Home / California / Esthetics

How to Start an Esthetics Studio in California: Licenses, Costs & Requirements

An esthetics studio in California runs on the esthetician license from the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology: 600 hours of school, a written exam, and a scope that covers facials, waxing, and lash and brow work, but not electrolysis or laser treatments. Around the license sit the establishment license for the studio and the standard California filings, including the $800 LLC tax. This guide covers all of it from official state sources.

Researched from California state sources. Our guides are free. We may earn a commission when you use a partner service, at no additional cost to you.

Who licenses esthetics studios in California

Esthetics in California belongs to the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, in the Department of Consumer Affairs. The Board licenses estheticians under the skin care provisions of the Barbering and Cosmetology Act, licenses electrologists separately, and licenses your studio through the establishment license. Its fee schedule is Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations, Section 998, and every Board fee in this guide comes from that schedule.

The esthetics trade brushes against medicine more than any other Board trade, which makes scope discipline the theme of this guide. The esthetician license covers a generous menu of skin services. It does not cover everything a device salesperson will pitch you, and the line between esthetics and medical practice is where California studios get into trouble. Build your menu inside the scope described below, and confirm anything borderline with the Board before you buy equipment.

California esthetics requirements at a glance

The California esthetician license and its scope

The esthetician license requires a skin care course of 600 hours or more at a Board-approved school under Business and Professions Code Section 7364. Applicants are 17 or older with a 10th grade education. Fees are a $9 preapplication fee, a $75 application and examination fee, and a $40 initial license fee, with renewal at $50 every two years and a $25 delinquency fee. The exam has been written only since January 1, 2022.

Section 7316(c) defines what the license covers: cleansing, exfoliating, and beautifying the skin of the face, neck, arms, and upper body, massage of those areas, and removing superfluous hair by depilatories and similar methods. The Board's published skin care curriculum adds the practical detail: it includes 50 hours of hair removal and lash and brow beautification, covering applying eyelashes and tinting and perming lashes and brows, and it describes hair removal performed by depilatories, tweezers, sugaring, waxing, or mechanical and electrical devices, expressly except by the use of lasers or light waves. Facials, peels within the scope, waxing, lash and brow work: that is the esthetician menu.

Two boundaries deserve their own paragraphs. First, electrolysis is a different license. The skin care definition excludes it, and the electrologist license requires its own 600 hour course under Section 7366, a 12th grade education, and a $50 initial license fee. A studio that wants permanent hair removal hires or becomes an electrologist; an esthetician cannot simply add the service. Second, the laser and light exclusion in the Board's own curriculum language means light-based hair removal and similar device treatments sit outside the training scope the Board describes for estheticians. Studios court real risk when they market medical-sounding treatments under a skin care license, so confirm any device-based service against the Board's published scope before it goes on your menu.

The establishment license for your studio

Your studio needs the Board's establishment license, applied for on Form 1020. The application and initial license fee is $50, renewal is $40, and the delinquency fee is $20, per the Section 998 fee schedule. Under Business and Professions Code Section 7347, any person, firm, or corporation can hold the license, which means an owner does not need to be an esthetician, but every treatment must be delivered by a licensee inside their scope.

The Board issues one establishment license per address. A single treatment room you operate as your own business, including one inside a suite building, is its own establishment with its own license, while a room inside someone else's licensed studio works under different arrangements. The California salon suite guide explains the suite structure many estheticians choose, including which filings land on the renter. Whichever model you pick, the establishment license for your address comes before the first paid facial, and the studio operates under Board inspection from opening day.

Forming your LLC with the California Secretary of State

Most California esthetics studios organize as a limited liability company, and the filing is cheap. It is what comes after the filing that surprises people. To form the LLC, file Articles of Organization, Form LLC-1, with the California Secretary of State. The filing fee is $70, and the form can be filed online through the Secretary of State's bizfile portal. Your Articles name the LLC, give its address, and name a registered agent, the person or company that accepts legal papers on the LLC's behalf.

Within 90 days of filing, and every two years after that, the LLC files a Statement of Information, Form LLC-12, with the Secretary of State for $20. The Statement lists the LLC's address, its managers or members, and its agent. Miss it and the state can suspend the LLC, which freezes your ability to enforce contracts and can complicate your bank accounts, so the two-year cycle belongs on your calendar from day one.

An LLC is not your only option. A sole proprietor files nothing with the state to exist, but also gets no liability separation: the business's debts and claims are the owner's personally. A corporation is a valid route too, and carries the same $800 annual tax described below. Whatever the entity, the licensing pieces of this guide do not change. The Board's establishment license, the county fictitious name filing, and the tax accounts are the same for an LLC, a corporation, and a sole proprietor.

The $800 annual LLC tax and the Form 568 return

Here is the California charge that catches new owners out. Every LLC doing business in California pays an annual tax of $800 to the Franchise Tax Board under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 17941. The tax is owed even if the LLC does no business at all, and it keeps being owed every year until the LLC is formally cancelled. The first payment is due on the 15th day of the fourth month after you file your Articles of Organization, and later payments are due on the 15th day of the fourth month of your tax year, which is April 15 for a calendar-year business. You pay it with Form FTB 3522.

