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How to form a California LLC without a lawyer

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Re: How to form a California LLC without a lawyer

#101
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pay the $800 annual fee whether or not you have any income Really? In the 2 states I've lived in, there is no annual fee for LLC's. I'm curious what the reasoning behind having a fee that large is.

What states are these? I've had fees in every state I've every formed an LLC in and/or been a foreign corp in.

https://www.llcuniversity.com/llc-annual-fees-by-state/

shows some 9 states with no annual fee.

Re: How to form a California LLC without a lawyer

#102
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you live and work in California, you are doing business with the state. You aren't going to avoid that, no matter how hard you try.

I wonder about this. Suppose you incorporate a LLC in Delaware that buys some stocks, and some houses in Arizona and rents them out. But you live in California. Is your LLC “doing business with California”?

Yes. The fact that you manage the LLC from within California constitutes "doing business in California". See the examples on this page:

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/misc/3556.html#Doing-Business-i...

Paul is a California resident and a member of a Nevada LLC. The Nevada LLC owns property in Nevada. The LLC hires a Nevada management company to collect rents and provide maintenance. Paul has the right to hire and fire the management company. He occasionally has telephone discussions from California with the management company in Nevada regarding the property. He is ultimately responsible for the property and oversees the management company. Paul conducts business in California on behalf of the LLC. The LLC must file Form 568.

Re: How to form a California LLC without a lawyer

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a really good point, thanks for mentioning it. Looking back on this, if it had been just an LLC it would have been no big deal at all. It would be a "disregarded entity" with ordinary 1099/Schedule C income, no different from any of my previous clients, with an easy tax return like the ones I'd done many times before. It was the S Corp election which this client required that really messed everything up. In hi…

Why did your client care about how the government taxed your LLC?

This is the big red flag - I would have pushed back immediately and bailed if they didn't acquiesce. Client has no authority to say how your business should be taxed, that's preposterous. They're doing you a favor by letting you know in advance how difficult they'll be to work with.

Re: How to form a California LLC without a lawyer

#104
post #83

S corps are generally preferable to LLCs if you are eligible to form one, but it also depends on your goals, i.e. if you intend to raise money, you need an LLC or C Corp. I formed an S corp for my personal protects for tax reasons. I also used legalzoom, because it's good enough for most small businesses. (And even big ones; Panda Express is an S corp.)

Just curious, what are some of the tax benefits you gain with an s corp?

I also don't understand the parent's comment. An LLC can make a tax election with the IRS to be taxed as an S-Corp.

Re: How to form a California LLC without a lawyer

#105
post #88

Can someone tell me how to form LLC in WA state and not publish our home/business address? We will be working from home, but we don’t want our home address to end up in public search records. Any help or recommendation?

I know (because I saw it recently) that if lawyer assists you with forming a C corp in WA, their address can be used and they become an agent for your business, IE: they potentially get all your renewal paperwork, etc. I'm assuming if you had a lawyer form your LLC that they could do the same. That said - I've had a WA LLC for decades, my partner has formed LLCs in WA, etc... it's trivial to do yourself and fairly harmless to include your home address. In the month since she formed her most recent, I think we've had two pieces of junk mail. I did a search with the DOR a few minutes ago - yes, the address shows up for my business but not for hers, so who knows whether your address would even be published?

Re: How to form a California LLC without a lawyer

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sole proprietorships and other unincorporated ventures are getting a lot more respect and seamlessness lately! the stimulus programs specifically included them and the SBA asked no questions you do still want the liability protections, more disciplined separation of assets and accounting by having an incorporated name, and deterrent to people looking to sue, alongside additional levels of anonymity if you choose whic…

My partner and I just had a very similar conversation as she has several business ventures that she could continue to conduct as a sole proprietor, or she could form a corporate vehicle. My thinking is - if you are engaged in an ongoing concern, especially if it is responsible for your livelihood, it makes so much sense to explore incorporation of some variety. This could be for no other reason than to split out busi…

I incorporate like I’m unwrapping candy.

Second nature to me. Not that costly of a “hobby” and I’ve let them go delinquent temporarily if I have a disruption in income.

I’m often sitting down at a local bank branch opening a new account for one.

But I would also say consider Transferwise for business bank accounts. Super easy and you can get Euro SEPA region accounts for your US entities as well. (Without Transferwise update, this is actually hard for American citizens but it might not be something you ever encounter.)

I never do a local/“foreign” llc filing unless the state is fining me to do it.

Can’t really relate to the idea of debating to incorporate. I know the unknowns can be daunting but sole proprietorships are lazy.

Re: How to form a California LLC without a lawyer

#107
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pay the $800 annual fee whether or not you have any income Really? In the 2 states I've lived in, there is no annual fee for LLC's. I'm curious what the reasoning behind having a fee that large is.

If California can tax it, oh they will tax it.

Please call them by their chosen name “The Peoples Republic of California”

Re: How to form a California LLC without a lawyer

#108
post #83

S corps are generally preferable to LLCs if you are eligible to form one, but it also depends on your goals, i.e. if you intend to raise money, you need an LLC or C Corp. I formed an S corp for my personal protects for tax reasons. I also used legalzoom, because it's good enough for most small businesses. (And even big ones; Panda Express is an S corp.)

Just curious, what are some of the tax benefits you gain with an s corp?

Chapter S election (which an LLC can do, by the way, it's not a particular type of entity) does pass through taxing, and has a thing where the "profit distribution" of the corp, after paying shareholders "a reasonable salary", can be distributed without self-employment taxes, just regular income taxes. So you can save some 15% on some portion of your income--if you have an income larger than whatever you may be able to justify to the IRS as a reasonable salary. Other options may make sense based on how much money is kept in the company, if you have passive investors, how much money you're making, how much work the shareholders do, etc.

Re: How to form a California LLC without a lawyer

#109

Crap. I actually missed 1-2 years of paying the $800 franchise tax because like a lot of other people on this thread, it’s just used for hobbies, makes no money, and lies fallow 99% of the time. I’ve never gotten a fine in the mail for this though. Does anyone know if there’s some sort of online portal or phone number that is the best place for me to pay all the taxes and fines and make sure that in their records I a…

It might be that the LLC is liable for the taxes and not you personally. Do you really want to pay $1600 for something you aren’t really using or do you want to abandon it and walk away?
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