Legal Question in Business Law in California

California hates small businesses and will tax and regulate you into the grave. Start your venture elsewhere.

Mr. Stone is not literally correct, but it sure seems that way at times. I believe small businesses that operate in California should be formed here, because they will be subjected to California's laws and policies anyway. Based on this post and your previous one, I believe you should probably form (incorporate?) your business in the target state, where you expect to be writing and cashing royalty checks from your publisher in the future. I would also suggest that you consider getting that P. O. Box in the target state and community, especially if the local P.O. is friendly and not short on boxes, Sometimes they demand a local address, but you can get around that (rent desk space, strike up a deal with a local merchant or Realtor, etc.). Make sure someone will empty the box and forward the mail until you actually move to the target town. If for some undisclosed reason the P. O. Box has to be in Califooya, the fact of receiving mail here is alone insufficient, I think, to constitute doing business here, if someone is forwarding the mail to you unopened. On the other hand, if you are actually perpetrating a fraud on anyone by mking them think you have a significant Calif. presence when you don't, that's unlawful. The ends are more important than the means.