Start an LLC before January or after?

State LLC taxes and reports run on calendar years, and the states here do not prorate. Delaware says it plainly: annual taxes are assessed if the entity is active in the Division's records anytime during January 1st through December 31st, and there is no proration². An LLC effective December 20 owes the full $400 for that year.

Florida counts the first annual report from the year the articles became effective⁴, Texas the first franchise tax report from the year the entity became subject to the tax⁸, California the first $800 from the filing date¹⁴. The trigger is the date the LLC comes into existence, not the day you press submit.

A delayed effective date lets you file now and have the LLC come into existence on a later date named in the document.

Delaware. A certificate "shall be effective at the time of its filing with the Secretary of State or at any later date or time (not later than a time on the one hundred and eightieth day after the date of its filing ...) specified in the certificate" (6 Del. C. § 18-206)¹.

Florida. A record naming a delayed effective date but no time takes effect "at 12:01 a.m. on the earlier of: (a) The specified date; or (b) The 90th day after the record is filed" (§ 605.0207)³.

Texas. A filing instrument may take effect at a specified date or on a future event, but "the effective date may not be later than the 90th day after the date the instrument is signed"⁶. Quoted from texas.public.law, a mirror; the state statutes site did not resolve from our machine.

New York. Formed at filing "or at any later time specified in the articles of organization, not to exceed sixty days from the date of such filing"¹⁰. The 120-day publication clock runs from the date the articles take effect¹¹.

California. The LLC Act allows a delayed effective date on later records only, "except for original articles of organization"¹². bizfile Online offers a "Future File Date" instead: the office holds the document and files it on the date you ask for. The corporation statute puts that window at 90 days¹³; we found no official statement of the LLC window, so ask the Secretary of State first.

Every LLC doing business or organized in California pays $800 a year, due even if you are not conducting business, until you cancel the LLC¹⁴. The first payment is due by the 15th day of the 4th month from the SOS filing date: filed June 18, due September 15 in the FTB's example¹⁴.

The timing exception: the Form 568 booklet says an LLC is not subject to the annual tax and LLC fee if "the LLC's taxable year is 15 days or less" and "the LLC did not conduct business in the state during the 15 day period"¹⁵; FTB 3556 calls it the 15-Day Exception (R&TC 17946)¹⁶. A calendar-year LLC filed December 17 or later that does nothing until January fits. One that already filed and did no business can instead cancel by short form (LLC-4/8) within 12 months and owe no first-year $800¹⁴¹⁶.

The annual franchise tax report is due May 15⁷. A new entity files its first annual report on May 15 of the year following the year it became subject to the tax; the Comptroller's example is an entity that became subject during 2025 with a report due May 15, 2026⁸. Effective December 28 means a report the following May; January 2, a year later.

Most new LLCs owe no tax: for the 2026 and 2027 report years the No Tax Due Threshold is $2,650,000 of annualized total revenue⁷, but below it you still file Form 05-102, the Public Information Report, or Form 05-167⁹.

Every LLC pays $400 a year and files no annual report; the tax for the prior year is due by June 1, with a $200 penalty plus 1.5% interest per month if late². A certificate effective December 31 buys a $400 bill; one effective January 2 does not². With a 180-day window, a December filing with a January date is routine¹.

The first annual report is due between January 1 and May 1 of the year following the calendar year in which the articles became effective⁴; the Division's fee page lists it at $138.75, or $538.75 after May 1⁵. Effective December 29, 2026 means a report by May 1, 2027; effective January 4, 2027 means May 1, 2028. The Division's annual report page answered 403 on October 7, 2026, so the timing here is the statute's.