hey guys it's jenny silver and today i
want to give you a full step-by-step
walkthrough on exactly how to register
your business in the state of california
as an llc now if you have not yet
researched whether an llc is the best
fit for your business i want you to
watch the video that i have linked in
the description down below where i go
through sole proprietorships versus llc
so you can determine what may be best
for your unique situation
first off you need to know that every
piece of information including your
address your phone number etc that you
file with your llc paperwork is going to
be on public record that means that
anyone can search and locate this
information the first step in
registering your business as an llc is
going to be preparation number one
you're going to need to select a name
for your llc now this is slightly
arbitrary because while it does matter
and you do need to select a name to have
on file you can later on down the line
register separate dbas doing business as
names also known as fictitious business
names for different branches or even if
you rebrand your business once you have
a name in mind for your llc that you
would like to register you're going to
need to look up on california's
secretary of state's website to see
whether or not that business name is
already registered and in use you're
going to need to decide on a business
address you're going to be required to
have a public address on file this has
to be a brick and mortar location it
cannot be a po box
if you would like to use your personal
home address then that is completely
legal and acceptable and yes you are
allowed to do that however publishing
your personal home residence is going to
have some privacy concerns that you need
to keep in mind this information is
going to be on public record so if
you're someone that does not want your
home personal private residence listed
online then it most likely will be best
for you to utilize a separate business
address now are po boxes okay to utilize
for this the answer is no the state of
california needs to have an actual brick
and mortar business address where your
business is registered do not have a
commercial office space and if you do
not want to utilize your private
residence as your business address the
next option is going to be to obtain a
virtual office a virtual office is a
service that offers you the use of their
brick and mortar address for your
business license as well as mail
receiving in exchange for a monthly if
you're someone that does not want to
register using your personal address and
you do not have a commercial space or
office location then this would be the
route that you would want to take you
would want to look up virtual offices in
your area and see exactly what options
are available the next thing that you
need to prepare in advance is you're
going to need to select a registered
agent a registered agent is someone that
represents your business your specific
task is that they are assigned to
receive mail and important notices for
your business
your registered agent can either be
yourself a representative from your
business or it can be a third-party
service that specializes in offering
registered agent services now there's a
few different reasons why you might want
to employ a third party service as your
registered agent number one if you are
someone that values personal privacy if
you are trying to keep your personal
information off of the internet the
second reason why you might want a
separate professional registered agent
would be if you are someone who is not
at your home or your place of business
often if you are someone who travels
frequently who is not often available
then you might want the security of
knowing that there is always someone
available and who is hired specifically
to accept those important notices on
your behalf
now i'm going to be showing you step by
step the process that you can register
your own llc yourself but for those of
you who find this process too
overwhelming or you want to seek out the
help of a third-party company to handle
the majority of this for you i'm going
to leave a link for ink file down below
inc file will charge you only the state
filing fees and in most cases they will
provide a registered agent for you for
free for the first year
so for those of you who do not want to
do this 100 on your own i'm going to
leave that affiliate link in the
description down below once you've
prepared all of those things that you
need to have in advance the next step is
going to be to file your paperwork to
register yourself as an llc now you're
going to be required to submit what is
known as the articles of organization on
the california secretary of state
website now i'm going to walk you
through this process step by step
first you're going to go to
bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov
on the left hand side under business
entities you're going to select register
a business
next you're going to select the file
articles of organization option and here
you'll see that there is a 70 fee next
you're going to be prompted to create an
online account including your first name
last name contact info and organization
next you're going to be asked to agree
to the terms and conditions as well as
the privacy warning here so go ahead and
click that you agree and that you have
read these terms and click on to the
next step
the submitter information here is listed
as being optional but if there are any
questions regarding your submission then
this is the person whom the secretary of
state's office is going to contact
next you'll need to confirm that you are
not going to be providing any
professional services because an llc in
the state of california cannot actually
provide professional services
next you're gonna be asked if you have
previously reserved the name of your llc
unless you filed a specific name
reservation previously then your answer
here will be no
next you're going to type out how you
would like your limited line next you're
going to type out how you would like
your limited liability company to be
named now the state of california has
some naming specifics number one your
business's name must end with the words
limited liability company or the
abbreviation llc or llc with periods
following each letter you can also opt
to abbreviate the words limited and
company so that is ltd and co
in the state of california your llc's
name may not contain the words bank
trust trustee incorporated inc
corporation corp insurer insurance
company or any other words suggesting
that it is in the insurance business
state of california insists that your
name cannot be in any way misleading to
the pub for example your llc cannot
imply that it has any sort of false
government affiliation and cannot use
words such as agency commission
department or bureau lastly your llc's
name cannot be similar to any
pre-existing llcs
next you're going to be asked for both a
street address and a mailing address
please make sure that you note that the
street address cannot be a po box it
must be a physical street address and
yes this can be registered to a virtual
