How much is the California corporation annual report?

$25, filed every year. It is filed as the Statement of Information, Form SI-550 (stock corporations file annually; note LLCs file Form LLC-12 biennially for $20).

Does a California LLC file on the same schedule as a corporation?

No. A California corporation files every year, while a California LLC files every two years. The two entity types are on different cycles in this state, which is a common reason owners of both miss one of the deadlines.

Corporation compliance · CA

California Corporation Annual Report

By Edmond Hui · Facts verified July 29, 2026 against primary state sources

Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.

A California corporation files the Statement of Information, Form SI-550 every year and pays $25. Initial Statement of Information within 90 days of incorporation, then annually during the 6-month window ending on the last day of the anniversary month of incorporation

Filing cadenceEvery year

Report fee$25

Corporate income taxYes

What California requires

Statement of Information, Form SI-550

Frequency	every year
Due	Initial Statement of Information within 90 days of incorporation, then annually during the 6-month window ending on the last day of the anniversary month of incorporation
Fee	$25
Form	Statement of Information, Form SI-550 (stock corporations file annually; note LLCs file Form LLC-12 biennially for $20)

California is one of 41 states on an annual corporate reporting cycle. Nationally, 41 states require an annual corporate report, 7 require one every two years, and 2 require none.

What the filings cost over five years

State filing charges only — incorporation plus five years of reporting, annualized. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded, because both depend on income or net worth.

Period	State filing charges
Incorporation	$100
Each year after (report, annualized)	$25
Five-year equivalent (annualized)	$225

That ranks California 21st cheapest of 49 states on five-year corporate filing charges.

California corporation vs California LLC

State filing charges only. Corporate income tax and franchise tax are excluded because both depend on income or net worth, so no flat figure exists for either entity.

	Corporation	LLC
Formation filing fee	$100	$70
Report cadence	Every year	Every two years
Report fee	$25	$20
Entity-level tax on the LLC side	—	Annual LLC Tax (minimum franchise tax)

An LLC is $30 cheaper to file here. That is a one-off charge, so it should not decide the entity type on its own.

Full California LLC cost breakdown · LLC vs C-corp explained · LLC vs S-corp explained

State taxes a California corporation pays

Corporate income tax

Applies	Yes
Rate	8.84% of net income for C corporations (10.84% for banks and financial corporations); the tax is the greater of that amount or the $800 minimum franchise tax. Filed on Form 100.
Minimum tax	$800

Franchise or gross-receipts tax

California imposes an $800 minimum franchise tax on every corporation incorporated, registered, or doing business in California (R&TC §23153). A C corporation pays the greater of 8.84% of net income or the $800 minimum. Newly incorporated corporations are exempt from the $800 MINIMUM in their first taxable year (first-year net income is still taxed at 8.84%). Separately, LLCs owe an $800 annual LLC tax PLUS a gross-receipts-based LLC fee (about $900 at $250,000 of California receipts up to $11,790 at $5,000,000+); the $800 LLC tax and LLC fee are administered by the Franchise Tax Board, not CDTFA or the Secretary of State.

The $800 minimum tax is deliberately left out of the filing-charge totals on this page. A minimum tax is owed to the state tax authority on a tax return, not to the business filing office — but unlike an income-based tax it is a floor, so treat it as a recurring cost of keeping the corporation alive here.

What these totals leave out: the filing-charge figures on this page are what you pay the business filing office. They exclude corporate income tax and any franchise or gross-receipts tax, because both depend on income, net worth or receipts. The section above sets out what Californialevies — or that it levies neither. Where a state's franchise tax carries a flat minimum, that minimum is an unavoidable annual cost these totals do not include, and over five years it can be the larger number.

C-corp return: Form 100 (California Corporation Franchise or Income Tax Return); Form 100W is used only by water's-edge filers

Frequently Asked Questions

: $25, filed every year. It is filed as the Statement of Information, Form SI-550 (stock corporations file annually; note LLCs file Form LLC-12 biennially for $20).
: Initial Statement of Information within 90 days of incorporation, then annually during the 6-month window ending on the last day of the anniversary month of incorporation.
: No. A California corporation files every year, while a California LLC files every two years. The two entity types are on different cycles in this state, which is a common reason owners of both miss one of the deadlines.

Where these numbers come from

This page covers the recurring report a for-profit corporation files with California. Every figure was checked against California's own published sources on July 29, 2026— the state business filing agency's fee schedule, the governing statute, and where a state tax applies, the state Department of Revenue. Commercial formation-service pages were used as leads only and are never cited. Anything the review could not confirm from an official source is left blank on this page rather than filled with an estimate.

Corporate income tax and franchise tax are quoted as the state publishes them, as rate schedules and thresholds, and are excluded from every dollar total here. They depend on income or net worth, so there is no flat figure that would be true for every corporation.

Primary sources: