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Comment by flowerlad | Hacker News Reader

Cheaper to register in Delaware. Only $300 per year in LLC tax vs $800.

You still have to pay a minimum of $800 a year to the franchise tax board for operating a non-Californian business.

Word. California always gets its cut. If you're in California, or have customers there, going to other states only increases your potential obligations.

Exactly. Which is why I just recommend forming a California LLC directly if you live in California (like I do).

Yeah. I understand the advantages of a Delaware C corporation if you need a C corporation. But I don't see the advantages of a Delaware LLC if you will be operating in California.

If you own the LLC but don't take a salary, do you still have to pay the fee?

Yes.

NYS was the same way. It was irrelevant whether the company made money or not.

As a non-US citizen, California taxes and fees seem ridiculous.

They are. There's little-to-no benefit derived from these arbitrary fees, especially amongst all the other high taxes in the state.

If you live in CA and you’re going to cheat the taxman by not registering locally as a foreign corporation, then you might as well register as an Ohio LLC. $99 initial registration and zero annual fee to maintain it.

Sure, Ohio is nice because it has no fees and no reporting requirements for $99. But why stop there when you can go to Arizona and get the same deal for $50.

But seriously, if you want to cheat California, just leave and move to a more business-friendly state and do your business legally. It's 100% not worth it to operate illegally in California, especially for the registration of an entity that's intended to protect you legally.

Oh, also fun, don't forget to explicitly close out your CA business when you finally give up and move out. If you don't, they'll hunt you down for your $800/yr several years later with penalties and interest.

echo that. Failing to register as a foreign corp operating in CA is going to be seen as tax fraud by the authorities. They don't like that.

CA is an expensive place in many ways. Basing your business operations there is only one of them.

Delaware courts are very business friendly, so it usually makes sense to register there, even if it's more expensive than other states.

In Minnesota, you pay a one time fee of $135, and renew yearly for free.

Yep, and the renewal takes about 5 minutes online.

North Dakota charges $100 then $25 for each annual report. Odd, ND is more expensive.

$25 in MT also.

Holy crud, South Dakota is $150 with $50 annual fee. I am stunned Minnesota is the cheapest option of the four states.

Colorado is $50 to create a LLC, then $10 a year to file your annual report. If you miss the annual report filing date, the fee is $50 to get back in good standing.

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