The California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) issued a news release on Friday reminding Californians of the extended tax return deadline and also siting some interesting statistics.
Like the IRS, the California tax authority does cut some slack for procrastinators. And like the IRS automatic extension, the California version also comes to an end on October 17th. Sometimes the tax relief most needed is just some more time. The FTB tries to make it as convenient as possible to both file and pay your state taxes.
Filing CA Taxes
- ReadyReturns (partially completed returns just waiting for the taxpayer to complete online)
- CalFile free e-file program
- other free or fee-based e-file services listed on FTB’s website
- view wage & income information online with MyFTB Account
Paying CA Taxes
- pay through bank account with Web Pay
- pay with credit card at officialpayments.com
- installment plans available
And now for the statistics. This year over 1.5 million Californians requested an automatic extension and will have to file by the October 17th deadline. This actually eases the burden on the state in April by spreading out the work a little more evenly throughout the year. By now California taxpayers have filed more than 14.7 million personal income tax returns of which 11.7 million were e-filed. Also, the state has issued 9.5 million refunds totaling $8.1 billion.