What does California actually require of an LLC each year?
People search for a “California LLC annual report” and expect one yearly form. California does not work that way. What an LLC owes is really two separate things, sent to two separate agencies, on two separate schedules, and confusing them is how businesses end up suspended or hit with penalties they did not see coming.
The first is the Statement of InformationForm LLC-12, filed with the California Secretary of State. It is an informational filing: it confirms the LLC's business address, its mailing address, the name and address of its agent for service of process, its managers or members, and the general type of business it conducts. For an LLC this is due every two yearsnot annually, which is one of the few places California is gentler than most states.
The second is the $800 annual minimum franchise taxpaid to the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB). This is not an informational filing; it is a tax the state charges every LLC simply for the privilege of existing in California. It is due every year, and it is by far the more expensive of the two. An operating LLC also files annual income tax returns with the FTB and may owe an additional fee based on total income. When people complain that a California LLC is expensive to keep alive, the $800 is what they mean.
When is the California Statement of Information due?
Your first Statement of Information is due within 90 days of the date the LLC was registered with the Secretary of State. After that, it is due every two years, during a filing window that runs through the anniversary month of registration and the five calendar months immediately before it.
In practice, the simplest rule is to file in your registration anniversary month. If your LLC was formed in June, target June every second year. The state sends a reminder to the address on file, but reminders get lost, addresses go stale, and the obligation does not pause because you did not receive one. Because the exact window and any change to the schedule can be confirmed on the Secretary of State's bizfile portal, check there if you are unsure which year you are due.
How much does it cost and how do you file?
The filing fee for an LLC Statement of Information is $20. That amount has held steady for years, but fees are exactly the kind of figure that changes without much fanfare, so treat $20 as the expected amount and confirm the current fee at the point of filing.
You file online through the Secretary of State's bizfile portal, which is the fastest route and gives you immediate confirmation. Paper filing by mail is also accepted but slower. You will need your LLC's 12-digit Secretary of State file number, the current addresses, and the details of your agent for service of process. If nothing has changed since your last filing, California still requires you to file, there is a “no change” option, but silence is not an option.
The $800 franchise tax, the real cost of keeping the LLC
This is the number that surprises people. Every California LLC owes a minimum franchise tax of $800 per year to the Franchise Tax Board, regardless of income, regardless of whether it did any business at all. It is due each year while the LLC exists, and it accrues until the LLC is formally cancelled with the Secretary of State.
That last point is the one that costs people the most. An LLC you stopped using two years ago has quietly been racking up $800 a year, plus penalties and interest for the returns you did not file, the entire time. The FTB does not stop the meter because you moved on. It stops when the LLC is cancelled. This is the single strongest reason to formally close a California LLC you no longer need rather than letting it sit.
What happens if you file late, or not at all?
Miss the Statement of Information and the Secretary of State can assess a penalty (commonly cited at $250) and refer it to the FTB. More seriously, continued failure to file can lead the state to suspend the LLC. A suspended LLC loses the legal right to do business in California: it cannot enforce its contracts in court, cannot defend a lawsuit, and cannot use its own name, which another party can then claim. Revival requires bringing every filing current and paying what is owed.
Miss the $800 franchise tax and the FTB adds penalties and interest, and can also drive the LLC into suspended status. The two obligations reinforce each other on the way down: fall behind on one and the other tends to follow. Catching up is always possible, but it is more expensive and slower than staying current, and far more expensive than closing an LLC you were never going to use again.
Updating information you already filed
If your address, management, or agent for service of process changes between required filings, you can file an updated Statement of Information at any time, and there is no fee to file a change in the off-year. This is a separate matter from formally amending the LLC's articles of organizationwhich is what you do when you change the LLC's legal name or other formation details. Keeping the Statement of Information current matters because it is the address the state uses to reach you, including with the reminders you are relying on.
How does dissolving the LLC end both obligations?
Here is the part most compliance guides skip. Every obligation on this page, the biennial Statement of Information, the $250 penalties, and above all the $800 annual franchise tax, exists only because the LLC exists. Formally dissolving the LLC ends all of them.
In California, an LLC winds down by filing a Certificate of Cancellation (Form LLC-4/7) with the Secretary of State; there is no state fee to file it. Your Franchise Tax Board account needs to be current and your final returns filed, but California does not require a separate tax-clearance certificate before cancellation. Once the cancellation is processed, the LLC no longer exists, and the $800 stops accruing for future years. An LLC that never did business may qualify for a shorter cancellation path.
This is why, if you have stopped using a California LLC, the honest math usually favours closing it rather than filing another Statement of Information and paying another $800. We walk through the exact steps, forms and order on our guide to dissolving an LLC in Californiaand the broader mechanics on how to dissolve an LLC. If the company ever obtained an EIN, remember that the state cancellation does not close your IRS business accountthat is a separate final step.
Deciding what to do next
If the LLC is active and you intend to keep it, the path is simple: file the Statement of Information in your anniversary month, pay the $20, and keep the $800 franchise tax current with the FTB. If the LLC has served its purpose, the more sensible move is usually to close it cleanly so the $800 stops for good rather than paying to keep a dormant company on life support.
We do not sell annual-report filing, our work is dissolution, closing a California LLC properly so both the Secretary of State and the Franchise Tax Board agree it is done. If you are weighing keep-it versus close-it, a specialist can talk it through with you first, and tell you plainly which way the numbers point for your situation. Compare the wider picture on the LLC annual report hub.