Older guides and well-meaning friends may tell you the first year is free. That exemption covered only tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2021 and before January 1, 2024. It has expired. An LLC formed in 2024 or later owes the full $800 in its first year, on the fourth-month schedule above.

The LLC also files an annual return, Form 568. A separate LLC fee kicks in only at higher income levels: when total California income, meaning gross income plus cost of goods sold, reaches $250,000, a fee of $900 applies, rising to $2,500 at $500,000, $6,000 at $1,000,000, and $11,790 at $5,000,000 or more, estimated and paid by the 15th day of the sixth month of the tax year with Form FTB 3536. Most new beauty businesses are nowhere near those tiers, but a fast-growing salon should know the ladder exists.

Registering your business name with a fictitious business name statement

California handles business names at the county level, and this is where out-of-state playbooks mislead people. If you do business under a name that is not your exact legal name, a sole proprietor trading as Glow Theory Skin Studio, for example, or an LLC using a shorter storefront name, you file a fictitious business name statement, often called an FBN or DBA, with the county clerk in the county where your business is principally located. There is no state registry and nothing to file with the Secretary of State for the name itself.

The timing rules live in Business and Professions Code Sections 17900 to 17930. File the statement at or within 40 days of starting business under the name. The statement then has to be published: once a week for four successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, with the first publication running within 45 days of filing, and an affidavit of publication filed with the county clerk within 30 days after publication is complete. The statement expires five years after filing, or 40 days after any change in the facts you filed, such as a new address or a change in owners, and a no-change refile within 40 days after the five-year mark does not require publishing again.

Filing fees are set by each county and vary. Los Angeles County, as one example, charges $26 for one business name on a statement and $5 for each additional name. Budget for your own county's schedule, not a statewide number, because there is not one. Expect your bank to ask for the filed statement when you open the business account, so file it before you sign anything that uses the name.

Getting your federal Employer Identification Number

Your Employer Identification Number, or EIN, is the federal tax ID for the business, issued by the IRS. Apply directly on the IRS website and it is free; sites that charge for an EIN are selling you a form you can file yourself in minutes. You need the number before you hire your first employee, and in practice before that: most banks require one to open a business account for an LLC, and the Employment Development Department wants it when you register as an employer. Get it right after your entity filing so it never becomes the bottleneck.

California sales tax: services are not taxed, retail products are

California taxes retail sales of tangible personal property, and beauty services are not tangible personal property. Haircuts, color, facials, manicures, lash services, and massage are services, and service charges are generally not subject to sales tax. The tax shows up at the retail shelf: cleansers, serums, moisturizers, and sunscreen are products, and when a client takes them home, that sale is taxable. Keep services and products on separate lines in your point of sale so the tax lands only where it belongs.

Before your first retail sale, register with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the CDTFA, for a seller's permit. There is no fee for the permit itself, although the CDTFA can require a security deposit from some businesses. The permit is also what lets you buy your resale inventory with a resale certificate instead of paying tax on products you will resell. The statewide base sales and use tax rate is 7.25 percent, and voter-approved district taxes in your city or county add on top of that, so the rate you charge is the combined rate for your location, which the CDTFA publishes by address.

File your sales and use tax returns on the schedule the CDTFA assigns and remit the tax you collected. That money was never yours; you hold it for the state from the moment the client pays.

Hiring staff: payroll taxes, wages and worker classification

The moment you hire, California gives you a second set of accounts. Register with the Employment Development Department, the EDD, within 15 days of paying more than $100 in wages in a calendar quarter. New employers are assigned an Unemployment Insurance rate of 3.4 percent for their first two to three years, charged on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages per year. The Employment Training Tax adds 0.1 percent on the same first $7,000. State Disability Insurance is withheld from the employee's pay; the 2026 withholding rate is 1.3 percent of wages, with no wage cap. Report every new hire to the EDD within 20 days of their start date on Form DE 34.

The wage floor is the state minimum wage of $16.90 an hour from January 1, 2026. California allows no tip credit, so tips sit on top of the full wage. Many cities, including most large ones, set a higher local minimum wage, and the higher number governs. Employees must also earn paid sick leave of at least 40 hours or five days a year. Workers' compensation insurance is mandatory for every California employer, even with a single employee, and it is separate from your liability policy.

Then there is classification, the issue California is famous for. Under the ABC test from AB 5, a worker is an employee unless the business proves the worker is free from its control, does work outside its usual business, and runs an independent trade. Licensed barbers, cosmetologists, estheticians, electrologists, and manicurists have a specific carve-out in Labor Code Section 2778(b)(2)(L). When every condition in that section is met, the older Borello factors decide classification instead. The conditions are strict: the licensee sets their own rates, processes their own payments, and is paid directly by clients; sets their own hours and has sole discretion over which clients to take; keeps their own book of business and books their own appointments; holds their own business license; and, when working at the salon's location, issues a Form 1099 to the owner they rent space from. A booth renter who fails any one of these is analyzed as a likely employee, with payroll taxes and penalties to match. Board licensees also report their practice status, employee, contractor or booth renter, or salon owner, when they renew, under Business and Professions Code Section 7401, so the answer you give the state should match the arrangement you actually run.

City business licenses, zoning and the local layer

State licenses do not finish the job. Nearly every California city requires a local business license, often called a business tax certificate, for the shop and, in many cities, for booth renters and independent practitioners working inside it. Fees and renewal dates are set by the city. Zoning has to allow a personal services business at your address before you sign the lease, and your buildout may need building permits, plumbing or electrical sign-off, and a certificate of occupancy. Signage usually needs its own approval. If you plan to work from home, check the city's home occupation rules as well; some services and client traffic are restricted in residential zones.

Do the local check before the state paperwork, in this order: zoning confirmation for the address, the city's business license application, then the buildout permits. A state license package does not help if the city will not let the business operate on that block.

Insurance and the costs that keep coming back

Plan on three policies at a minimum. General liability covers client injuries in the space, like a slip on a wet floor. Professional liability covers claims arising from the services themselves: a burn from a chemical peel, an infection after extractions, or a reaction to a professional skincare product. Property coverage protects your equipment, furniture, and retail stock, and business interruption coverage can keep the business alive if a fire or flood closes you for a month. Workers' compensation, covered above, is mandatory once you have employees and is priced separately. If you rent booths or suites, your lease and your policy should both say clearly whose insurance answers first when a renter's client is hurt, and renters should carry their own professional liability policy naming their own business.

Premiums vary by city, services, and claims history, so compare quotes from brokers who write beauty industry policies and compare the exclusions, not just the price. Add the recurring state stack to the same budget: Board renewals every two years, the $800 LLC tax every year, the $20 Statement of Information every two years, and county and city renewals. None is large alone; together they are a real line in your budget, and calendaring them in advance is how owners avoid delinquency fees.

Dates to put on your calendar

• Every two years: renew practitioner licenses with the Board for $50, and the establishment license for $40, before the expiration dates printed on the licenses.
• 15th day of the fourth month after filing, then every year: the $800 LLC tax to the Franchise Tax Board on Form FTB 3522, April 15 for calendar-year businesses.
• Every two years: the LLC Statement of Information, Form LLC-12, $20 with the Secretary of State, first due within 90 days of formation.
• On the CDTFA's schedule: sales and use tax returns and payment for retail product sales, at the filing frequency the CDTFA assigns.
• Within 20 days of each hire: new hire report to the EDD on Form DE 34.
• Every five years: renew the county fictitious business name statement, and refile within 40 days if your address or ownership changes.
• Every year: renew your city business license on your city's schedule.

This guide is general information researched from official California sources, not legal or tax advice. Requirements, fees and forms change; verify the current rules with the agencies linked above before you file, sign or spend.

Frequently asked questions

How many hours of school does a California esthetician need?

A skin care course runs 600 hours or more at a Board-approved school under Business and Professions Code Section 7364. Applicants must be at least 17 and have completed the 10th grade. Since January 1, 2022, the exam is written only. Fees are a $9 preapplication fee, a $75 application and examination fee, and a $40 initial license fee, with renewal at $50 every two years.

What services can a California esthetician legally offer?

The skin care scope in Business and Professions Code Section 7316(c) covers cleansing, exfoliating, and beautifying the skin, massaging the face, neck, arms, and upper body, and removing superfluous hair by methods such as depilatories, tweezers, sugaring, and waxing. The Board's skin care curriculum covers lashes and brows as well, including applying eyelashes. It does not include electrolysis, which is a separate license, or hair removal by lasers or light waves.

Is electrolysis part of the esthetician license in California?

No. Electrology is its own license under the Barbering and Cosmetology Act. An electrologist completes a 600 hour electrolysis course under Business and Professions Code Section 7366, must have completed the 12th grade, and pays a $50 initial license fee with the same $9 preapplication and $75 examination fees. A studio offering permanent hair removal needs an electrologist on the team.

How much does a California esthetics studio establishment license cost?

The application and initial license fee is $50 on the Board's Form 1020, renewal is $40, and the delinquency fee is $20, under 16 California Code of Regulations Section 998. The Board issues one establishment license per address, and any person, firm, or corporation can hold it.

Are facials subject to sales tax in California?

Generally, no. California taxes retail sales of tangible personal property, and facials and skin treatments are services, so service charges are generally not taxable. Skincare products a client takes home are taxable at the 7.25 percent statewide base rate plus local district taxes. Register with the CDTFA for a seller's permit before retail sales; there is no fee for the permit.

Why does my California LLC owe $800 before it makes any money?

Every California LLC pays an annual tax of $800 under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 17941, owed even if the LLC does no business, until the LLC is cancelled. The first payment is due on the 15th day of the fourth month after you file your Articles of Organization, paid with Form FTB 3522. The first-year exemption applied only to tax years beginning in 2021 through 2023 and has expired.