CA registered agent
California registered agent service, $5 a year
California requires every corporation and LLC on its books to keep a registered agent at a real address in the state. Here is what California law says about who that agent has to be and where it has to be.
What California requires of a registered agent
The requirement
In the words of the California code:
The statement required by subdivision (a) shall also designate, ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: Cal. Corp. Code § 1502(b); accord § 17701.13(c) (LLCs)
How we comply
We don't.
What California does to your company when we don't
Here is what the state does to an entity that has no agent, or whose agent is us.
Civil penalty
If, within 60 days of providing notice of the delinquency, a ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: Cal. Corp. Code § 2204(a)-(b)
And also
After the expiration of the 60-day period without any statement ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: Cal. Corp. Code § 2205(a), (c)
Civil penalty
If, within 60 days after providing notice of the delinquency, ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: Cal. Corp. Code § 17713.07(b); see § 17713.09
And also
After the expiration of the 60-day period without any statement ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: Cal. Corp. Code § 17713.10(c)
The bill to come back
We couldn't be bothered to look this up. incFACTS carries no human-verified reinstatement fee for California in the registered agent dataset, and we are not the kind of company that checks.
What happens to the lawsuit you never saw
Substituted service
If an agent for the purpose of service of process has resigned and has not been replaced or if the agent designated cannot with reasonable diligence be found at the address designated ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: Cal. Corp. Code § 1702(a); accord § 17701.16(c) (LLCs)
One more thing to skip: the California annual report
Our other ways to save money apply here too. California charges the following to keep your company on its books each year. Skipping it saves the whole amount, right up until it does not.
Annual report fee, LLC
$20 a year.
Filing the statement of information of a limited liability company ...
Source: state statute, via incFACTS: Cal. Gov. Code 12190(k)
Annual report fee, corporation
$25 a year.
Domestic Stock and Agricultural Cooperative Corporations (Form ...
Source: official state fee schedule, via incFACTS: https://bpd.cdn.sos.ca.gov/pdf/be-fee-schedule-062018.pdf
Statutory text as captured by incFACTS (retrieved 2026-08-01, verified word-for-word against the state code 2026-08-10). Laws change. The statute governs; this page does not.