office if you have paid for that service
somewhere your mailing address however
can be listed as a po box next you're
going to select if you're going to have
your registered agent be an individual
or if it's going to be a california
registered corporate eat next you will
specify if your llc will have one
manager multiple managers or if all
members of your llc will be managers
next you can select if you would like to
file this documentation immediately or
if you have a specific file date in the
future next it's going to ask you here
for any additional optional attachments
in most cases you may not have optional
documents to attach but that is there
just in case
next you will be asked to review all
information and documents submitted and
then you will be asked for an organizer
signature the organizer is whomever is
filing this paperwork online so if you
are filing it for yourself then that
would be your name next you will
finalize the 70 processing fee payment
and specify if you do want to order a
certified copy i do recommend ordering a
certified copy because it can become
helpful as you file additional paperwork
for your business later on down the line
now after you have submitted the
articles of organization online the next
step is that you're going to be required
to file your initial statement of
information every year llcs are required
to file an updated statement of
information with the secretary of state
all california llcs are required to file
an initial statement of information also
known as form llc 12 with the california
secretary of state within 90 days of
formation this can be done online in
person or by mail the california
statement of information is going to
include your llc's address registered
agent's name and address and the names
and addresses of all llc members once
your articles of organization have been
processed then you're going to file this
initial statement of information by
returning to the secretary of state's
website once again on the left hand side
you're going to click on file statement
of information and then you will locate
your business sign in and you can
complete the document online there the
next step that you're required to do is
not something that must be formally
submitted but you must create it in
order to be a legally operating llc and
have the protections in place of a
legally operating llc and it is creating
an operating agreement having an
operating agreement for your llc whether
it be just one single member yourself or
multiple partners is not only required
by the state of california but it also
will ensure that you are undergoing what
you need to do in order to have those
protections of a limited liability
company first it needs to outline your
llc's organization it needs to state
clearly who its members are and how
ownership is divided multi-member llcs
may utilize an equal ownership structure
or they can assign various memberships
different units of ownership it's going
to state if there is an appointed
manager
and how all members will go about voting
on all business matters next is going to
outline the capital contributions of
each member if each member has invested
a certain amount of money in the
business next you'll need to identify
distributions how profits and losses
will be divided amongst the members
next you need to outline how any changes
to membership structure will be handled
if roles and ownership are to be
transferred in the event that a member
leaves the company
lastly it needs to outline your
dissolution if at some point all the
members of the llc decide that they no
longer wish to be in business now if you
are a single member llc meaning that it
is just you with no other business
partners registered to your llc then
your operating agreement is going to be
relatively simple but it still should
touch on all of these important points
the next step is going to be to obtain
an ein an employer identification number
for your llc obtaining an ein number is
fast easy and free and you can do so on
the irs website i have a video that
shows you exactly how to do it linked in
the description down below immediately
after filing and registering your llc
the next step that you need to do which
is not optional is separating your
business and personal assets it is going
to be essential that you immediately
open separate business savings and
checking accounts for your business name
as an llc you may not mix your business
accounts and business transactions with
your personal account and your personal
transactions you 100 must completely
separate them now once all of that is
filed with the state of california
you're going to need to ensure that you
are set up to operate a business legally
within your city in your county go to
calgold.ca.gov
to see what types of additional permits
licenses and fees you may need to submit
in most cases you're going to need to
obtain a business license which is also
known as a business tax certificate for
your specific city if you're going to be
selling tangible products you're going
to need to obtain a seller's permit and
remit that sales tax over to the cdtfa
so how much does it cost in total to
register your llc with the state of
california filing your articles of
organization is a 70 fee with the
secretary of state
filing a statement of information with
the secretary of state is 20 now there
are going to be some costs associated
with having an llc annually each year
you're going to be required to file an
updated statement of information and the
cost of doing so is twenty dollars llcs
are also required to pay an annual llc
tax to the state of california that tax
is eight hundred dollars if you're a
newly formed llc in the state of
california your annual llc tax payment
is due the 15th day of the fourth month
after your llc registered with the
secretary of state now for businesses
that are formed between years 2021 to
2023
the 800 annual llc fee has been waived
for their first year the llc grosses
over 250 000
in a year than it is required to pay an
additional llc fee this is earning 250
000 up to 499 000 it is 900
fee ranges from 900 up to 11
ninety dollars depending on your
business's gross sales this fee is due
in advance by june 15 every year
the form used to submit this additional
fee is form ftb 3536
now in order to keep your llc compliant
with the state of california's laws for
llc you'll need to do a few things
number one is that each year you'll need
to file an updated statement of
information as well as submit that 20
fee in order to file additionally you're
going to be required to submit the 800
annual llc tax that is due at tax time
tax and if your business grosses over
250 000 a year you're going to be
required to pay that additional llc fee
the last thing in order to stay
compliant is going to be to ensure that
your personal and business finances are
completely separated and that you're
keeping detailed and accurate records
okay you guys i hope that was helpful
please let me know in the comments down
below if this walkthrough of the process
of filing an llc in the state of
california was helpful to you please
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