My husband recently started a company and in turn he had to connect with several entities, which led me to document the steps to start a business in California. Please note that your local filings will be different, but this will give you a start in the right direction. Good luck and best wishes to your future fortunes.

Franchise Tax Board

http://www.ftb.ca.gov/

The department that collects state personal income taxes and bank and corporation taxes for the State of California.

Board of Equalization

http://www.boe.ca.gov/

The Board of Equalization collects California state sales and use tax, as well as fuel, alcohol, and tobacco taxes and fees that provide revenue for state government and essential funding for counties, cities, and special districts. You will have to forward taxes collected at the end or your fiscal year

Secretary of State

http://www.sos.ca.gov/
**For incorporating your company, does not apply to every company

Business Entities (Forms, Samples & Fees)
Filing requirements, name availability, status requests, copies/certificates

Internal Revenue Service

**Does not apply to every company, more so for corporations or if you have employees. The IRS issues Employer ID Numbers, which is required for all entities with staff.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/index.html

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99336,00.html

Employment Development Department

http://www.edd.ca.gov/

**Does not apply to every company, only for those with employees. EDD collects disability and other employee based taxes

Local (City or County)

** For Sacramento City, you will need to look in the area that applies to you.

http://www.finance.saccounty.net/Tax/BusLicGeneral.asp (Online Form)

You will receive a tax bill at the end of each fiscal year, which will be based on your total sales and combined with your renewal fee which is the lowest of all fees you have to pay.

Lastly, don’t get discouraged there are several steps to start a business in California, but I am happy to help.  Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this post or if there’s a certain subject that you’d like highlighted and I’ll do the research and post it to http://help.loreals.com