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The California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) has announced that it will not impose the personal income tax e-pay penalty against taxpayers required to make their tax payments electronically. The FTB states that since the mandatory e-pay requirements were instituted in 2009, compliance has been increasing steadily. However, rather than imposing penalties now, the FTB will continue to focus its efforts on outreach and education so that taxpayers and their representatives can implement processes and procedures to comply with the law.

(from FTB.CA.GOV)

Sacramento — The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) today announced that it will no longer mail the 540NR California Nonresident or Part-Year Resident income tax booklet to taxpayers.

FTB is discontinuing this service due to the decreased use of this booklet, and its efforts to cut government spending. FTB estimates it will save the state more than $259,000 by not sending the 540NR booklet directly to nonresident taxpayers.

Taxpayers who filed a paper Form 540NR tax return for tax year 2008 will be mailed a letter in January detailing how they may get a 540NR Booklet.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed A.B. 1580, which would have updated California's current Internal Revenue Code conformity date of January 1, 2005, to January 1, 2009, and incorporated many, but not all, of the federal amendments enacted during that period for state income and franchise tax purposes (see TAXDAY, 2009/09/14, S.4 and TAXDAY, 2009/09/09, S.3). In his veto message, the governor stated that he could not support the bill because of the provision that would partially conform to the federal penalty on erroneous refund claims that was inserted at the last minute.