If you live in CA and you’re going to cheat the taxman by not registering locally as a foreign corporation, then you might as well register as an Ohio LLC. $99 initial registration and zero annual fee to maintain it.
Sure, Ohio is nice because it has no fees and no reporting requirements for $99. But why stop there when you can go to Arizona and get the same deal for $50.
But seriously, if you want to cheat California, just leave and move to a more business-friendly state and do your business legally. It's 100% not worth it to operate illegally in California, especially for the registration of an entity that's intended to protect you legally.
Oh, also fun, don't forget to explicitly close out your CA business when you finally give up and move out. If you don't, they'll hunt you down for your $800/yr several years later with penalties and interest.
