Compared to public company LLC have less requirements yes. Howver you still need a board and resolutions and you have submit your LLC annual returns have seper

Compared to public company LLC have less requirements yes. Howver you still need a board and resolutions and you have submit your LLC annual returns have seperate bank accounts at the minimum. None of that is required for a sole proprietor. > costs the state next to nothing How are you concluding this ? Cost to the state is just not storing few bits somewhere . Even just applications they have to build maintain those bits will cost the state a lot of money. The non tech part of the government which needs your data. every bank , credit worthiness, every other biz which needs to work with you, every dept that needs to regulate what you do , every small biz schemes you would like to benefit from. Healthcare, employee taxes, courts etc .... All of these reference your corporate entity "ID" the government needs to maintain and service them. Heck even apple will ask your DUNS number when you register non personal developer account. It may or may not cost $800, but it certainly isnt next to nothing. other states maybe absorbing the costs and are trying to attract new biz, doesn't mean that california has to be cheap too. Like I said there are other entity structures which are cheaper and designed for businesses that cannot afford 800 dollars a year in filing fee.