San Francisco, California LLC Cost (2026)

Local context: doing business in San Francisco

San Francisco runs one of the most aggressive local tax stacks in the country, layering a registration certificate, a gross-receipts tax, a homelessness surcharge, and an overpaid-executive surcharge on top of California's $800 franchise tax. Very small LLCs (under the gross receipts exemption) can pay as little as $47 plus the state $800, but mid-market and venture-backed LLCs in SF routinely face five-figure annual city-tax bills.

San Francisco-specific business fees

• California LLC Filing Fee (Articles of Organization): A one-time $70 fee paid to the California Secretary of State.
• California Annual Franchise Tax: A flat $800 minimum franchise tax due each year to the Franchise Tax Board.
• San Francisco Business Registration Certificate: Annual fee that scales with San Francisco gross receipts, ranging from $47 for the smallest businesses up to roughly $40,261 for the largest filers. Due by May 31 each year.
• San Francisco Gross Receipts Tax: Tiered tax on San Francisco-sourced gross receipts that applies once a business exceeds the small business exemption (around $2.25 million in 2026). Rates vary by NAICS business activity and range roughly from 0.105% to 1.04%.
• San Francisco Homelessness Gross Receipts Tax (HGRT): Additional gross receipts surcharge of roughly 0.175% to 0.69% on San Francisco gross receipts above $25 million.
• Overpaid Executive Gross Receipts Tax: Additional tax of 0.1% to 0.6% on San Francisco gross receipts for businesses whose top executive earns more than 100 times the median worker compensation in the city.

Top industries in San Francisco

• Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services
• Finance & Insurance
• Information (Tech)

State-level cost (applies to all of California)

Because LLC formation is a state-level filing, the base $70 fee applies regardless of which California city you choose. Ongoing maintenance is $20 per biennial, the same in every city. California also charges a $800 franchise tax annually, again statewide. See the full California LLC cost breakdown for state filing fees, annual reports, franchise tax, and registered-agent options.

What city-level fees apply on top of state filing

On top of the state filing, San Francisco businesses typically encounter a few city-level cost layers that don't appear in California's SOS fee schedule. The most common are a city or county business license (annual, $25-$500 depending on activity and gross receipts), a zoning permit if you operate from a commercial address, professional or occupational licenses for regulated industries, and any sales tax registration if you sell taxable goods or services. Some metros also impose a gross-receipts tax that kicks in above a revenue threshold, and many require a doing-business-as (DBA) filing with the county clerk if your operating name differs from the LLC's legal name.

For most San Francisco founders, the practical year-1 budget includes the California state filing ($70), a registered-agent service if you don't want your home address public ($100-$150/year), an EIN from the IRS (free, takes 10 minutes online), a San Francisco business license, and a starter operating agreement (free SBA template or $99-$200 paid, or $400-$1,500 attorney-drafted for multi-member LLCs with profit splits). Bookkeeping software (QuickBooks/Wave/Xero, $0-$30/month) and a business bank account round out the operational stack.

The number that varies most by city: registered-agent service price (commercial agents compete on price in major metros, often discounting first-year rates), and the hourly rate for a CPA or business attorney if you choose paid help. San Francisco's cost-of-living index runs at 244 (US average = 100), which is a reasonable proxy for local professional service rates.