[dennykmiu]

If you have no income then there is no "income" tax (neither Federal or State). If you have an office and you are meeting customers, you might have to pay City tax (depending on the City). Once you have income, things start to change. First of all, the $800 Franchise tax is a minimum and California actually charges a percentage based on your "gross" income, not net profit. Also, Federal treats any income you incur as an LLC as employment and is subject to self-employment tax (in addition to Federal and State income tax). My own experience is that in the beginning of a startup, you don't have enough that actually warrants hiring an accountant. My advise is that you learn to be your own accountant until you start hiring. It actually is a good exercise to start paying attention to money as opposed to just hiding behind the comfort of being a technologist. Good luck.

[siracguy]

Thank you, Denny. That's a good point about self-employment tax.

Yes, that was my plan, to do it myself, but I find that I'm spending quite a lot of time on busy activities like this - as a follower of MVP/Steve-Blank, I'd rather be out talking to (potential) customers.