How to set up my LLC in california [Fact-Checked]

Last updated : Aug 11, 2022

What is required for a California LLC?

Creating your LLC in California requires two separate filings: Articles of Incorporation, and a Statement of Information. Your Articles of Incorporation form your business in California and the Statement of Information is a periodic filing first required within 90 days of formation.

How long does it take to set up an LLC in CA?

You can form an LLC in California in 3-5 days if you file online (or 2-3 weeks if you file by mail).

Is it easy to file an LLC in California?

Starting an LLC in California is Easy. To start a California LLC you'll need to file your Articles of Organization with the California Secretary of State, which costs $70 online. You can apply online, in person, or by mail or fax.

Is the $900 LLC fee deductible for California?

The additional $800 annual Franchise Tax and potential gross receipts tax on LLCs make doing business in California a little more expensive than doing business in almost any other state. But the costs to form and maintain your California LLC are deductible on your federal income tax, so you can find some savings!

Is an LLC in California worth it?

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.

Do you have to pay the $800 California LLC fee the first year 2022?

Assembly Bill 85 provides a first-year exemption from the $800.00 annual tax to limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, and limited liability companies that organize or register with the California Secretary of State on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2024.

How do I start an LLC in California with no money?

If you have no cash but want to start a business in California, you can apply for an SBA loan. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) works with lenders to provide loans to Rhode Island-based small businesses. That makes it easier for California-based small businesses to get loans.

How can I avoid $800 franchise tax?

Thus, the only way to avoid the tax is to dissolve the company. Additionally, another important detail to note is that if you change your business structure during the year–for instance, from an LLC to a C corporation–you would then be subject to the minimum franchise tax on both entities for that year.

What are the benefits of having an LLC in California?

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

Do I need a registered agent for my LLC in California?

The California Corporation Code Section § 1700-1702 requires that all corporations, LLCs and other business entities appoint and maintain a registered agent. You can't start a business without one (unless you're a sole proprietor, in which case you don't have to form an entity at all).

Does an LLC expire in California?

A limited liability company's articles of organization generally allow its members to designate the duration of the company. Articles can state a date upon which an LLC expires. If no expiration date is stated, the LLC continues perpetually.

Why are LLCs so expensive in California?

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.

What is the downside to an LLC?

Disadvantages of creating an LLC States charge an initial formation fee. Many states also impose ongoing fees, such as annual report and/or franchise tax fees. Check with your Secretary of State's office. Transferable ownership. Ownership in an LLC is often harder to transfer than with a corporation.

How much does it cost to form a single member LLC in California?

The current filing fee for articles filed by mail is $70. An additional $15 fee applies for hand-delivered forms. Every California SMLLC must have a registered agent.

Do you have to pay the $800 California LLC fee the first year?

If your California LLC goes into existence on or after January 1st, 2021 (but before December 31st, 2023), there is no $800 payment due the 1st year. The first $800 payment is due in the LLC's 2nd year.

What expenses can I put on my LLC?

What expenses can you write off as an LLC? There is a long list of expenses that you can deduct as an LLC. Some of the main operating costs that can be deducted include startup costs, supplies, business taxes, office costs, salaries, travel costs, and rent costs.

What expenses can I run through my LLC?

• Car expenses and mileage.
• Office expenses, including rent, utilities, etc.
• Office supplies, including computers, software, etc.
• Health insurance premiums.
• Business phone bills.
• Continuing education courses.
• Parking for business-related trips.

What are the 2 main advantages of having an LLC?

• Limited Personal Liability.
• Less Paperwork.
• Tax Advantages of an LLC.
• Ownership Flexibility.
• Management Flexibility.
• Flexible Profit Distributions.

Why an LLC is the best option?

An LLC lets you take advantage of the benefits of both the corporation and partnership business structures. LLCs protect you from personal liability in most instances, your personal assets — like your vehicle, house, and savings accounts — won't be at risk in case your LLC faces bankruptcy or lawsuits.

Why is LLC a good idea?

The main advantage to an LLC is in the name: limited liability protection. Owners' personal assets can be protected from business debts and lawsuits against the business when an owner uses an LLC to do business. An LLC can have one owner (known as a “member”) or many members.

