# Pay a California LLC’s annual tax

An LLC doing business in California, or whose articles the Secretary of State has accepted, pays an annual tax of $800 by the 15th day of the fourth month of its taxable year. A 2026 amendment (SB 180, effective July 13, 2026) sets the first-year amount at $400 for taxable years beginning in 2027 through 2029, for an LLC required to file a return under Section 18633.5.

## At a glance

| Detail | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Kind | Obligation |
| Authority | [California Franchise Tax Board](https://www.ftb.ca.gov/) |
| Where it applies | us, us-ca |
| Fees | Annual tax (the amount Section 23153(d) sets): $800; First taxable year, for a taxable year beginning in 2027, 2028 or 2029, for an LLC required to file a return under Section 18633.5: $400; First taxable year of an LLC that organized or registered on or after January 1, 2021 and before January 1, 2024: $0 |
| Last verified against its sources | 2026-10-04 |
| Version | 1 |

## Where this sits

**Level 1.** [Business ongoing compliance](/a/vertical-business-ongoing-compliance) › **Pay a California LLC’s annual tax**

**Beside it:** Annual report, Dissolution/withdrawal, Entity amendment, Foreign qualification, Statement of information

**Starts from:** [Form a limited liability company in California](/a/california-llc-formation)

**Related:** [Form a limited liability company in California](/a/california-llc-formation), [File a California LLC’s Statement of Information](/a/california-llc-statement-of-information)

The first-year amount changed in 2026. Senate Bill 180 amended Section 17941, effective July 13, 2026: for taxable years beginning in 2027 through 2029, an LLC required to file a return under Section 18633.5 pays $400 for its first taxable year instead of the $800 of Section 23153. An LLC whose first taxable year begins in 2026 is not covered by it. An answer from memory would miss this; the object below holds the statute’s own words and the date they were read.

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## Rules

**Requirement:** An LLC owes the tax if it is doing business in California, or if the Secretary of State has accepted its articles of organization or issued it a certificate of registration; it owes it each taxable year until a certificate of cancellation is filed. *(checked as: (whether the business is doing business in California = true or whether California’s Secretary of State has accepted its articles or issued a certificate of registration = true))*

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## Fees

| Fee | Amount | When |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Annual tax (the amount Section 23153(d) sets) | $800 | not (whether that taxable year is the business’s first = true and date the taxable year in question begins ≥ 2027-01-01 and date the taxable year in question begins < 2030-01-01 and whether the LLC is required to file a return under California Revenue and Taxation Code section 18633.5 = true) and not (whether that taxable year is the business’s first = true and date the business organized or registered with the state ≥ 2021-01-01 and date the business organized or registered with the state < 2024-01-01) |
| First taxable year, for a taxable year beginning in 2027, 2028 or 2029, for an LLC required to file a return under Section 18633.5 | $400 | whether that taxable year is the business’s first = true and date the taxable year in question begins ≥ 2027-01-01 and date the taxable year in question begins < 2030-01-01 and whether the LLC is required to file a return under California Revenue and Taxation Code section 18633.5 = true |
| First taxable year of an LLC that organized or registered on or after January 1, 2021 and before January 1, 2024 | $0 | whether that taxable year is the business’s first = true and date the business organized or registered with the state ≥ 2021-01-01 and date the business organized or registered with the state < 2024-01-01 |

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## Deadlines

**Due date:** Due and payable on or before the 15th day of the fourth month of the taxable year.

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## How it is filed

**What an agent may do:** not stated by any source yet (UNKNOWN); nothing is submitted without the person’s authorization.

## What this page does not know

- How the tax is paid (the Franchise Tax Board’s forms, vouchers and online payment) is not read here: the Franchise Tax Board’s site refused this reader (HTTP 403).
- The return requirement of Section 18633.5, which the 2027–2029 first-year amount depends on, is not read here.
- Whether subdivision (g)(1) was operative in a given year depends on a budget appropriation that is not read here.