Los Angeles is a tricky tax footprint for a startup because "Los Angeles" is not one jurisdiction. The City of Los Angeles has its own business tax. LA County has its own Assessor, who taxes your laptops and furniture. And the 88 incorporated cities in the county, Santa Monica, Culver City, and Pasadena among them, each run their own business license programs.
The good news: for most pre-seed through Series A startups, the local amounts are small. The bad news is that the most valuable break, the City of Los Angeles $100,000 small business exemption, disappears if you file even one day late.
This guide covers what is specific to Los Angeles. The California layer gets a brief summary, because it is identical statewide and covered in depth in our San Francisco startup tax guide. For the full federal and Delaware calendar, see our 2027 startup tax deadline calendar.
The Consolidated 2027 Calendar
Dates assume a calendar year Delaware C-corp doing business in the City of Los Angeles, with employees in California. Weekend shifts are applied; 2027 has several.
| Date | Layer | What is due |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 15 (Fri) | Federal | Q4 2026 personal estimated taxes for founders |
| Feb 1 (Mon) | Federal + CA | W-2s and 1099-NEC (January 31 is a Sunday); Q4 2026 Form 941 and CA DE 9 / DE 9C |
| Mar 1 (Mon) | Delaware | Franchise tax and annual report |
| Mar 1 (Mon) | City of LA | Annual business tax renewal (February 28 is a Sunday; confirm on your form) |
| Mar 1 (Mon) | Culver City | Business tax delinquent if unpaid (last day of February rule; confirm the weekend treatment with the city) |
| Apr 1 (Thu) | LA County | Form 571-L business property statement due |
| Apr 15 (Thu) | Federal | Form 1120 or Form 7004 extension; Q1 corporate estimate |
| Apr 15 (Thu) | California | Form 100 and payment; Q1 estimate (30 percent), including the $800 minimum for corporations past year one |
| Apr 30 (Fri) | Federal + CA | Q1 Form 941 and DE 9 / DE 9C |
| May 7 (Fri) | LA County | Last day to file the 571-L without the 10 percent penalty |
| Jun 15 (Tue) | Federal + CA | Q2 estimates (CA installment is 40 percent) |
| Jul 1 (Thu) | Santa Monica | Business license renewal due (penalty free through August 31) |
| Aug 2 (Mon) | Federal + CA | Q2 Form 941 and DE 9 / DE 9C (July 31 is a Saturday) |
| Aug 31 (Tue) | LA County | Unsecured property tax bill from your 571-L assessment, generally due |
| Aug 31 (Tue) | Santa Monica | Last day to renew without penalty |
| Sep 15 (Wed) | Federal + CA | Q3 estimates (CA installment is 0 percent for most corporations) |
| Oct 15 (Fri) | Federal | Extended Form 1120 |
| Nov 1 (Mon) | Federal + CA | Q3 Form 941 and DE 9 / DE 9C (October 31 is a Sunday) |
| Nov 15 (Mon) | California | Extended Form 100 |
| Dec 15 (Wed) | Federal + CA | Q4 estimates (CA installment is 30 percent) |
| Your anniversary month | California | Statement of Information with the Secretary of State |
City of Los Angeles: The Business Tax Registration Certificate
Every individual or entity conducting business activities within the City of Los Angeles must obtain a Business Tax Registration Certificate (BTRC) from the Office of Finance. "Within the city" means the actual city limits, which are irregular: Venice, Playa Vista, Hollywood, Downtown, and most of the San Fernando Valley are in; Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills, and West Hollywood are not. Run every office address through the city's boundary lookup.
Three things founders tend not to know:
The first year is not free, it is deferred. The Office of Finance says plainly that the first year of new business activity is not exempt from tax. Instead, you pay the first year's tax when you renew in year two, as "back tax," alongside the current year's tax. A fast-growing company can face a two-year bill at its first renewal. The old New Business Exemption expired December 31, 2017, though older posts still cite it.
Everyone files a renewal, revenue or not. The city requires an annual renewal from every registered business, including one with zero revenue.
Closing is a filing too. If you leave the city or wind down, cancel the BTRC with a Taxpayer Information Update Form, or renewal assessments keep coming.
The Annual Renewal: Due at the End of February
The city treats business taxes as due January 1 and delinquent if not paid on or before the last day of February. For the 2026 cycle, February 28 was a Saturday and the Office of Finance set the timely filing date at Monday, March 2, 2026, counting online filings through 11:59 p.m. and mail by postmark. February 28, 2027 is a Sunday, so on the same logic the 2027 renewal (reporting 2026 gross receipts) should be timely through Monday, March 1, 2027. The city publishes the exact date on each year's renewal form and instructions; check it in January.