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this is gonna be fun this is gonna be fun you wanna start a company i'll show you how so let's go to this california secretary of state website because this is how you start an llc and i think a lot of people are interested in this so here's what we did let's start over we're going to go to sos.ca.gov this is the california secretary of state website this is the only place that you need to go to start a company an llc for that matter let's talk about how to do it click on business and then we're going to go down here to ooh look at that it's under hot topics cool number seven forms samples and fees for business entities and if you need tips those are here too all right so we're going to click on the form samples and fees section so we can look at the type of forms that are available to someone who's just going here and checking it out and trying to figure this out on their own you can see there's two sections there's corporation and there's limited liability company two very different options most people are going to want to form an llc most people need an llc there's very few people that need corporation status all right so file online fastest service i always recommend filing these documents online totally totally the best way to do it if you have to mail it in it's going to take weeks i've done both and filing it online is way better so in order to form an llc in california you're going to want to click on llc formation you can see that the filing fee is seventy dollars there is a certified copy fee which is five dollars copies are free anyways we're gonna hit the start button this is a privacy warning you can scroll through this and read what they do with your privacy and the information that you uh submit some people are interested in reading it some people don't i asked my question or my attorney about it and we were good to go all right so here is where you fill out the limited liability company name notice that it says don't include llc or llc period in the name you don't need to include any of that the llc will be added to the end of your name so if i wanted to start vaniter llc i would simply type in vaniter right here is where you're going to choose the llc identifier so if you want it to be vanity or llc you'll pick vanity or llc if i wanted to be vanader limited liability co that's what i would choose and this is the name that's going to show up on your official tax records and your statement of information and articles of organization with the state of california this is what's going to show up name reservation check this box if you have reserved a name and would like to apply the reservation to this llc program now correct me if i'm wrong somebody but i'm fairly certain that the reservation name is a service that california provides to where if you want to reserve a business name but you're not ready to pay and start for it yet you can pay them to do so but we'll find that out another time okay we don't have one of those so we're gonna go to next here's where you're gonna put up uh put in your business address enter the initial street address of the designated office and if different the initial mailing address of the llc a lot of people have different business addresses and different mailing addresses for their llc's there's a ton of reasons why you'd want to do something like that or why you would have to do something like that and so they want to know if the business resides in california or where it resides in california everybody's trying to get a piece so just put in the address you can use your house i do if it's the same as the mailing address just hit yes just go to next agent of process so you can have an individual or a california registered agent an attorney or there's a registered agent in california you can choose but you can type in uh like a legit like registered agent service or you can just have an individual basically the secretary of state wants to make sure that if they want to get a hold of you they can and so that's why you put the registered agent in there you can't put a po box it has to be a place where you can receive mail it has to be a place where someone could get a hold of you and maybe serve you with papers to uh appear in court for example so if you feel comfortable with that and that's something you can handle you can be your own registered agent i have my attorney be my registered agent because i don't i move around a lot and all the time and you know i just pay him a couple bucks you know a couple bucks a year just to take care of that for me it's not really that big of a burden or you can pay a registered agent that provides that service you can go on online and look for registered agents and they'll they'll teach you and i'll teach you they'll do that all for you we have the first name okay this is all for the service of process of the individual let me go to next and the management structure okay is gonna be this is where a lot of people get confused who will be managing the llc select the management structure now if you have questions you can click on filing tips and this will tell you but it doesn't give you a whole lot of information in my opinion having one manager is the best right to start your own llc and then if you start another venture with another partner or you want to start another partner just start a second llc and both of your llc's can be the managing members that's how i prefer to do it because partnerships are kind of risky but anyways let's circle back to this real quick so i can explain it before i move on the llc will be managed by you have one manager more than one manager or all llc members so one manager is going to be the most common if you're starting your own llc now if you're starting an llc with a business partner for example like your sister or friend or anyone really doesn't matter you can select all llc members and then that will make sure that you all have managing authority however that means that when you want to open up a bank account you have to go down to the bank together these are things that you have to do together right so there are strings attached to it but you can always change this later on too it's not a problem there are forms that you can file with the secretary of state to remove members from the llc so don't think that once you do it it's done forever organizer electronic signature all right so this is the perfect person that's organizing or organizing or putting together the llc right so sometimes it's a company like legalzoom or inc file sometimes it's yourself but basically you're going to put this down right your name your email not the company name or the company email but yours so you have to acknowledge that you're the person forming the llc and that all this information is true and correct they need someone on the hook for that okay so type in the organizer name um your email and then double check the email uh what's this file date the future file date oh okay so this is if you want to file the llc you want to put it all together right now pay for it and then file it in january let me tell you why that might be a good re

