California Corporation

California corporations must file an initial report (California Statement of Information) within 90 days of incorporation and the fee is $25.00.

The California Secretary of State requires an annual report. The annual report will cost $25.00 and is due by the end of your anniversary month. We recommend filing this online.

The California Corporate net income tax rate is 8.84% for non-financial corporations.

The California personal net income tax rate(s) are as follows:

$0-7,168.00:  1.25%
$7,168.00-16,994.00:  2.25%
$16,994.00-26,821.00:  4.25%
$26,821.00-37,233.00:  6.25%
$37,233.00-47,055.00:  8.25%
$47,055.00-1 Million:  9.55%
$1,000,000.00 +:  10.55%

S corporations are also required to pay 1.5% tax on the net income even though they have opted to pay the income tax personally. California is the only State that goes completely against the entire point of having an S corporation election with the IRS. As you can see, you'll reach a point around 35,000 to 47,000 of net taxable income, where it would actually be cheaper to have a C corporation and pay the 8.84% Corporation tax, and thus keep your name totally off of the tax return. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense does it?

The average California sales tax rate is 9.06% (the State has a 8.25% tax, but the average local tax is .81% making a total of 9.06%).

To form a California Corporation, you file California articles of incorporation. The California articles of incorporation cost $100.00 with the California Secretary of State. These can be basic or complicated. We custom draft your California articles of incorporation when you hire Northwest to form your California business. The basic requirements are:

• The California Corporation must have a corporate ending such as INC, Incorporated, Corporation or a different variety.
• Name restrictions apply. You may want to check the name availability information on their website.
• The purpose of the California Corporation exactly as stated on their form.
• The name and office address of the registered/initial agent in California.
• The number of shares the California Corporation is authorized to issue.
• The each incorporator, or initial director, must sign the articles of incorporation.
• Date of execution.

California does not require original signatures on filings. The original will come back to the California Corporate agent.

1. You file the articles of incorporation for a California Corporation with the California Secretary of State.
   
   You'll also need to file the initial report within 90 days with the California Secretary of State.
2. You obtain a federal tax ID number with the IRS after you have confirmation from California that the articles are completely filed.
3. You should be able to open a business banking account with these two items.
4. You register your California business with the California department of revenue if you're going to have employees or need to withhold sales tax.
5. You obtain a trade license if you actually need one. (Most businesses don't.)
6. You obtain a local City or County general license if you need one.
7. You obtain a local trade license if the City or County you're going to be working in requires it.
8. If you're going to have an office or shop you might need an approval from the City zoning for your type of business in that location.

NOW!! I always give out horrible advice at this point, and please don't take it as legal advice. It would be considered totally wrong and horrible legal advice. BUT… I always tell people, you could spend months worrying about getting your California business off the ground and registering with every California State agency you need to. At the end of the day, you need to pull the money in! That means, your idea, or your new service needs to get out there and get the sales, customers, or clients you need to get the money in the bank, and keep your business going. At the end of the day, Money in the bank trumps fines with some California government agency that you overlooked paying some silly fee to. The government is always going to be broke and always looking for the next way to make us pay a fee or tax. We unfortunately see California corporations every year that just shut down 6 to 7 months after they hired us to incorporate their California Corporation for them, because they never got the idea off the ground. I always say, pull the money in first, deal with a California State agency second. If you have to pay some late fees or fines, but you landed that first big client that gets your business off of the idea you have on that paper notebook, I say more power to you. Pay the late fee or fine with joy. You've done the REAL first step to starting your California business. Get out there and pull the money in! If some California State agency finds you're in some violation, they will send you a letter, and you can pay whatever they are asking for. It's a never-ending phone call or email I get hearing about all the effort someone's put into their website, into their letterhead, into their marketing, into their planning, and they haven't even figured out how they are realistically going to get and collect their first sale. Don't let over-planning stop your business from getting off the ground. Paying a California incorporation service like us to do the initial paperwork is a great way to keep your brain moving on the important items like pulling in the money and getting it into your new business bank account.

We pay taxes in California. We operate a corporation in California. We're not an incorporation website. We're an incorporation and registered agent California business. There's lots of websites out there that are just websites with generic domain names and smart programmers that can make them rank in Google.

