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California small business finance, explained

Deadlines, guides and plain answers for running the financial side of a business in California. Written by the people who do this work every day, kept current, and free whether or not you ever become a client.

Written for CaliforniaFederal and state, side by side

What are you trying to sort out?

Starting a business

Entity choice, registration, and what’s cheaper to set up right than to fix later.

Books behind

What catching up involves and how to stop it recurring.

First employee

What changes the day someone goes on the books in California.

Tax season coming

What to gather and what to decide before year end.

California small business deadlines

The dates that catch people out. Federal and California.

The full tax calendarEvery federal and California date, month by monthOpen the calendar
Federal and California small business filing and payment deadlines
WhatWho it applies toDate
Quarterly estimated tax, Q1Self-employed and pass-through owners[DATE_Q1_ESTIMATE]
Quarterly estimated tax, Q2Self-employed and pass-through owners[DATE_Q2_ESTIMATE]
Quarterly estimated tax, Q3Self-employed and pass-through owners[DATE_Q3_ESTIMATE]
Quarterly estimated tax, Q4Self-employed and pass-through owners[DATE_Q4_ESTIMATE]
W-2s to employeesAnyone with employees[DATE_W2_DEADLINE]
1099-NEC to contractorsAnyone paying contractors[DATE_1099_DEADLINE]
Partnership and S-corp returns1065 and 1120S filers[DATE_PASSTHROUGH_RETURN]
C-corp and individual returns1120 and 1040 filers[DATE_CORP_INDIVIDUAL_RETURN]
California Statement of InformationCorporations and LLCs[DATE_SOI_NOTE]

Last reviewed [DATE_LAST_REVIEWED]. Dates move when they fall on a weekend or holiday. If one of these matters to you, check the calendar or ask us.

See the full tax calendar

Guides

Longer pieces, written to be read once and kept.

Tax[GAP: guide needed — year-end tax checklist for California small businesses: what to gather, what to decide before December, and what can wait]
Payroll[GAP: guide needed — first-employee payroll setup in California: registrations, what to withhold, and the records to keep from day one]
Bookkeeping[GAP: guide needed — catch-up bookkeeping guide: how to scope a backlog, what documents to pull, and how to keep the books current afterwards]
All guides No email required for these.

Recent articles

All articles

By industry

Marketing and creative agencies

Project profitability and revenue across long jobs.

[GAP: article for agencies — project and retainer profitability]

Construction and contractors

Job costing, retainage and subcontractor paperwork.

[GAP: article for contractors — job costing and 1099s for subcontractors]

Case studies

Coming later[GAP: case studies — only one item exists and it is an article, not a case study. Needs at least three real client stories with permission before this section or /case-studies/ goes live.]

Rather just ask someone?

If you’ve read this far and still aren’t sure what applies to you, that’s what the call is for. Fifteen minutes, no pitch.

Book a free consultation (408) 495-3989