To pay the $800 California corporation fee, log in to the Franchise Tax Board’s Web Pay system and send it directly from your bank account for free, put it on a credit card through ACI Payments for a 2.3% service fee, or mail a check with the voucher form that matches your entity type. For calendar-year businesses, the payment is due by April 15.
The Three Ways to Pay
Web Pay from Your Bank Account
Web Pay is the FTB’s free electronic payment system, and it’s the option the agency steers filers toward. You enter your entity information, pick the tax type and year, and authorize a direct debit from a checking or savings account. There is no service fee.1Franchise Tax Board. Pay by Bank Account (Web Pay) The system generates a confirmation on the spot. If you create a MyFTB account, you can also view past payments, cancel a pending one, or schedule the next year’s payment in advance.
You don’t need a paper voucher when you pay through Web Pay. The electronic submission carries the entity ID, tax type, and tax year with it.
Credit Card
Credit card payments go through a third-party processor, ACI Payments. The FTB itself doesn’t take card payments directly. ACI charges a 2.3% service fee, which on an $800 payment comes to about $18.40.2Franchise Tax Board. Pay by Credit Card Save the confirmation number ACI gives you; that’s your proof of payment if anything needs to be traced later.
Check by Mail
If you’re paying by check or money order, make it payable to “Franchise Tax Board,” write your entity ID number and the tax year in the memo line, and send it with the correct voucher to:
Franchise Tax Board
PO Box 942857
Sacramento, CA 94257-05313Franchise Tax Board. Mailing Addresses
Mailed payments take roughly a month to post to your account.4California Franchise Tax Board. Timeframes – Wait Times If the deadline is only a few days out, use Web Pay instead so the payment lands on time.
The Right Voucher for Your Entity
Which paper form you need depends on how the entity is organized and, for corporations, whether you’re e-filing:
- Corporations paying the minimum franchise tax use Form 100-ES, the Corporation Estimated Tax voucher. If the $800 is your only obligation, the full amount goes in as your first estimated installment.5Franchise Tax Board. 2024 Instructions for Form 100-ES Corporation Estimated Tax
- Corporations that e-file their return and owe a balance paid by check use Form FTB 3586, the Payment Voucher for Corporations and Exempt Organizations e-filed Returns.6Franchise Tax Board. 2025 California Form 3586 Payment Voucher for Corporations and Exempt Organizations e-filed Returns
- LLCs use Form FTB 3522, the LLC Tax Voucher.7Franchise Tax Board. 2025 Instructions for Form FTB 3522 LLC Tax Voucher
- Limited partnerships and LLPs use Form 3538, the Payment Voucher for Automatic Extension for Limited Partnerships, LLPs and REMICs.8Franchise Tax Board. Limited Partnerships
Enter the entity’s legal name exactly as it appears on state records. Corporations use their 7-digit entity ID. LLCs use either a 9-digit FTB-issued ID or the 12-digit Secretary of State ID, whichever was assigned at registration.9California Franchise Tax Board. e-Services – Identification Number Fill in the correct tax year so the FTB credits the payment to the right period.
When the $800 Is Due
The $800 tax is due on the 15th day of the 4th month after the start of your tax year.10Franchise Tax Board. Due Dates – Businesses For calendar-year entities, that’s April 15. Fiscal-year filers count from the start of their own year.
Filing an extension for your return does not extend the payment deadline. The $800 is still owed on the original date.
First-Year Rules
Corporations incorporated or qualified in California on or after January 1, 2020 owe no minimum franchise tax in their first taxable year.11Franchise Tax Board. Corporations The 15-day rule can stretch that further: if the first tax year runs 15 days or fewer and the corporation does no business in that window, that stub period doesn’t count as a taxable year, and the exemption applies to the following full year. To hit that window, file Articles of Incorporation on or after the 17th of a 31-day month, the 16th of a 30-day month, or the 15th of a 29-day February.12Franchise Tax Board. Guide for Corporations Starting Business in California
LLCs are in a different position. California waived the first-year $800 for LLCs formed between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2023, but that relief has expired. LLCs formed in 2024 or later owe the $800 in their first year.13Franchise Tax Board. Limited Liability Company A new LLC has until the 15th day of the 4th month after formation to make that first payment. Register on June 18 and the first $800 is due by October 15.
LPs and LLPs are exempt from the first-year annual tax only when both conditions are met: the entity conducted no business in California during the year, and the tax year ran 15 days or fewer.14Franchise Tax Board. Limited Liability Partnership
LLCs: The Separate Income-Based Fee
If you run an LLC, the $800 is not the whole picture. LLCs with total California income of $250,000 or more owe an additional annual fee that scales with revenue:
- $250,000 to $499,999: $900
- $500,000 to $999,999: $2,500
- $1,000,000 to $4,999,999: $6,000
- $5,000,000 or more: $11,790
This income-based fee is due by the 15th day of the 6th month of the current tax year, which for calendar-year LLCs is June 15, and you have to estimate the year’s income to pay it.13Franchise Tax Board. Limited Liability Company Corporations, LPs, and LLPs do not owe this extra fee.
What Late Payment Costs
The late payment penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax, plus 0.5% for each additional month or partial month the balance is unpaid, capped at a combined 25%.15Franchise Tax Board. FTB Pub 1024 Penalty Reference Chart On an $800 tax, that cap is $200 in penalties.
Interest also accrues daily on the unpaid balance. The corporate underpayment rate through June 30, 2026 is 7%.16Franchise Tax Board. Interest and Estimate Penalty Rates
Missing the return itself, not just the payment, brings a separate delinquent filing penalty of 5% per month up to 25%. Ignore the bill long enough and the FTB will suspend your entity, which strips its ability to operate, sue, sell property, or even file its own dissolution paperwork until the account is brought current.17Franchise Tax Board. My Business Is Suspended
How to Stop Owing It Every Year
The $800 keeps accruing every year the entity exists on state records, even if the business never opens its doors, earns nothing, or has been inactive for years. Ceasing operations is not enough. You have to formally close the entity with both the Secretary of State and the FTB.
An active corporation can file termination documents through the Secretary of State’s bizfileOnline portal and then confirm with the FTB. A suspended corporation has to reverse the order: file Form FTB 3715 PC to request voluntary administrative dissolution through the FTB, wait for the conditional approval letter, then file the Certificate of Dissolution with the Secretary of State.18California Secretary of State. FTB Abatement and Voluntary Administrative Termination A corporation that never issued shares, never conducted business, and has no debts may qualify for a short-form dissolution within 12 months of incorporation, with no filing fee.19CA.gov. Short Form Dissolution Certificate
Active LLCs follow the same pattern through bizfileOnline. Suspended LLCs file Form FTB 3716 PC first, then the Certificate of Cancellation once the FTB approves.18California Secretary of State. FTB Abatement and Voluntary Administrative Termination An LLC canceled within one year of organizing, using the short-form cancellation, escapes the first-year $800 entirely.13Franchise Tax Board. Limited Liability Company
Until the closure is recorded on both the Secretary of State’s and the FTB’s books, the meter keeps running.