Anyone could throw up a website, hire sales people to answer the phones with scripts, and pay a document filer $10.00 an hour to file the California articles of incorporation with the State for you. If you've found this page by searching online, most the other sites you'll find don't operate in California, don't pay taxes in California, and generally speaking, don't have any idea what it's like in California. The only people here helping you form a California corporation are the owner, our in-house, non-practicing attorney, and our paralegal. This is all we do, and when you hire us and pay us $100.00 to form a California Corporation, the owner pays California tax at the end of the year off that $100.00, and the $125.00 California registered agent corporation service fees.

When we form a California Corporation, we'll be your California corporation agent. That means our California office is in San Francisco, California, and we have a physical presence in California, so we have to pay income tax off the money we derive from doing business in California. It's called "Nexus." If you're shopping around for a California incorporation service, we would challenge you to call one of our competitors and ask the person that answers the phone if they have nexus in California. If they don't, or don't have any idea what that word even means, that would be kind of like hiring a real estate agent in Salt Lake City, Utah, to sell your home in San Diego, California. Just doesn't sound right does it? If they do have nexus in California, then that's Great… At least you're then comparing us with another company that should know what they are doing, and you've ultimately done yourself a favor. While you're on the phone comparing apples to apples, you should ask the company what the name and address will be of the registered agent in California, and how much the renewal bill will be. If they can't tell you the name, the town the office will be in, and if it's not their own name, it means you're ultimately signing up with someone you don't know.

We've seen other sites with packages that include California Corporation agent service, or offer it free for 6 months or a year, or it's just built into a "Package." But you're paying a website, and they then list another company as your agent. Then you get a bill at the end of the 6 months or year from some random company you've never heard of for a lot of money. Our California registered agent corporation service is $125.00 a year, has no hidden weird fees, and the first year is included in our service to incorporate your California Corporation.

• 1 year of service from the time of hire.
• Annual report reminders.
• Annual report calendar in your online account to track your due dates.
• Online account for contact info, corporate documents, documents we receive on your behalf, annual report dates, calendar, and end of service dates.
• Any law suits or service of process are uploaded to your account immediately, in full, for your viewing. We can notify your attorney at the same time if you would like. We can notify up to 5 different people and your attorney of your law suit instantly.
• Added privacy and identity protection.
• All junk mail is shredded.
• Same day complete scan of received documents. (Other registered agents forward items received locally to their National headquarters by mail, and then scan them. You get everything the same day with us.)
• No cancellation fees.
• No forwarding fees.
• We don't keep your credit card on file and automatically charge you for anything.

The requirements of a registered agent are being open during normal business hours for someone (A process server or Sheriff) to walk in and hand deliver a document or notification to you. Assigning someone, or a website you don't know to this role means that if you get a notification by mail or someone delivers a letter or a lawsuit to that person or business, its legal proof that you've been notified, regardless of if it actually gets to you. There are only 5 national registered agents, and there's thousands of California incorporating websites, so the odds are that if you pay one of the thousands of California incorporation websites, they've got a discounted referral fee plan to dump you on one of the national agents to collect a referral fee, and you'll be taking a big chance that the agent they list will get the documents they receive for you to the incorporation website, and then the incorporation website you hire will get it to you. Worse yet is if you're continually being billed from a national incorporation website you signed up with and they aren't the actual business or person that is listed as your registered agent. With us, you know who you're counting on from day one. As far as we know we are the only service that uploads complete documents instantly, from our local location to your account.

We will form a California corporation for you right away. No weird California corporation expedite packages. No weird tables with checkmarks showing what's included and what you're missing. Our sign up form is one page. After filling it out, our owner, our non-practicing attorney, or our paralegal will call you right away, go over everything with you, and we'll get your new California Company formed right away. We'll be listed as your California registered agent, not some random company you don't know. Most States have a change of agent fee, so not only could you be connected with a company you don't really know, it will cost you to get rid of them after you get a crazy renewal bill you weren't expecting. We make our living by keeping your business in compliance with California, year after year. Not off weird misleading one time package fees and up-sells.

Shouldn't you trust a California business that actually operates and pays taxes in California instead of a website with a 500 filing backlog that you have to upgrade a package with to get some quick attention?

If you want to form a California corporation yourself, you can just hire us as your California registered agent, and you'll instantly have the California forms to file and filing instructions on the quickest, cheapest, and most efficient way to incorporate a California Corporation. We also will look over your filing for free if you would like us to. You'll get the ongoing support of our online tools, reminders and the support of a professional California Corporation Agent service.