Every California LLC pays an $800 tax each year, and once its California income reaches $250,000 an income-based LLC fee on top. Put in your formation date and income to see what you’ll pay, and when.
From the Franchise Tax Board's rules for 2026 (FTB 3522, FTB 3536, Form 568). The 15-day rule and short-form cancellation are explained below. Not legal or tax advice.
The $800 annual tax is owed by every LLC formed in California or registered to do business there, every year until it is cancelled, whether or not it makes any money. It is paid with voucher FTB 3522.
The LLC fee is separate and depends on “total income” from California: gross income plus cost of goods sold, not profit. Below $250,000 it is nothing. Above that it is estimated and paid with FTB 3536 by the 15th day of the 6th month of the tax year.
| California total income | LLC fee |
|---|---|
| Under $250,000 | $0 |
| $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 |
Your first tax year starts on the day the Secretary of State files your Articles and ends on December 31. Its $800 is due on the 15th day of the 4th month, counting the month you formed as the first. Then the next calendar year’s $800 is due on April 15.
Form on December 10, 2026 and you pay $800 by March 15, 2027 and another $800 by April 15, 2027: $1,600 within five months. Form in January and the two payments are a year apart. The first-year exemption that many guides still mention only covered tax years beginning in 2021 to 2023, and has ended.
If your first tax year is 15 days or less and the LLC does no business in California in that time, there is no tax, fee or return for that year.
Cancel within 12 months of forming with form LLC-4/8, having done no business, with no debts and a final return filed, and the first year’s $800 is not owed.
Underpaying the LLC fee estimate costs 10% of the shortfall. Paying at least last year’s fee avoids it, but a new LLC has no last year.
The other California costs, the $70 filing fee and the $20 Statement of Information, are in the California LLC guide, and every state is in the LLC cost calculator.