Tax accountant here – unfortunately, every LLC registered in CA owes this fee, no matter how small the business. There’s no way to “restructure” the craft business LLC to avoid it if you want to keep it as a CA LLC. The only way around it would be to dissolve the CA LLC and operate as a sole proprietorship (with no limited liability). Otherwise, there’s no escaping that fee. For the new CAD consulting LLC. If the CAD work is also performed for CA clients (or you’re physically in CA when you perform the work), then even if you form it in another state like Delaware or Wyoming, CA will still want you to register it as a foreign LLC and charge you the $800. Forming out-of-state only makes sense if the business will genuinely operate outside of CA. I'm not in CA, but I have a handful of CA clients. Happy to give you a free consult, though it would be over zoom. Also have a secure portal for file sharing.