FTB issues REG on automatic extensions - FTB News - California Franchise Tax Board - Brief Article

California CPA, Jan-Feb, 2002

The FTB has finalized a regulation on automatic extensions for returns by individuals, fiduciaries and partnerships required to be filed on or after April 15, 1992, reports James C. Counts, CPA in his e-newsletter, TaxTalk News.

The FTB will allow an automatic six-month extension to file if the return is filed within six months of the original due date. No written request is required. The extension time period for fiscal and calendar year taxpayers is the original due date plus six months. This granting of the extension is conditioned solely upon the filing of a return within the automatic extension period. If the return is not filed within six months of the original due date, no extension is allowed.

This extension to file is not an extension of time to pay. Tax is due on the original due date of the return without regard to the extension to file.

A delinquency penalty under California Rev, and Tax Code Sec. 19131, Failure to File a Return, will not be imposed on any return filed by the extended due date. However, if the return is not filed within six months of the original due date, no valid extension exists and the penalty amount will be computed by reference to the return's original due date.