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One thing I like about the US is that there are so many different jurisdictions all in the business of having competitive incorporation services. So although LLC formation might cost $800 in California, it can be like $50 in a nearby state.

Both a feature and a bug, is that there is no federal incorporation statute for private persons in the United States.

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> although LLC formation might cost $800 in California

That sounded really high, so I looked it up here:

http://www.sos.ca.gov/business-programs/business-entities/fo...

It looks like CA is $70, unless I'm missing something. I've never started an LLC in CA though. (EDIT: keep reading down the thread for more clarification.)

(But: there's another thread here that says IL is $500, which does appear to be correct.)

The $800 usually mentioned is actually the yearly minimum tax for an LLC in CA.

From the LLC-1 form:

"Filing Form LLC-1 will obligate most LLCs to pay an annual minimum $800 tax to the California Franchise Tax Board. For more information about taxes, go to https://www.ftb.ca.gov."

Awesome, thanks for the clarification!

CA is not a small business friendly state. $800 is the hefty minimum amount of tax a corp has to paid annually even it makes no money.

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