California Foreign Registration · About
About California Foreign Registration
California Foreign Registration exists for a single task: registering businesses that were formed in other states with the California Secretary of State, Business Entities, accurately and before they start trading in California.
The work
You answer the order questions once. From there we draft the application, request the certificate from your home state, test the name against California's rules, submit through bizfile Online and pass the approved registration back to you. The online order handles Form LLC-5 for LLCs and Form S&DC-S/N for corporations, and we can serve as your California agent for service of process. Partnership, nonprofit and cancellation work comes in by email.
Where we stop
We do not prepare tax returns; those go to the Franchise Tax Board through your accountant. We also cannot decide for you whether a given activity amounts to doing business in the state. For a close call, a California attorney is the right person to ask.
Before you order
If something is unclear, our contact page gives an email address that a real person answers.
Our fee, plus the state fee at cost
Register in California
California$199
+ $70 Secretary of State fee
- Form LLC-5 for an LLC or the Statement and Designation by Foreign Corporation for a corporation
- A current certificate from your home state, which we order
- Submitted to Sacramento through bizfile Online
- A California agent for service of process: ours, or the one you name
- The certificate of registration, sent to you once issued
- Renewal: after the first year, the agent service renews at $149 a year
Checkout lists our fee and the state fee as separate lines. The state fee is charged at cost. $199 plus the state fee, including your first year of registered agent service; after that the agent service renews at $149 a year.
Registering an out-of-state company in California?
Order online, and we prepare the filing, get the certificate from your home state and file in Sacramento.