[
  {
    "id": "ca-llc-annual-tax",
    "st": "CA",
    "applies_to": ["formed", "property"],
    "title": "California $800 annual LLC tax",
    "short": "$800 to the Franchise Tax Board every year, even at $0 income",
    "amount_usd": 800,
    "form": "FTB Form 3522",
    "due": {
      "type": "fixed",
      "m": 4,
      "d": 15,
      "rule": "15th day of the 4th month of the tax year (April 15 for calendar-year LLCs); the first payment is due four months after formation or foreign registration"
    },
    "href": "https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/business/types/limited-liability-company/index.html",
    "href_label": "FTB: LLC annual tax",
    "why": "Owning and renting out California real property is doing business in California under R&TC §23101, whatever state the LLC was formed in. The tax is owed in a year with no tenants and no rent; only cancelling the California registration stops it.",
    "also": "Form 568 (the LLC return) is filed every year on top of the payment, and an LLC fee is added once California gross receipts reach $250,000. The AB 85 first-year waiver covered LLCs formed 2021–2023 only — entities formed in 2024 or later owe the $800 in year one.",
    "thresholds_note": "R&TC §23101(b) 2025 thresholds: sales $757,070, property $75,707, payroll $75,707, or 25% of the total in each case — and they are not a safe harbor; the Office of Tax Appeals has held an entity can be doing business under §23101(a) below them.",
    "sources": [
      { "label": "FTB — Limited liability company", "href": "https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/business/types/limited-liability-company/index.html" },
      { "label": "FTB Publication 3556 — LLC filing information", "href": "https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/misc/3556.html" },
      { "label": "FTB — Doing business in California (R&TC §23101)", "href": "https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/business/doing-business-in-california.html" }
    ],
    "updated": "2026-09-03",
    "scout": "O-GK-20260901-012"
  }
]