Under the 2026 instructions, late renewals pay interest of 0.7 percent per month plus a penalty that climbs from 5 percent the day after the deadline to 10 percent on April 1, 15 percent on May 1, 20 percent on June 1, and 40 percent on July 1. A discretionary extension of up to 45 days exists, but only if you request it before the deadline and pay at least 90 percent of the tax by then; underpay and a 20 percent penalty applies to the unpaid balance. Any return with tax due also carries a $4 state disability access fee under AB 1379.
Gross Receipts Classifications and Rates
The LA business tax is mostly a gross receipts tax, charged per $1,000 of receipts (rounded up to the next $1,000) at a rate set by your business classification. The city's published rates for the most common classes include:
| Classification | Rate per $1,000 of gross receipts |
|---|---|
| Professions and Occupations | $4.25 |
| Miscellaneous Services (advertising, PR, temp help, and similar) | $3.56 |
| Commission Merchant or Broker | $3.15 |
| Personal Property Rental | $2.55 |
| Retail Sales | $1.27 |
| Wholesale Sales | $1.01 |
| Multimedia Businesses | $1.01 |
The Multimedia classification is the one software founders should read closely. It covers businesses that produce software or other recordings integrating multiple media, provide computer programming services on a contract or fee basis, or develop online and internet services including website design. Multimedia businesses located in the Hollywood redevelopment areas get an additional cap on liability. Misclassification is common in both directions, and Professions costs roughly four times Multimedia. SaaS classification is fact specific, so confirm it with the Office of Finance or your tax advisor rather than accepting whatever the original registration selected.
In the city's own example, a Professions business with $237,461 in receipts rounds up to $238,000 and owes 238 times $4.25, or $1,011.50. In the Multimedia class it would be about $240.
Businesses operating both inside and outside the city may be entitled to apportion receipts under rules in the Office of Finance tax information booklet. For a distributed team, apportionment is where the real money is.
The $100,000 Small Business Exemption, and the Timely Filing Trap
The City of Los Angeles exempts registered businesses whose worldwide gross receipts, taxable and nontaxable, did not exceed $100,000 in the prior calendar year. Two details matter:
- It is worldwide, not LA only. A startup with $400,000 in revenue, $50,000 of it from LA customers, does not qualify. This is different from San Francisco, whose exemption is measured on city receipts.
- It requires a timely renewal. The city states that the exemption is only for registered businesses and only when the renewal is filed on time. The Office of Finance notes that every year, businesses that qualify lose the exemption purely because they file late. Qualify, file on March 2 instead of March 1, and you owe the full tax plus penalties.
For a pre-revenue or early revenue startup, the entire LA business tax obligation is often one timely online renewal with a box checked: the cheapest task on this page, and the worst ratio of effort to penalty if you skip it.
LA County: Form 571-L Business Property Statement
Every California county taxes business personal property; in LA County the Assessor discovers it through Form 571-L, for companies anywhere in the county.
- Who files: businesses whose taxable personal property (computers, servers, lab gear, furniture, leasehold improvements) has an aggregate cost of $100,000 or more, plus any business the Assessor sends a notice to file, regardless of cost.
- When: due April 1, 2027, reporting property held on the January 1 lien date. Statements filed after May 7, 2027 carry a 10 percent penalty. May 7, 2027 is a Friday, so there is no weekend shift this year. The Assessor accepts electronic filing for eligible businesses.
- The bill: the resulting unsecured property tax bill arrives in summer and is generally due August 31, after which it becomes delinquent.
Leased equipment counts and is reported separately. If the Assessor sends a notice, file it even with a short equipment list; an unfiled statement invites an estimated assessment.
LA Payroll Rules That Change Your Budget
None of these are taxes, but they hit payroll forecasts and are specific to the city:
- City minimum wage: $18.42 per hour from July 1, 2026, adjusted every July 1 by local CPI, with the new rate published around February 1. It applies to anyone who performs at least two hours of work in a week within city limits, which includes hourly interns and part-time operations staff. Unincorporated LA County sets its own rate (reported at $18.47 from July 1, 2026; confirm with the county), and cities like Santa Monica and Pasadena have their own ordinances.
- Paid sick leave: the city requires at least 48 hours per year (front-loaded, or accrued at one hour per 30 worked) with a 72-hour accrual cap, more generous than parts of the state baseline.
- Other ordinances: the Office of Wage Standards also enforces Fair Chance hiring rules and freelance worker protections. Review both before your first LA hire.