Thanks for your comment Jeannie Flaa, have a nice day.
- Angela Vanbogelen, Staff Member

hey guys welcome back to the channel so a question that i get all the time is charlie what is the best way to start an llc so in this video i'm going to show you the best easiest and most affordable way to start your llc today this is exactly how i've created my business entities and it's crazy because you guys can literally set up your llc in like five or ten minutes so the first part of the video is me just going over what llc's are and why they may be beneficial to you as an entrepreneur or small business owner the second part is going to be me taking you step by step through inc file which is the website that i use to set up all my business entities so if you do want to skip directly to that part i will put the time code down below right now so without further ado let's get started so firstly what is an llc an llc is a type of business structure that stands for limited liability company it's perfect for startups and entrepreneurs and i always tell people if you want to take your business seriously it may be good to start an llc because there's so many benefits first of all they limit your personal liability what this means is that if your company gets sued they can't come after your personal assets creating an llc also allows you to raise capital from investors and of course they do carry some big tax advantages yeah diving a little bit more deeply into the whole limited liability part if your business does something wrong and they actually get sued by someone then only the assets that are inside that llc are at stake so this means that things like your house your cars and any other personal assets are safe that's where the term limited liability comes from now if you are creating a business and you are looking for outside funding llcs allow you to raise the outside capital and of course llcs can have very specific tax advantages rather than starting a c corporation which actually gets double taxed with an llc this is called a pass-through entity so you're only getting taxed one time now i'm not going to go into too many of the details about the whole taxation of llcs because you can be taxed as an lc or as an s corp but just know that when it comes to this tax stuff i recommend talking to your accountant and figuring out what works best for you yeah for 99 of you guys out there who are starting your own business i'd say an llc or an lc uh taxed as an s corp is going to be right for you it's very easy and affordable to set one up so in the next section i'm going to actually walk you through the whole setup process so i'm here in ink files main page you guys can get to this link by clicking on the link in the description below and what i'm going to do is i'm going to come up here and click start my business so it's going to take us this page where it's going to allow you to actually register your business entities so first i'm going to click entity type and i'm going to select which one i want we're going to be doing an llc and then you're going to select your state of formation so it's going to be a little bit different for each state but most of things are going to be the same i'm in california so i'm going to click on that here it's going to take us to the different i guess plans that they have so you have the silver one which is 75 this is basically completely free because you're only paying the state fee of 75 bucks no matter what you do you will have to pay the state fee so if you do want to you know not pay anything then you guys can choose this one and it's gonna come with pairing and filing the articles of organization it's going to allow you to do unlimited name searches and it's going to give you a free registered agent service for one year now that is not the most popular plan it's actually not the plan that i recommend so when i set up my business entities i always used the gold plan this one is a little bit more comprehensive and it just makes the whole thing a lot lot easier so especially if you're just doing this like this is your first time making a business entity then you know this one's probably going to save you a lot of time and headache so yeah this one is 224 and the package fee is 149 so that's basically what you're paying to inc file to set this up for you and then the state fee is about 75 which you have to pay this one's going to include the same things as the silver except it's going to actually automatically create an ein business tax number for you so that's going to save you some time it's going to file the irs form 2553 it's going to actually give you a bunch of these like documents like the operating agreement the banking resolution all these things are pretty cool to have and they just save you a lot of time so honestly in my opinion i think this one is probably the best for most of you if you're down to do all this stuff by yourself and figure it out then yes you can save that extra 149 package fee but as a business owner you want to focus on on building your business not all this really boring stuff and of course they have their platinum plan this is their most expensive plan but also most comprehensive this one's 374 dollars at the moment and that includes the package fee of 299 dollars and the mandatory 75 dollar state fee this one's going to be just like the gold plan except that you're going to have a little bit more support you're going to have expedited filing and you're going to get that domain name and business email so for this one i'm just going to go ahead and select the gold package because i think that's going to be the right one for a 95 percent of you guys watching this video so it's going to have you enter in your contact information as well as your mailing address so i'm going to do that right now but so after all that is entered in i'm going to click next it's going to process the information and now in the next section it's going to allow you to select your state filing time now the original time it takes for california is around four weeks it might change a little bit for depending on what state you guys are in but they are going to have an expedited filing option that you can add on as well so if i want to just keep the four weeks filing time with the estimated formation date that is right here then i can just select that or if i want the faster five day business filing time i can go ahead and select that so assuming that i don't care too much about the filing time then i'll select that but if you are in a rush then i would go ahead and select the faster one here it's going to allow you to enter in your company information so this is stuff that you'll want to at least brainstorm beforehand so i'm just going to enter in a biz entity prep services just as an example since i'm not actually setting up this llc right now then i'm going to select the designators so you can choose any of these does not matter but i'm just going to select this one and it's going to give you a preview of what your company name will display as so in this case biz entity prep services llc then it's going to have you select your business type or industry so for this one let's just say it's account acc

Thanks raispapsCems your participation is very much appreciated
- Angela Vanbogelen

About the author

Angela Vanbogelen

I've studied constitutional law at University of Jamestown in Jamestown and I am an expert in coastal management. I usually feel mellow. My previous job was insurance claims adjuster I held this position for 11 years, I love talking about birdwatching and rappeling. Huge fan of Paul Rudd I practice cycling: road and collect beanie babies.