business for a fee we reviewed and ranked the five best llc services and to do this we actually formed separate llcs with each service well when i say we i mean someone else at the company i don't have five llc's choosing the best llc service to help you form your small business comes down to three things the type of business you have the needs of your business and additional services you may want for your business the five services we'll be looking at are northwest zen business inc file rocket lawyer and legalzoom let's start with northwest northwest delivers all the llc services that are essential for online business formation their incorporation service is 39 plus state fees and it includes llc filing premium registered agent services customer privacy protection an online account to access business documents and more northwest is also known for their top-notch customer service they provide their clients with corporate guides who are highly trained us-based support agents every customer gets a corporate guide assigned to their specific account so you can talk to the same person if you have any questions or concerns now on to zen business based on overall quality we highly recommend zen business when starting an llc online zen business offers company formation packages starting at only 39 dollars per year plus any state fees the biggest selling points for zen business are their straightforward and affordable llc formation packages their responsive customer support and their high quality registered agent services there are a couple different packages you can pick from but all of them include registered agent services free operating agreement and worry-free cpa assessment all in all the formation service offers an outstanding deal for entrepreneurs and small business owners zen business llc packages include more valuable features you can find a plethora of positive feedback online and the company offers a seamless customer experience next we'll look at inkfile similar to zenbusiness inkfile provides a great value and their basic pricing plan for llc services here are some of inkfile's advantages you get a full year of registered agent service for free in all packages after that year it's 119 a year which is still on the less expensive end of registered agent pricing inkfile offers a real-time order tracking tool and quality customer support and the company provides a user-friendly online dashboard to help you track important deadlines and compliance reminders now we'll look at rocket lawyer although northwest is the better option for simply forming a small business rocket lawyer is the best choice if you want ongoing legal services past llc creation here are some of the advantages of rocket lawyer the truic and rocket lawyer new business bundle offers an exclusive discount if you want to try the legal services subscription package which includes llc formation service at no cost the seven day trial removes any risk and rocket lawyer provides excellent customer service rocket lawyer sets itself apart by offering a subscription-based model for ongoing legal services with premium members gaining access to legal documents advice and more we've negotiated a deal to bundle rocket lawyers premium membership services into an exclusive package for our users at the discounted price of 349.99 plus any state fees you'll save about 300 by choosing our new business bundle the final formation service we'll look at is legalzoom legalzoom is one of the most recognized business formation services the company is more focused on full legal services beyond just llc creation legalzoom has established itself as one of the most popular llc services which gives the company brand authority also legalzoom offers more legal services than other llc formation companies legalzoom's llc formation packages start at 79 plus state fees they'll provide basic llc filing services but they don't include as many features as other formation companies you'll have to pay extra for services such as an ein operating agreement and registered agent services overall going with an established name like legalzoom comes at a higher cost if you prefer to use a company with brand power and are willing to pay significantly more to form an llc online consider choosing legalzoom if you want to start a business on your own the process is easy but if you don't want to there are formation services out there to do it for you we chose northwest as the best llc service for small businesses the combination of great customer reviews a user-friendly online ordering process and no hidden fees make the business formation service a great choice when forming an llc online we also chose rocket lawyer as the best choice if you need ongoing legal services for your business through a partnership with rocket lawyer we're offering an exclusive deal for our users which includes free incorporation services and high quality legal help beyond business formation and don't forget if you decide that one of these services sounds right for you use our links for an exclusive true discount and a much easier formation process for a more detailed breakdown on the different formation services check out our website at howtostartinllc.com there we also provide all sorts of free resources and guides to help with the formation and operation of your business good luck with your small business you


Thanks Jesse your participation is very much appreciated
- Sidney Geitner


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