The California Layer, Briefly
The state obligations are covered in detail in our San Francisco guide. The short version for LA founders:
- Form 100 and the $800 minimum franchise tax. Every corporation incorporated, registered, or doing business in California owes at least $800 a year. Corporations newly incorporated or qualified on or after January 1, 2020 are exempt in their first taxable year only. Form 100 is due April 15, 2027, with an automatic extension to November 15, 2027 for filing, not payment. Estimates follow a 30/40/0/30 schedule, so April and June carry 70 percent of the year. Model it with our tax compliance tool.
- Statement of Information. A Delaware corporation registered in California files a Statement of Information with the Secretary of State each year in the window ending with its anniversary month. The FTB collects a $250 penalty for failing to file, and repeated failures can lead to suspension, which is a diligence problem in any financing.
- Payroll and SDI. Register with the EDD before your first California payroll. New employers start at a 3.4 percent UI rate on the first $7,000 per employee, plus ETT at 0.1 percent. EDD has published the 2027 employee SDI withholding rate at 1.4 percent, up from 1.3 percent in 2026, on all wages with no cap.
- The California R&D credit. California has its own research credit, separate from the federal one, with in-state rules and recent usage limits. Have your CPA confirm what applies for 2026 and 2027 before booking it.
- SaaS sales tax starts January 1, 2027. SB 122, signed June 29, 2026, extends California sales and use tax to prewritten software including SaaS. CDTFA regulations are still being finalized, and LA County district rates are among the highest in the state, so a seller's permit and a configured tax engine belong on your Q4 2026 list.
Federal and Delaware, Briefly
- 1099s. For payments made after December 31, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act raised the federal 1099-NEC and most 1099-MISC thresholds from $600 to $2,000, with inflation indexing starting in 2027 (attorney gross proceeds stay at $600). The 2026 forms are due to contractors and the IRS by February 1, 2027. California compliance runs on its own track: the EDD still requires a DE 542 independent contractor report within 20 days once you pay or contract with an individual for $600 or more, and California's conformity on the 1099 threshold itself is a separate state question to confirm with your preparer.
- Form 1120 is due April 15, 2027, extendable to October 15.
- Delaware franchise tax and annual report are due March 1, 2027. Use the assumed par value capital method; our Delaware franchise tax calculator shows why the default authorized shares notice often overstates the bill.
Outside the City of LA: Santa Monica, Culver City, Pasadena
If your office is not inside LA city limits, the City of LA business tax generally does not apply, but your own city's program does. Many founders discover this only when they move offices a few blocks and land in a different city.
Santa Monica. Any business conducting business in, or based in, Santa Monica needs a business license. Licenses run on a fiscal year of July 1 to June 30; renewals are due July 1, with a 60-day grace period, so August 31 is the last day to renew without penalty. The tax for most classes is a $75 minimum covering the first $60,000 of Santa Monica gross receipts, plus a classification rate on receipts above that. Santa Monica also has a small business exemption tied to worldwide receipts of roughly $100,000 (the city's own pages cite both $100,000 and $103,000, so confirm the current figure), and missing the renewal deadline disqualifies you from it. Exempt businesses still need the license and pay any fees and assessments.
Culver City. Businesses must obtain a business tax certificate within 30 days of starting business. Renewal notices are mailed in early December, tax is due on receipt, and it becomes delinquent if not paid by the last day of February. Late payment carries a penalty of 20 percent per month, up to 100 percent of the amount due, which is steep enough to put on the same calendar reminder as the LA renewal. Rates depend on business activity, and gross receipts businesses pay on the higher of gross receipts or cost of operations.
Pasadena and the rest of the county. Pasadena, Burbank, Glendale, Long Beach, Beverly Hills, and West Hollywood each run their own business license or tax regimes with different rates and dates. We have not verified each here; check the city's finance page before you sign a lease.
Common LA Founder Mistakes
- Filing the LA renewal late and losing the $100,000 exemption.
- Assuming the first year is exempt. It is billed as back tax at the first renewal.
- Registering with the wrong city. A Los Angeles mailing address can sit in Culver City, or the reverse.
- Skipping the 571-L after a hardware buildout that pushes equipment cost past $100,000.
The Bottom Line
For most sub-$100,000 startups in the City of Los Angeles, the 2027 local workload is a timely online renewal by March 1, a 571-L only if equipment cost or an Assessor notice requires it, and a minimum wage check every July. Deadline tracking across all 50 states and every local filing is included on every StartupCFO plan, and our tax service includes a 50 percent discount on preparation of one federal and one state return, with additional states and filing fees as add-ons. If you want your footprint mapped, book a consultation.
This article is general information, not tax advice. Rates, thresholds, and deadlines change, and the controlling figures are published by the agencies themselves. Confirm current details at finance.lacity.gov, assessor.lacounty.gov, ftb.ca.gov, sos.ca.gov, edd.ca.gov, santamonica.gov, and culvercity.gov before filing.
