Business formation / Flat fee $1,800 to $4,500
LLC or S corp, decided in one meeting.
You bring your CPA on speaker. We bring the decision table. Forty minutes later the choice is made and the filing goes out the same week.
The decision table
It is a tax question wearing a legal costume.
| Question | Points to an LLC | Points to an S corp |
|---|---|---|
| Net profit this year | Under about $80,000, or uncertain | Over about $80,000 and steady, so the payroll savings beat the payroll cost |
| Owners | One, or partners who want flexible profit splits | Up to 100 US owners, all taking the same per share treatment |
| Holds real estate | Yes. Property in an S corp is hard to get back out | No |
| Appetite for paperwork | Low. One annual statement, one franchise tax payment | Fine with payroll, quarterly filings and a board minute book |
| California gross receipts fee | Applies on gross revenue over $250,000 | Does not apply, but a 1.5% franchise tax on net income does |
| Outside investors planned | Not soon | Not soon either. Investors usually want a C corp, which is a different conversation |
An LLC can elect S corp tax treatment later without re-forming. Most owners under the profit line start there and flip when the numbers say so.
What the flat fee covers
Filed, documented, bankable.
A formation is finished when you can open a business bank account and sign a lease without the landlord asking for a missing document. That is the standard.
- Entity choice meeting with your CPA on the call
- Name check and Articles filed with the Secretary of State
- Operating agreement or bylaws written for your actual owners
- Statement of Information and the EIN from the IRS
- S corp election on Form 2553 when that is the choice
- Succession clause that matches your estate plan
- Registered agent set up, or us as agent for $150 a year
- A one page first year compliance calendar
Single owner LLC with standard terms: $1,800. Two or more owners with a negotiated operating agreement, a buy-sell clause and an S election: toward $4,500. State filing fees of roughly $100 to $200 and the $800 annual franchise tax are passed through at cost.
If you already have an entity and the paperwork is a mess, we clean it up at the same flat rates. If you are about to sign with a partner, customer or landlord, that is a contract matter and often happens in the same week.
After the filing
The company and the estate plan should agree.
Here is the gap we see most. An owner forms an LLC, then signs a living trust two years later with a different lawyer. The trust says the business goes to the spouse. The operating agreement says a deceased member's interest is bought out by the other members at book value. Both documents are valid. Only one of them wins, and the family finds out which in a conference room.
Because Marcus writes the operating agreement and Dana writes the trust, the two are drafted to match. The membership interest is titled in the trust from day one, the successor is the same person in both, and the buy-sell terms reference the plan. It costs nothing extra. It is just two people who sit twenty feet apart talking to each other.
Have a business already and no plan? Start with estate planning and bring the operating agreement. Buying a building for the company? That is real estate law, and the entity that takes title matters. Either way, the first consult is free.