Form an LLC · CA

How to form an LLC in California

California LLCs are formed by filing Articles of Organization with the California Secretary of State — the official filing fee is $70 (see the fee notes below). Corpus prepares and files it for $250 all-in, including your first year of registered-agent service.

Form your California LLC

What California requires

Formation document
Articles of Organization verified 2026-09-24
Filing office
California Secretary of State verified 2026-09-24
California filing fee for the Articles of Organization
$70 Articles of Organization filing fee. verified 2026-09-30
  • Optional: $10 name reservation. source
  • Optional: $350 24-hour filing service (online or drop-off in Sacramento). source
  • Optional: $750 same-day filing service (must be received by 9:30 a.m.; response by 4:00 p.m. the same day). source
  • Optional: $500 4-hour filing service (drop-off only in Sacramento; a separate $500 24-hour preclearance service and document approval are required). source
  • Conditional: $15 sacramento drop-off special handling fee (required for each Sacramento drop-off filing; not applicable online or by mail). source
  • Optional: $500 24-hour preclearance service (prerequisite for the four-hour filing service; the document must be precleared and approved). source
  • Each Sacramento drop-off filing adds $15 special handling; an approved $500 preclearance service is required for four-hour filing, and the same charges appear under processing. source · source 2
Online filing
Yes — You can form a California LLC online through the Secretary of State's bizfileOnline portal. verified 2026-09-24
Standard processing time
The Secretary of State publishes the receipt dates currently under review rather than a fixed turnaround. verified 2026-09-30
Expedited options
24-hour filing service $350 (Online or drop-off in Sacramento); Same-day filing service $750 (Must be received by 9:30 a.m.; response by 4:00 p.m. the same day); 4-hour filing service $500 (Drop-off only in Sacramento; a separate $500 24-hour preclearance service and document approval are required); 24-hour preclearance service $500 (Prerequisite for the four-hour filing service; the document must be precleared and approved) verified 2026-09-30
  • Conditional: $15 sacramento drop-off special handling fee (required for each Sacramento drop-off filing; not applicable online or by mail). source
  • Formation_filing lists the same $15 special handling, preclearance, and expedited service charges, and each charge is counted once. source · source 2 · source 3
Name requirement
The name must include “Limited Liability Company,” “LLC,” or “L.L.C.” verified 2026-09-24
Registered agent
Required — A California LLC must name an agent for service of process in its Articles of Organization. verified 2026-09-24
LLC statute
California Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, Cal. Corp. Code § 17701.01 et seq. verified 2026-09-24

What you’ll need

The Corpus intake collects this information to prepare the filing. Some questions are asked only when they apply — for example, the management question is asked only when the company has more than one owner.

  • What do you want to name the company?
  • In a sentence, what will the business actually do?
  • Where should official mail go — street, city, state, ZIP?
  • What email should we use for this order?
  • Which industry code fits this business?
  • Besides you, will anyone else have authority to make decisions for the business?
  • Who owns this company?

California asks nothing beyond the standard questions.

What it costs with Corpus

State fees (filing fee + the state's processing charges)
$90
Registered agent, year one
$100
Corpus service
$60
Total at checkout
$250

$90 = California’s $70 in formation fees for an online filing + $20 of other state processing charges for the way Corpus files (expedite, card or online-portal fees).

Registered agent renews at $99/yr after the included first year — cancel anytime. Itemized pricing for every state is on the price grid; how Corpus compares to other formation services is on the comparison page.

After you form: staying in good standing

Initial report
Required — within 90 days of initial registration. verified 2026-09-30
  • The same $20 Statement of Information is filed again every two years; that later fee is under annual_report. source
Annual report
Biennial report — every two years after the initial Statement of Information. verified 2026-09-30
  • This is the recurring Statement of Information, not a second fee due at formation. source
Report fee
$20 verified 2026-09-30
Franchise or privilege tax
$800 annual LLC tax, owed by every LLC. verified 2026-09-30
  • Rates, caps, thresholds, apportionment and exemptions: see California Franchise Tax Board; filing short-form cancellation within one year exempts the LLC from the first-year $800 tax. source

Comparing what registered-agent service costs after year one across providers? The comparison page publishes renewal prices.

Form it with your AI agent

You don’t have to do the intake here. Any agent that can open a link can run the whole thing — Corpus’s formation tools give it California’s requirements and live price, it asks you the questions above, and it hands back a prefilled link you review and pay. Paste this into your assistant:

Form an LLC in California for me with Corpus (corpuslaw.us). Use its formation tools to get California's requirements and price, ask me what you need, and give me the prefilled link.

The guide is on /agents, the protocol reference is /docs/mcp, and the installable skill for this state is the California SKILL.md.

Sources

Every verified fact above names where Corpus read it and the date it was last verified. Sources marked secondary are third-party write-ups used only where an official page did not publish the answer.

Corpus is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Fees and rules change — each verified fact above shows the date Corpus last verified it; anything marked “not yet verified” should be confirmed with the filing office.